decoupling relationship between cultivated land occupation by construction and economic growth in...

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Decoupling Relationship Between Cultivated LandOccupation by Construction and Economic Growth inChina During 1998–2007Yang Ke a b , Chen Baiming a & Tang Xiumei a ba Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy ofSciences , Beijing , 100101 , Chinab Graduate University of Chinese Academy of Sciences , Beijing , 100049 , ChinaPublished online: 20 May 2013.

To cite this article: Yang Ke , Chen Baiming & Tang Xiumei (2010) Decoupling Relationship Between Cultivated LandOccupation by Construction and Economic Growth in China During 1998–2007, Chinese Journal of Population Resources andEnvironment, 8:1, 38-46, DOI: 10.1080/10042857.2010.10684964

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38

Chinese Journal of Population, Resources and Environment Vol.8 No.1 March 2010

Decoupling Relationship Between Cultivated Land Occupation by Construction and Economic Growth in China During 1998–2007

Yang Ke1,2, Chen Baiming1, Tang Xiumei1,2

1. Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China; 2. Graduate University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China

are mainly ecological cropland conversion, adjustment of agricultural structure, disaster destruction and cultivated land occupation by construction (CLOC). However, the scale of ecological cropland conversion is finite. The extent of adjustment of agricultural structure has become balanced in the past years. The proportion of cultivated land loss by disaster destruction is small and decreasing. Thus, CLOC will be an uppermost factor to the cultivated land loss (Chen and Du, 2006). The contradiction between CLOC and eco-nomic growth is becoming more obvious. The study on the internal mechanism between them is of theoretical and practical significance (He et al., 2002; Wu et al., 2008).

Western researchers have done a lot researches on the relationship between material consumption and economic growth since the industrialization in developed countries and brought forward the decoupling theory successively. In China some researchers applied the decoupling theory to analyze the relationship between cultivated land quantity and economic growth. Chen and Du (2006) constructed a framework of decoupling research between cultivated land occupation and gross domestic product (GDP) growth based on the drive-pressure-response framework, as to pro-tect cultivated land effectively and enhance the protection theory. Guo and Yan (2007) used decoupling indices based on urbanization growth and population growth to analyze the decoupling relationship between CLOC and economic growth in recent years. Du and Chen (2007) analyzed the rationality of CLOC and economic growth by the data of China with the decoupling method. Cao et al. (2007) did decoupling research on changes of cultivated land quantity and GDP in representative areas, and discovered that the time when relative or absolute decoupling occurred was ba-sically identical. Shi et al. (2008) taking Jiulongpo District in Chongqing City as an example, studied the relationship between cultivated land change and economic development, and drew a conclusion that absolute decoupling was domi-

Abstract: With the rapid development of economy, the conversion of cultivated land into nonagricultural land occurs more frequently and makes cultivated land sparser. This article based on the decou-pling theory takes the situations of cultivated land occupation by construction and economic growth in China from 1998 to 2007 as an example to evaluate and analyze the decoupling. The conclu-sions are drawn as follows. First, the article applies IU curve and gross method. The decoupling status by gross method, in contrast to that by IU curve, can express the pressure from cultivated land occupation better and is similar to the decoupling status based on the model of decoupling in this article. Second, in most provinces of China, the relationship between the cultivated land occupation by construction and economic growth has transformed from ex-pansive negative decoupling to strong decoupling. In general, the transformation was firstly from economically advanced eastern municipalities under the central government directly, then to eco-nomically advanced eastern coastal provinces, and lastly to central, western and northeastern regions. Third, the decoupling status was relative to contemporaneous policies and laws on cultivated land protection and regional development planning. Their effect is obvi-ous and positive.Key words: cultivated land occupation, economic growth, decou-pling

1 Introduction

The rapid development of economy has aroused many new challenges and problems with cultivated land in China (Chen and Zhou, 2004). Especially the conversion of culti-vated land into nonagricultural land occurs more frequently and makes cultivated land sparser (Wu, 2006). Based on the statistical data from Survey of Land Use Change in China between 1998 and 2007, the annual average loss of cultivated land was 1 260 995 ha, of which 208 570 ha was occupied by construction. The causes of cultivated land loss

