IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jlands/v12y2023i9p1797-d1241243.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Spatiotemporal Change in Land Cover and Discrepancies within Different Countries on the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau over a Recent 30-Year Period

Author

Listed:
  • Yan Chen

    (Key Laboratory of Land Surface Pattern and Simulation, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
    College of Resources and Environment, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China)

  • Erqi Xu

    (Key Laboratory of Land Surface Pattern and Simulation, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China)

Abstract

The Qinghai–Tibet Plateau is a unique global natural geographical unit with a high altitude and fragile ecology, where land cover change has been affecting its regional ecological security and sustainable development. The plateau covers nine countries with different variations in climate change and human activities, which cause significant spatial variations in its land cover change. This paper uses land cover data to reveal the spatiotemporal characteristics and multi-country differences in land cover change on the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau from 1992 to 2020 by applying spatiotemporal characteristic analysis and mapping methods. The results show that grassland (65.70%), bare land (15.56%), and woodland (10.25%) are the main types of land cover on the plateau, accounting for 91.51% of the total area. The interconversion of bare land and grassland was dominant in 1992–2020, with an area share of 67.83%. The turning point year of grassland change occurred in 2015. The grassland area increased by 6312 km 2 in 1992–2015, while it decreased by 14,646 km 2 in the plateau in 2015–2020. The areas of woodland, cropland, and water increased by 2.77%, 5.85%, and 7.57%, respectively, and the area of built-up land increased from 299.17 km 2 to 1206.29 km 2 . Overall, a warming and wetting trend of the climate in the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau has driven the expansion of natural vegetation and water in the central plateau within China, with its natural vegetation area increasing by 0.11%. However, the development of regional warming and drying caused local grassland degradation, where Kyrgyzstan and India within the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau experienced the most prominent vegetation degradation. Human activities are relatively frequent in the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau within China and India, causing higher growth rates of built-up land and cropland than in other countries. The establishment of reserves and effective forest management policies have led to significant increases in woodland areas in China and Nepal within the plateau, while weak forest management and limited investment in forest conservation have led to high rates of deforestation in India and Myanmar. Accelerated temperature rises and regional differences in precipitation are the main drivers of large-scale land cover change on the plateau and differences in human activities and land use policies are responsible for the dramatic and diverse localized land cover change.

