Impact of Policies on Unexploited Land Change in Guiyang City, Guizhou Province, China

Unexploited land change is a main driver of regional eco-environment change. Through an integrated technique of geographic information system (GIS), remote sensing (RS), and global positioning system (GPS), the authors attempted to address this topic by examining unexploited land conversion in Guiyang City in Guizhou province in southwestern China as a case study, as well as looking at the effect of policies in land use from 1996 to 2010 in the same area. Results showed that: Agricultural development of unexploited land was encouraged from 1996 to 2000, and a progression conversion process with direct and indirect transformations overlaid was formed by unexploited land → arable land + unexploited land → forest land and grass land → arable land. The conversion management of unexploited land was enhanced, unexploited land occupied for construction was controlled, and the area of unexploited land converted to forest land and grassland showed an upward trend from 2000 to 2006. Local government was encouraged and supported in exploring construction and use of unexploited land, and achieved the maximum value by converting unexploited land to construction land, as a result we see the area of forest land and grassland decreased from 2006 to 2010.