Driving forces of land use and land cover change (LUCC) in the Zoige Wetland, Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau

The Zoige Wetland is located in the northeastern Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau, which is highly sensitive to global environment change and human disturbance because of its high elevation and cold environment, thus, it’s a hotspot for land use and land cover change (LUCC) research. We used Landsat MSS images from 1975, Landsat ETM images from 2000, and Landsat TM images from 1990 and 2005 to assess the LUCC in the study area, using GIS techniques, as well as topographic, vegetation, and soil maps combined with field investigations. The monitoring result shows that the study area’s environment degraded rapidly between 1975 and 2005, including wetland shrinkage from 5,308 km 2 to 4,980 km 2 , sandy land expansion from 112 km 2 to 137 km 2 , forest land decreasing from 5,686 km 2 to 5,443 km 2 , and grassland degradation from 12,309 km 2 to 10,672 km 2 . According to the analysis of meteorological data and social-economic statistical data, we concluded that the LUCC in the Zoige Wetland was caused by both natural and anthropogenic factors, but human activities were primarily responsible for the observed LUCC, thereby, we suggest human behaviors must be adjusted to control environmental degradation.