Deforestation in Heilongjiang Province of China, 1896-2000: Severity, spatiotemporal patterns and causes

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• 作者：Jay Gao^a ; ^b ; ^{jg.gao@auckland.ac.nz} ; Yansui Liu^a ; ^{liuys@igsnrr.ac.cn}
• 关键词：Deforestation ; Change detection ; Spatiotemporal pattern ; Cause analysis ; Heilongjiang
• 刊名：Applied Geography
• 出版年：2012
• 出版时间：November, 2012
• 年：2012
• 卷：35
• 期：1-2
• 页码：345-352
• 全文大小：1221 K

文摘

This study attempts to ascertain the spatiotemporal patterns of de(re)forestation and its causes in Heilongjiang Province, China during the last century. In 1896, there were 308,020?km² of forest covering 68 % of the Province. Forest area was reduced to 247,256?km² by 1949 at an annual rate of 1146?km². By 1958 primary forest was reduced to 169,533?km² while secondary forest remained at 68,801?km². Thus, 9421?km² of forest were logged at a rate of 1046?km² per annum. From 1958 to 1980, forest as a whole was reduced by 22,326?km² at an annual rate of 1014?km². The amount of deforestation was reduced to 9211?km² for dense forest, but sparse forest gained 831?km² during 1980-2000. The net decrease of 8379?km² represents an annual loss of 419?km². Spatially, deforested areas used to be extensive and expansive, but have become fragmented with thousands of patches that have a shrinking mean size. These deforested sites were located in low-lying flat terrains with a close proximity to rivers and roads. Such land was replaced primarily by farmland and secondarily by grassland. Therefore, the causes of deforestation are identified as demand for timber, population-driven land reclamation up to 1980, and urbanisation in the last two decades.