Vegetation Cover, Climate And Human Activities on the Loess Plateau

Here, spatial and temporal variation in vegetation cover on the Loess Plateau is analyzed using Sen + Mann-Kendall, correlation analysis and residual analysis methods based on the SPOT VGT normal difference vegetation index and meteorological data from 1999-2010. We found that Loess Plateau vegetation cover shows an increasing trend and its growth has been 0.1497/a. However, there is an obvious spatial distribution between regions and in the eastern region vegetation NDVI growth is better than the western region. The change in vegetation cover is correlated with precipitation and this is the main factor driving vegetation change. The Green for Grain Project has greatly increased vegetation cover and rehabilitation across the Loess Plateau, but regional urbanization and industrialization, overgrazing, logging and excessive reclamation and mining have decreased vegetation NDVI in the area. Overall, however, there has been a net positive impact and the Green for Grain Project has highlighted the ecological effects across the Loess Plateau.