Rocky land desertification and its driving forces in the karst areas of rural Guangxi,Southwest China

With a subtropical climate, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region has a typical karst landscape. Rocky desertification has become a serious environmental issue due to its high vulnerability caused by the joint effect of natural settings and human activities, because of which its eco- environment has been deteriorated in recent years, and farmland has been disappearing sharply at the same time. This, in turn, has exacerbated the poverty level in the rural areas of the region. In this study, we monitored the spatial distribution of rocky land desertification and its temporal evolution using Landsat TM/ETM images of 1985, 1995, 2000 and 2005. We also analyzed the driving forces of the desertification and its expansion. Through constructing regression models by using all the relevant variables and considering the lagged effects as well as fixed effects, we quantified the exact role of different factors causing rocky land desertification in the study area with some new findings. The new findings in this study are greatly helpful for preserving, restoring and reconstructing the degraded mountain environment in Guangxi and other karst areas in Southwest China, and also for alleviating poverty in the rural areas in the future.     

Impact of labor transfer on agricultural land use conversion at rural household level based on Logit model

Since land and labor force are primary resources to be used and controlled by rural households, the allocation of labor forces will influence land uses, and further lead to land use conversion. The present study used the Binary Logit model to investigate the influence of labor force transfer, characteristics of rural households, location, and land market on agricultural land use conversion at rural household level. This study was conducted based on 329 valid questionnaires, which were obtained in Changshu, Rudong, and Tongshan counties, respectively representing the southern, middle and northern areas of Jiangsu Province. The results showed that land market participation, location, zonal difference and labor transfer had strong influences on agricultural land use conversion. The participation of land market had a strong positive effect on land use conversion, especially for the farmland converted to the fishpond. The nearer to the county seat, the more conversion of land use occurred. Particularly, the labor force transfer caused by wage employment decreased this conversion probability, while the labor transfer caused by self-employment led to more conversion; and the increasing of income from labor transfer increased the conversion. Moreover, land use conversions demonstrated zonal difference, which were more in Rudong and Changshu counties than in Tongshan County, and the factors influencing this conversion were different in the three regions.     

Land use regionalization of rural settlements in China

This paper compartmentalizes regional land use of rural settlements in China by employing a hierarchical clustering method.The statistic data are sourced from the National Bureau of Statistics of China(NBSC) and the data of land use change from the Ministry of Land and Resources of China(MLRC).The population of rural settlement decreases from the southeast to the northwest of China and the density of rural settlement decreases from the east to the west of China.Land-use scale of rural settlement,the proportion of one-storey houses and the average household area decrease from the north to the south of China.The ratio of area of cultivated land to rural settlement is high in the northeast and southwest of China but low in the southeast of China.The land use regionalization of rural settlement can be divided into four regions,namely:the northern region of China,Qinghai-Tibet,Yunnan-Guizhou,and the middle and eastern region of China.The northern region of China and the middle and eastern region of China can be further divided into nine sub-regions:Xinjiang,Northeast China,Ningxia and Inner Mongolia,North China,the south of the Changjiang(Yantze) River and Sichuan Basin,Jiangsu-Shanghai,South China,the Loess Plateau,and Guangxi.In consideration of the significant regional differences,it is proposed that different policies should be implemented regarding the utilization and management of rural settlements.     

Spatio-temporal dynamic patterns of rural area development in eastern coastal China

The aim of this study is to evaluate the current state of rural area development at the county level in the eastern coastal China. An evaluation index system including 18 factors was developed, and a rural development index (RDI) was constructed to evaluate rural development state in 2000, 2004, and 2008. The quantitative evaluation indicated the following results. 1) This study derived four dominating components by means of principal component analysis, which can explain 78.2% of the total information, namely agricultural production input, the basic condition of agriculture, the comparative effectiveness of grain production, and the household′s own basic conditions. 2) Since the turn of the new millennium, the rural area in the eastern coastal China has experienced a rapid development in general. Well developed, developed, moderately developed and undeveloped rural areas respectively occupied 29.32%, 22.33%, 21.91%, and 10.51% in 2008. 3) The countryside had maintained a sound momentum of developing trend between 2000 and 2008, while the rural development in the eastern coastal China lacked sustainability. And 4) industrialization, urbanization, original economic basis, and location are four major driving forces of the disparity of rural area development in the eastern coastal China. Given these results, the strategies and policies for the improvement of each rural group were put forward.     

