Spatiotemporal characteristics and driving mechanisms of arable land in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region during 1990-2015

This paper is an analysis of the spatiotemporal evolution characteristics of arable land in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region from 1990 to 2015 and detects the driving factors of arable land change. On the basis of the study, the existing problems of arable land are discussed and some suggestions to promote regional rural development are proposed. The conclusions are as follows: (1) The proportion of arable land gradually decreased from 1990 to 2015 and the proportion of arable land in the south of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region was larger than that in the north of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region: arable land with a proportion of more than 75% lies in the low elevation and slope. The proportion of arable land in Beijing has also decreased faster than in other regions because most arable land was converted primarily into construction land due to urban expansion. (2) The mechanism showed that county economies and populations influenced the change in the quantity of arable land, and the position and natural conditions influenced the pattern changes in arable land. (3) Finally, this paper details some suggestions on the terms of legal institutions, the land consolidation project, and developing modern agriculture and industrial upgrading, which could provide scientific support for rural sustainable development and arable land protection in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region.