Effects of rural-urban migration on vegetation greenness in fragile areas: A case study of Inner Mongolia in China

doi:10.1007/s11442-016-1270-7

Abstract

Abstract:

Different government departments and researchers have paid considerable attention at various levels to improving the eco-environment in ecologically fragile areas. Over the past decade, large numbers of people have emigrated from rural areas as a result of the rapid urbanization in Chinese society. The question then remains: to what extent does this migration affect the regional vegetation greenness in the areas that people have moved from? Based on normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) data with a resolution of 1 km, as well as meteorological data and socio-economic data from 2000 to 2010 in Inner Mongolia, the spatio-temporal variation of vegetation greenness in the study area was analyzed via trend analysis and significance test methods. The contributions of human activities and natural factors to the variation of vegetation conditions during this period were also quantitatively tested and verified, using a multi-regression analysis method. We found that: (1) the vegetation greenness of the study area increased by 10.1% during 2000-2010. More than 28% of the vegetation greenness increased significantly, and only about 2% decreased evidently during the study period. (2) The area with significant degradation showed a banded distribution at the northern edge of the agro-pastoral ecotone in central Inner Mongolia. This indicates that the eco-environment is still fragile in this area, which should be paid close attention. The area where vegetation greenness significantly improved showed a concentrated distribution in the southeast and west of Inner Mongolia. (3) The effect of agricultural labor on vegetation greenness exceeded those due to natural factors (i.e. precipitation and temperature). The emigration of agricultural labor improved the regional vegetation greenness significantly.

Key words: rural-urban migration, agricultural labor, vegetation greenness, NDVI, Inner Mongolia

Shiji LI, Zhigang SUN, Minghong Tan, Xiubin LI. Effects of rural-urban migration on vegetation greenness in fragile areas: A case study of Inner Mongolia in China[J].Journal of Geographical Sciences, 2016, 26(3): 313-324.

Figures/Tables 6

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Category	Indicator	Variable	Description
Natural factors	ATP^a AMT^b	Slope ATP Slope AMP	Variation in trend of ATP for 2000-2010 Variation in trend of AMT for 2000-2010
Human activities	QAL^c AAL^d CAPAL^e	CRQAL CRAAL CRCAPAL	Rate of change of QAL for 2000-2010 Rate of change of AAL for 2000-2010 Rate of change of CAPAL for 2000-2010
Human activities	SCPAL^f	CRSCPAL	Rate of change of SCPAL for 2000-2010

Model		Unstandardized coefficients		Standardized coefficients	t	Sig.	Collinearity statistics
Model		B	Std. error	Standardized coefficients	t	Sig.	Tolerance	VIF
	Adjusted R²: 0.263
	(Constant)	0.006	0.002		2.735	0.008
	Slope ATP	0.002	0.001	0.359	2.545	0.014^**	0.629	1.590
	Slope AMT	-0.343	0.169	-0.273	-2.028	0.048^**	0.687	1.455
	CRQAL	-0.010	0.003	-0.447	-3.134	0.003^***	0.613	1.631
	CRAAL	-0.031	0.019	-0.192	-1.660	0.103	0.930	1.075
	CRCAPAL	-0.002	0.001	-0.265	-2.151	0.036^**	0.824	1.214
	CRSCPA	0.000	0.001	0.112	0.904	0.370	0.813	1.230