New rural spaces: The impact of rural industrialization on rural-urban transition in China

lINTRoDUCnONSincethelatel98os,rural-urbantransitionhasbeenbecomingoneofthemostimportantaspectsinChina'sfasttransformationfromtraditionaltomodes(ZHENG,l996).Becausethistransitionhastakenplaceurderthespecialbackgnundofthesimultaneoustransformationsofthesocial-economicstructuresandtheeconomicsystem,thereexistmanyparticularitiesinthetransitionalprocessesandfactors.Amongthem,ruralindustrializaionwithraPidgrowthhasbeenplayingaleadingrole.Inthispaper,wewanttodiscusstheim-pactsofrUralindustrial…     

Land-use change and socio-economic driving forces of rural settlement in China from 1996 to 2005

While urbanization has accelerated, the rural population in China has started decreasing in recent years. However, the expan- sion of rural settlement has not been sufficiently curbed. The questions of why this has happened and who has driven the land-use change （LUC） of rural settlement in China have aroused great interests among researchers. In this paper, it is suggested that population is not always a positive driving force for the LUC of rural settlement in China. Furthermore, socio-economic driving forces other than urbanization, population and industrialization are analyzed. On a national scale, the major driving forces are the per-capita rural housing area and the cultivated land area. On a regional scale, the main driving forces in the eastern China are the house-building capacity of rural households and the per-capita rural housing area; while in the central China, the main driving forces are rural housing investment, the proportion of primary industry employees in the rural working population, and the cultivated land area. For the western China, the main driving forces are rural register population and cultivated land area.     

Spatiotemporal evolution of urban land uses in modern urbanization of China

Taking social statistic data as basic data,this paper extended the meaning of urban land uses,highlighted the meaning of urban land uses in modern urbanization,which includes direct,indirect and induced land uses,quantitatively simulated the indirect and induced land uses by the substitution method of agricultural consumption and urban carbon emission and then,analyzed the spatiotemporal evolution of urban land uses in China during 1952–2005 by spatial analysis tool of Geographic Information System. The results indicate that the area of urban land use in China had been increasing since 1952,showing an inversed pyramid structure,i.e.,the directthe indirectthe induced. Specifically,Chinese urban land use has changed from concentrated distribution in Northwest China to balanced spatial distribution,and the eastern coastal area is under great pressure. Moreover,the northeastern region has moved into the induced dominant stage,while the western region remains at the indirect dominant stage. Finally,it is proposed that in order to guarantee the future demand of urban land use in China,ensuring the induced land use in the eastern region should be taken as a priority goal of Chinese developing policy.     

LANDSCAPE ECOLOGICAL CONSTRUCTION IN RURAL CHINA:THEORY AND APPLICATION

1 THE STRATEGY OF ECOLOGICAL CONSTRUCTION1.1 Active Ecological BalanceThe guidelines of current ecology are changing from balance, stability, homogeneity and small scale into imbalance, instability, heterogeneity, multi-scale, and hierarchy characteristics. The so-called ecological balance means that in the relatively stable status of an ecosystem in a specific time period, material and energy input equals to their output. Also by self-adjusting, the ecosystem can rehabilita…     

SPATIAL-TEMPORAL CHANGES AND TRENDS OF AGEING IN CHINA

This study focuses on the development stages of ageing and its regional differences in China based on examination of official statistics and documents. The development of ageing in China has experienced three major stages. Firstly, in the 1950s, low coefficient of elderly population （over 65 years） paced up to primary adult type. Secondly, there was a deeply drop of the elderly population because of natural disaster and political factors in the 1960s. Thirdly, from the 1970s to the end of 20th century, the constant increasing of elderly coefficient made China close to elderly society. With statistic data of population, Logistic model is used to simulate the future development of ageing, and two characteristics of development of ageing are presented. Firstly, as for ageing from 2005 to 2050, the elderly coefficient will grow up significantly from 8.48% to 16.30%. Secondly, after 2025, the increasing rate of elderly coefficient will slow down gradually. The regional differences of elderly population in China can be summarized as follows： 1） the eastern China possesses higher elderly coefficient and huger elder population than the western China; 2） about 47.4% of municipalities and provinces in the eastern China become elderly especially Shanghai, Zhejiang Province, Jiangsu Province, Beijing, Tianjin and Shandong Province; 3） ageing intensity is higher in rural area than urban area but getting close each other, and there are more elderly people in rural area than in urban area. Therefore, these will arose aged care problems, and it becomes important issue to establish the social security system in rural areas as soon as possible for elderly people.     

Geography and Rural Household Income： A Village Level Study in Henan Province, China

This study uses the data from a sample survey conducted in April 2007 on 1 251 rural households in 11 villages of Henan Province, the largest less developed agricultural province in China, to examine how geography affects rural household income (RHI). The quantitative analysis indicates following results. 1) The significance of the traditional geographical factors reduces as RHI rank increases. 2) The landform does not affect the RHI significantly. The per capita income of rural household in a plain area is lower than that in a mountainous area. And 3) the capital endowment and status of non-farm economic activities contribute to the increase of RHI. But the probability and intensity of non-farm economic activities of rural households in urban outskirts villages are higher than that in non-urban outskirts villages. Based on the results, the paper further concludes that geography still plays a significant role in rural development, but it is changing over time. The agricultural resources (such as per capita arable land) significantly affect RHI with the relatively lower income level, while the geographical location shows a more significant impact on RHI with the relatively high income level. Along with economic development, the proximity replaces the traditional geographical factors such as landform and physical resources as the major determining factor in RHI.     

