Study on the Spatial Differences in Land-Use Change and Driving Factors in Tibet

Abstract

As the main body of the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau, the Tibet Autonomous Region is an important ecological security barrier for the surrounding areas and even for Asia. However, the ecological environment is very fragile, and slight changes in land use may seriously affect the stability of the ecosystem. Therefore, it is necessary to deeply explore the driving factors of change in the various land-use types to stabilize the ecological structure and function of Tibet. In this paper, the transition matrix, land dynamic degree and Geodetector model are introduced to obtain the land-use change in the whole Tibetan region and its four subregions from 1990 to 2020. Based on the elevation, slope, temperature, precipitation, population and GDP, the driving factors of conversions between land-use types are explored. The results showed that during the study period, farmland, grassland and forest all showed a decreasing trend in area size. The grassland is large in the northwest region and is the main land-use type in Tibet, and its conversion to water area is the largest. The area of construction land has increased significantly, and its occupation of farmland is the largest, especially in the southwest region. The Geodetector results show that there are differences in the driving factors of the conversions between the whole region and each subregion. In the whole region, the increase in precipitation and temperature were the main drivers of unutilized land and grassland-to-water area conversions, whereas the growth of GDP and population were the dominant drivers of built-up land expansion; however, at the subregional scale, the driving effects of topographic and climatic factors in the two conversions were enhanced. In addition, under the implementation of different ecological protection measures, the productivity of vegetation has been improved. Based on the study results, ecological protection and restoration projects can be implemented in a targeted manner by guiding human activities and formulating reasonable plans to achieve the purpose of strengthening the sustainability of land use and protecting the ecological environment regionally.