Study on Spatio-Temporal Changes of Land Use Sustainability in Southwestern Border Mountainous Provinces in Recent 20 Years Based on Remote Sensing Interpretation: A Case Study in Yunnan Province, China

Abstract

The basic characteristics of mountain areas are that the innate ecological environment is relatively fragile, the acquired ecological environment is severely damaged and degraded, the whole economy and society are still relatively backward, and the degree of sustainable development is relatively low. At present, it has not been seen that land use sustainability evaluation (LUSE) research lasting for many years based on RS and GIS in mountainous provinces. It is urgent to build a suitable, feasible, operable and applicable LUSE system for mountainous regions so as to provide a basic foundation for strategic planning and management of sustainable land use in mountainous provinces. This study integrated “RS and GIS + multi-phase LUCC + LUSE theory and quantitative practical methods” based on mountain provinces, firmly grasped the basic characteristics of mountain areas—the vulnerability of ecological environment, and conducted the study on mountain LUSE. According to the outcomes of RS of land use in the study area in three phases (2000, 2010 and 2020), a comprehensive indicator system is established from the three dimensions of ecological friendliness of land use (EFLU), the economic viability of land use (EVLU) and social acceptability of land use (SALU). Using the Delphi method to determine weights and combining the AHP method and the comprehensive analysis method, this paper quantitatively measures the overall sustainability of land use (OSLU) of 129 counties in Yunnan province in 2000, 2010 and 2020, revealing the spatio-temporal characteristics of the OSLU of Yunnan province and all counties from 2000 to 2020, and aiming to provide a basic and foundation for strategic planning and management of sustainable land use (SLU) in mountainous provinces. The degree of ecological friendliness (DEF), degree of economic viability (DEV), degree of social acceptability (DSA) and degree of overall sustainability (DOS) in Yunnan province and all counties have been significantly improved. Accordingly, the OSLU has been improved to a certain extent, with a 0.66% annual growth rate. It indicates that the development and construction from 2000 to 2020 have significantly improved the OSLU. However, regional differences are large. At present, EFLU, EVLU, and SALU in Yunnan province are not high as a whole. The basic situation reflected that there are obvious deficiencies in EFLU, EVLU and SALU in Yunnan province. Land exploitation and use activities have caused certain influences and the destruction of the ecological environment.

Land Suitability Evaluation of Sorghum Planting in Luquan County of Jinsha River Dry and Hot Valley Based on the Perspective of Sustainable Development of Characteristic Poverty Alleviation Industry

“…The primary strategic goal of "industrial prosperity" has put forward new scientific and technological needs for planting single characteristic crops. Yunnan is located in the frontier of China, with mountains and fragile ecological environment, which has typical characteristics of frontier, ethnic groups and poverty [49][50][51]. Although it is a preliminary attempt to evaluate the suitability of sorghum planting land in the dry and hot valley of the Jinsha River in Luquan County, this paper has achieved rich results and experience.…”

Analysis of the Coupling Coordination and Obstacle Factors between Sustainable Development and Ecosystem Service Value in Yunnan Province, China: A Perspective Based on the Production-Living-Ecological Functions

“…The Chinese government is deeply concerned about the construction of ecological civilization and ecological environment maintenance in Yunnan Province. Unfortunately, Yunnan Province is essentially a mountainous terrain, and its ecological environment is extremely fragile [42]. With the development of human economy and society, the ecosystem functions of Yunnan Province have been destroyed to a great extent.…”

“…In addition, we also note that the SD level of cities in central Yunnan has increased more significantly than other regions, but the level of coupled coordination has hardly increased significantly. The reason for this is that, as urbanization progresses, a large amount of productive and ecological land in central Yunnan is continuously encroached upon by living land, leading to a decrease in ESV year by year [35,42]. Even if SD developed significantly for the better, the gap between the two imbalances cannot be obviously improved.…”

Spatiotemporal characteristics and the national variations of borderland use change in Laos within the geopolinomical context

“…LUC studies have mainly focused on areas with significant human activity (Han et al, 2015), fragile ecological environments (Li et al, 2013), or global impact (Deadman et al, 2004). However, LUC studies in borderlands and/or its geopolinomical impacts began to receive increasing attention worldwide until the 1990s, and some relevant studies discussed the following: LUC under border armed conflicts (Zheng et al, 2022), the impact of socioeconomic mutation (Revolutions of 1989) on land cover and landscape differences in the Ukrainian-Polish-Czech border region (Kuemmerle et al, 2006), the relationship between green infrastructure construction and different land cover categories and structural functions in the Austrian-Hungarian border region (Kuttner et al, 2013), sustainable land-use development along the Amazon basin due to border transportation facilities (Perz et al, 2013), spatiotemporal changes in land-use sustainability in the southwestern border mountains in China's Yunnan Province (Yang et al, 2022), and the disturbance of terrestrial ecology by wildfires in the China-Mongolia-Russia cross-border areas (Li et al, 2023). Border areas are becoming increasingly active zones for LUC, but most relevant studies are limited to armed conflict, infrastructure construction, and ecological and environmental effects.…”