THE BENCHMARK LAND PRICE SYSTEM AND URBANLAND USE EFFICIENCY IN CHINA

IINTRODUCTION oppeople’s commune，peasants were asked tojolnpro－ductlon cooperation bydonatingthelrla侣e possessedBefore 1949，private land ownership existed and assets such asland and la吧e production materialsthatland transactions were quite active．A household’s had been distributed Inlandreform．The members ofawealth Is directly correlated with the amount of land It production cooperation collectlvelyown all its propeftlespossesses．Af…     

STUDY ON URBAN LAND SAVING IN THE ECONOMICDEVELOPED COASTAL REGION OF CHINA

In China, the land resource per person is poor withregard to the huge number of population. According tothe recent data from the National Land Bureau, theaverage land per person is 0. 11 ha, much less than0. 25 ha, the average land per person in the world(FAN, 1997). On the other hand, a large scale ofrural land is to be transmitted into urban land upon thefast proceeding of urbanization. At present, the urbanpopulation occupies about 30% of the total in China. Ifthe percent become 50% (th…     

Integrated indicators-based gradation of cultivated land quality in mountainous region of Southwestern China

1 Introduction The gradation of cultivated land is to assess the suitability of cultivated land for agricultural production in terms of natural and economic prop-erties of land (Feng et al. 2004). It can be used to evaluate sustainability of land use and …     

Cultivated land resources and its development in the tropic and subtropic mountain areas of south china

Deqing County of Guangdong Province is located in the tropic and subtropic mountain areas of China. Its area of cultivated land from landuse survey is 40% larger than the statistical data. Of all cultivated land, owing to flood, waterlogging, drought and barren soil, the high yield land occupies only 30% and the mid-low yield land 70%, which is far more than the percent by statistics. Because the statistic area of cultivated land is less than the actual, the per unit area yield by statistics is higher than the actual. These situations generally exist in the tropic and subtropic mountain area of South China. So the measures to protect the high yield cultivated land strictly, to improve parts of the mid-low yield selectively, to adjust agricultural structure further, and to control soil erosion, are necessary to make best use of its advantages and bypass the disadvantages.     

Change of Cultivated Land and Its Implications on Food Security in China

1 Introduction FAO defined food security not only in terms of access to and availability of food, but also in terms of resources distribution to produce food and the purchasing power on food where it is not produced (Shi et al., 1996; Ning, 2004). Obviously, to guarantee everyone adequate food is the primary aim and most important content of food security (Xie et al., 1999). Thus, to increase food supply is a precondition for food security by domestic food production and international food t…     

The effects of land uses on purplish soil erosion in hilly area of Sichuan Province,China

1 Introduction Food grain productivity of dry land per capitahas declined significantly during the past fewdecades (Parr et al. 1990). Bowman et al. (1990)and Blaikie (1985) indicated that the greatest lossin productivity comes from soil loss, withsecondary effects from loss of nutrients due toreduced organic matter and increased soil bulkdensity. Soil erosion has major ecological andeconomic consequences in densely populatedChina, particularly, in a large agriculture province,Sichuan…     

规范农村集体建设用地使用权流转的法律思考

介绍了完善农村集体建设用地使用权流转的相关制度,对其流转模式进行了有益探讨;提出在农村集体建设用地使用权流转中必须规范操作规程,并且还要建立一套合理地收益分配机制,使之既能体现国家、集体和个人的合法利益,又能充分保障农民的权益,保证农村经济持续、稳定、健康发展。     

THE EXPERIENCES AND MODELS OF LAND RESOURCES USE IN CHINA

This paper introduces the experiences and models of land resources use in China. They are: (1) to protect farmland is as the basic state policy; (2) to carry out land resources survey and land use planning; (3) establishing a resource-saving agricultural production system with land saving as its priority; (4) to develop agriculture in the whole territory and explore food resources; (5) improving eco-environment and protecting land resources; (6) population control'and moderate consumption to release the pressure on land resources; (7) the integrated development and experiment of the typical regions.     

土地调查中有关城镇与农村土地面积问题的研究

第二次全国土地调查工作中,城镇与农村地区的土地面积在计算方法上有所不同：农村地区的土地面积是以椭球面为基准的面积,即球面面积;城镇地区的土地面积是以平面为基准的面积,即平面面积。二者之间存在差异并按一定规律变化,当调查区处于投影带边缘附近时,同一图斑的球面面积与平面面积之间的差异达到最大。由于采用不同的计算方法而导致面积数量的差异,在进行农村与城镇有关土地数据整合时会出现矛盾。为了建立城乡统一的土地管理信息系统,保证土地面积的一致性,应当采取相应措施消除二者之间的差异。     

STUDY OF RURAL TOURISM IN TURPAN, CHINA

~~STUDY OF RURAL TOURISM IN TURPAN ,CHINA@KEYIM Parhad$Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Urumqi 830011, P. R. China; The Graduate School of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100039, P. R. ChinaBRAMWELL B, LANE B,…