The Status and Prospect of Land Use/Land Cover Changes in Three Gorges Reservoir Area

Studies of the land use/land cover are the basis to research the changes of ecological environment in Three Gorges reservoir Area. At present the Three Gorges reservoir area has become a regional research hot spot of land-use change. Current research has confirmed the construction of the Three Gorges Project which has brought some influence on land use and land cover. The main land use change is the transformation of arable land to construction land,and its surface area of river increases obviously. However,there still lacks of sufficient awareness of spatial pattern and spatial variability of the land use/land cover change and the ecological environment in the Three Gorges reservoir area. More attention should be paid to the comparative study of land use/cover before and after the impoundment of Three Gorges reservoir,the land use change in comparison with the evaluation of land ecological security in resettlement area,as well as the simulation study of future land use/cover patterns and changes,in order to forecast and control the future trend of land use/land cover change,and on this basis to further clarify the relations among the land use/land cover,soil erosion,reservoir water environment,land use ecological safety,global change and the Three Gorges reservoir sustainable use.