Deforestation in Heilongjiang Province of China, 1896-2000: Severity, Spatiotemporal Patterns and Causes

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 Jay Gao, Liu Yansui. Deforestation in Heilongjiang Province of China, 1896每2000: Severity, spatiotemporal patterns and causes. Applied Geography, 2012, 35(1-2): 345每352.

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 atches 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.

Keywords: Deforestation  Change detection  Spatiotemporal pattern  Cause analysis  Heilongjiang