Suggested Citation

  • Yan Chen & Erqi Xu, 2023. "The Spatiotemporal Change in Land Cover and Discrepancies within Different Countries on the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau over a Recent 30-Year Period," Land, MDPI, vol. 12(9), pages 1-21, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jlands:v:12:y:2023:i:9:p:1797-:d:1241243
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/12/9/1797/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/12/9/1797/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Xiaowei Chuai & Jiqun Wen & Dachang Zhuang & Xiaomin Guo & Ye Yuan & Yue Lu & Mei Zhang & Jiasheng Li, 2019. "Intersection of Physical and Anthropogenic Effects on Land-Use/Land-Cover Changes in Coastal China of Jiangsu Province," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(8), pages 1-16, April.
    2. Reshmita Nath & Yibo Luan & Wangming Yang & Chen Yang & Wen Chen & Qian Li & Xuefeng Cui, 2015. "Changes in Arable Land Demand for Food in India and China: A Potential Threat to Food Security," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 7(5), pages 1-27, April.
    3. Jeremy S. Brooks, 2013. "Avoiding the Limits to Growth: Gross National Happiness in Bhutan as a Model for Sustainable Development," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 5(9), pages 1-25, August.
    4. Xiaoyu Deng & Liangxu Wu & Chengjin He & Huaiyong Shao, 2022. "Study on Spatiotemporal Variation Pattern of Vegetation Coverage on Qinghai–Tibet Plateau and the Analysis of Its Climate Driving Factors," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(14), pages 1-17, July.
    5. Imtiaz Rangwala & James Miller, 2012. "Climate change in mountains: a review of elevation-dependent warming and its possible causes," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 114(3), pages 527-547, October.
    6. Bo Zhang & Wei Zhou, 2021. "Spatial–Temporal Characteristics of Precipitation and Its Relationship with Land Use/Cover Change on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, China," Land, MDPI, vol. 10(3), pages 1-21, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Zhichao Zhang & Yang Wang & Haisheng Tang & Zhen Zhu, 2023. "Analysis and Prediction of Spatial and Temporal Evolution of Ecosystem Service Value on the Northern Slopes of the Kunlun Mountains Based on Land Use," Land, MDPI, vol. 12(12), pages 1-21, November.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. GAO Tianming & Anna Ivolga & Vasilii Erokhin, 2018. "Sustainable Rural Development in Northern China: Caught in a Vice between Poverty, Urban Attractions, and Migration," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(5), pages 1-20, May.
    2. Katsu Masaki, 2022. "Exploring the ‘Partial Connections’ between Growth and Degrowth Debates: Bhutan’s Policy of Gross National Happiness," Journal of Interdisciplinary Economics, , vol. 34(1), pages 86-103, January.
    3. Yali Zhong & Shuqing Chen & Haihua Mo & Weiwen Wang & Pengfei Yu & Xuemei Wang & Nima Chuduo & Bian Ba, 2022. "Contribution of urban expansion to surface warming in high-altitude cities of the Tibetan Plateau," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 175(1), pages 1-22, November.
    4. Pin-Chih Wang & Yuh-Ming Lee & Chiu-Yang Chen, 2014. "Estimation of Resource Productivity and Efficiency: An Extended Evaluation of Sustainability Related to Material Flow," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 6(9), pages 1-18, September.
    5. Verma, Ritu & Ura, Karma, 2022. "Gender differences in gross national happiness: Analysis of the first nationwide wellbeing survey in Bhutan," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 150(C).
    6. Yunfei Peng & Fangling Yang & Lingwei Zhu & Ruru Li & Chao Wu & Deng Chen, 2021. "Comparative Analysis of the Factors Influencing Land Use Change for Emerging Industry and Traditional Industry: A Case Study of Shenzhen City, China," Land, MDPI, vol. 10(6), pages 1-17, May.
    7. Fabio Recanatesi & Matteo Clemente & Efstathios Grigoriadis & Flavia Ranalli & Marco Zitti & Luca Salvati, 2015. "A Fifty-Year Sustainability Assessment of Italian Agro-Forest Districts," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(1), pages 1-13, December.
    8. Neetu Abey George & Fiona H. McKay, 2019. "The Public Distribution System and Food Security in India," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(17), pages 1-14, September.
    9. Kumar Bahadur Darjee & Prem Raj Neupane & Michael Köhl, 2023. "Proactive Adaptation Responses by Vulnerable Communities to Climate Change Impacts," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(14), pages 1-30, July.
    10. Yifan Zhu & Chengkang Wang & Takeru Sakai, 2019. "Remote Sensing-Based Analysis of Landscape Pattern Evolution in Industrial Rural Areas: A Case of Southern Jiangsu, China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(18), pages 1-19, September.
    11. Bursa, Bartosz & Mailer, Markus & Axhausen, Kay W., 2022. "Travel behavior on vacation: transport mode choice of tourists at destinations," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 166(C), pages 234-261.
    12. Guoxiu Shang & Xiaogang Wang & Yun Li & Qi Han & Wei He & Kaixiao Chen, 2023. "Heterogeneity Analysis of Spatio-Temporal Distribution of Vegetation Cover in Two-Tider Administrative Regions of China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(18), pages 1-20, September.
    13. Xiaohui Fan & Qixiang Wang & Mengben Wang & Claudia Villarroel Jiménez, 2015. "Warming Amplification of Minimum and Maximum Temperatures over High-Elevation Regions across the Globe," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 10(10), pages 1-17, October.
    14. Hualin Xie & Yuyang Wen & Yongrok Choi & Xinmin Zhang, 2021. "Global Trends on Food Security Research: A Bibliometric Analysis," Land, MDPI, vol. 10(2), pages 1-21, January.
    15. Yu Chen & Yilian Liu & Shengfu Yang & Chengwu Liu, 2023. "Impact of Land-Use Change on Ecosystem Services in the Wuling Mountains from a Transport Development Perspective," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(2), pages 1-21, January.
    16. Elias Zubler & Andreas Fischer & Mark Liniger & Mischa Croci-Maspoli & Simon Scherrer & Christof Appenzeller, 2014. "Localized climate change scenarios of mean temperature and precipitation over Switzerland," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 125(2), pages 237-252, July.
    17. Gholamreza Roshan & Stefan W. Grab & Mohammad Saeed Najafi, 2020. "The role of physical geographic parameters affecting past (1980–2010) and future (2020–2049) thermal stress in Iran," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 102(1), pages 365-399, May.
    18. Yongzhong Tan & Ju He & Zhenning Yu & Yonghua Tan, 2018. "Can Arable Land Alone Ensure Food Security? The Concept of Arable Land Equivalent Unit and Its Implications in Zhoushan City, China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(4), pages 1-13, March.
    19. Vasilii Erokhin & Gao Tianming & Luminita Chivu & Jean Vasile Andrei, 2022. "Food security in a food self-sufficient economy: A review of China's ongoing transition to a zero hunger state," Agricultural Economics, Czech Academy of Agricultural Sciences, vol. 68(12), pages 476-487.
    20. Libin Yan & Zhengyu Liu & Guangshan Chen & J. E. Kutzbach & Xiaodong Liu, 2016. "Mechanisms of elevation-dependent warming over the Tibetan plateau in quadrupled CO2 experiments," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 135(3), pages 509-519, April.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jlands:v:12:y:2023:i:9:p:1797-:d:1241243. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.