Spatiotemporal Pattern and Driving Mechanism of Cultivated Land Use Transition in China

In the past 20 years, the global economy has undergone tremendous changes with rapid industrialization and urbanization. Cultivated land is an important spatial carrier for human production and life, and its use pattern also changes with socioeconomic development. Natural, economic, social, and policy factors jointly drive the cultivated land use transition (CLUT). However, the spatiotemporal pattern and evolution characteristics of the CLUT at the national scale have not yet been clarified in China. Factors that play a leading role in the transition are also unclear. To this end, this paper explores the spatiotemporal evolution characteristics of the CLUT at a national scale and analyzes the main drivers and spatial differentiation rules of the transition based on relevant data from 31 provincial units on the Chinese mainland from 2000 to 2019. The results show that: (1) The CLUT in China from 2000 to 2019 had obvious stage characteristics. (2) The coordination degree of the CLUT was enhanced overall. Areas with a higher degree of coordination presented a spatial distribution pattern of small agglomeration and large dispersion, while low-level areas were distributed in spots. (3) Different drivers had various effects on the CLUT. The topography played an inhibitory role in the transition, and its influence showed obvious differences between the east and west regions. The effect of the construction land demand index shifted from inhibition to promotion, while the effects of the gross agricultural economic output and the total power of agricultural machinery in the transition were insignificant.