Evaluating Sustainable Development of Land Resources in the Yangtze River Economic Belt of China

Introduction

Land resources are the most basic and important natural resource; they include both natural and social elements, and provide materials needed for production (Kretschmann, 2013). Specifically, the natural elements of land resources are the inherent attributes formed by long-term interactions and various restrictive elements such as lithology, slope, altitude, soil texture, etc. These characteristics directly affect the suitability and quality of land resources. The social elements of land resources are the specific attributes that promote production through development and utilization of land resources. Although development and utilization of land can create economic and social benefits, they can also lead to several problems, such as soil erosion, desertification, and a decline in the regional ecological energy value. Therefore, land use is related to sustainable development.

The YREB straddles three major regions in China, covering 11 provinces and cities, and occupying 2.05 million square kilometers, which is 21.4% of China’s territory. The YREB accounts for more than 40% of China’s population and GDP, making it a major strategic development region with national and global influence. Due to rapid economic development and the increasing population density in the YREB, the demands of land are increasingly diversified, and the connections and competition among ecological, economic, and social elements are complex. Additionally, the limited amount of land in the YREB is a significant threat to land use sustainability. Therefore, it is of great practical significance to evaluate the sustainable development level of land resources, understand the current situation of land development and utilization, and clarify the existing problems in land use. In this study, we used various models and methods to analyze the sustainable development level of land resources in the YREB (Figure 1).

Figure 1.

Method flow chart

Literature Review

Land resources refer to the land that can be used by human beings in the foreseeable future based on current capacity conditions (Fürst et al., 2013; Guang & Qing, 2006; Hurni, 2000). The Framework for the Evaluation of Sustainable Land Management promulgated by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in 1993 sets out the basic principles, procedures, and five criteria for the sustainable use of land resources (Food and Agriculture Organization, 1993). Weiland asserted that sustainable use of land resources is the key to healthy economic and social development (Weiland et al., 2016). Ecological, economic, social, and cultural aspects should be integrated into long-term planning of land resource utilization, and the relationship between people and land, and between people, resources, and the environment should be coordinated (Weiland et al., 2016). Since then, studies on evaluating and modelling environmentally friendly land resource utilization have been gradually increasing. Scholars began to analyze the impact of natural, social, and economic factors on the sustainable use of land resources (Cocklin et al., 2004; Reidsma et al., 2011; Song et al., 2015; Song et al., 2019), and sustainable utilization has become a research focus.