此间距15mm

此间距上下7mm

Received 10 October 2009; Accepted 7 December 2009

Corresponding author: Yang Ke ([email protected])

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nant and decoupling elasticity decreased gradually in the fluctuation. Cao et al. (2006) found that cultivated land and GDP changed asynchronously and relative decoupling con-tinued from 1990 to 2004 around the Three Gorges district. Based on the previous researches, this article applied the decoupling indices by Organization for Economic Coopera-tion and Development (OECD) and the decoupling status by Tapio to constructing the model of decoupling (OECD, 2001; Petri, 2005), calculated the decoupling elasticity, and presented the decoupling degrees as a coordinate graph. Then, taking the situations of CLOC and economic growth in China from 1998 to 2007 as an example, it evaluated the decoupling, analyzed the dynamic changes, the spatio-temporal characteristic and reasons in order to advise for protecting cultivated land effectively.

2 Data and methods

2.1 Data

The cultivated land data were obtained from China Land and Resources Yearbooks 1999–2007 (Newsroom of China Land and Resources Yearbook, 2000–2006; Newsroom of China Land and Resources Yearbook, 2008) and Survey of Land Use Change in China 2007 (Cadastral Management Department of Ministry of Land and Resources, 2008). The data in research began from 1998 because the data about cultivated land area were adjusted in 1996. The social and economic data were mainly obtained from statistical yearbooks, statistical yearbooks of economy, the plans for national economy and social development reports of prov-inces, municipalities directly under the central government and autonomous regions from 1999 to 2008.

2.2 Methods

2.2.1 Decoupling theory

1) Conception and development of decoupling indices by OECD

The word decoupling was used mainly in physics. In the study of the impact of agricultural policies on agricultural product or trade by OECD, decoupling means that policies have no impact on agricultural product or trade in a board sense, and in a narrow sense it means that policies have no impact on the equilibrium state of agricultural product or trade, or any outside interference factors do not change the quantities of agricultural product or trade (OECD, 2001).

Environmental researchers from OECD think that decou-pling means breaking the link between environmentally bad and economically good, or making the change speed of the two asynchronous. When the rate of GDP growth is lager than that of environmental contaminant growth, relative decoupling occurs. Contrarily, absolute decoupling occurs (Chen and Du, 2006; OECD, 2002). The ratio of decoupling indices of the start and the end of one period can be used to analyze and appraise the impact of some measures such as policies and laws (OECD, 2001). The formula for calculat-ing the decoupling index is as follows

(1)

where R is the decoupling ratio, EP is the index of pressure from environment burthen, and DF is the index of drive from economic growth.

2) Mode by TapioTapio introduced decoupling elasticity to distinguish

the decoupling degree, and then divided all possible results into eight subcategories in the research of the connection between transport and GDP growth in EU. Its advantage is to orientate all possibilities between environmental pressure and economic driving factors reasonably, so as to describe the performance of measures taken by the government clear and serve for making new policies and laws (OECD, 2002; Petri, 2005).

2.2.2 Decoupling indices and mode

Referring to researches on the decoupling by OECD and Tapio, this article takes the status of CLOC to stand for the pressure index EP from environmental burthen and the sta-tus of economic output to stand for the drive index DF from economic growth. According to the analysis by Tapio et al. (Jarmo et al., 2003; Petri, 2005; Li et al., 2008), this article constructs the model of decoupling as follows

(2)

where n stands for the year n, βn+1 is the decoupling elastic-ity of the next year n+1, EPn and EPn+1 stand for the status of CLOC in the year n and the next year n+1 respectively, and DFn and DFn+1 stand for the status of economic output in the year n and the next year n+1 respectively. The nu-merator and denominator stand respectively for the change rates of CLOC and economic output in the next year n+1. βn+1 means as the change rate of economic output is 1%, the

( / )=

( / )end of period

start of period

EP DFR

EP DF

11

1

( ) /( ) /

n nn

n n

n

n

EP EP EPDF DF DF

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economic output increases (ΔDF>0) but CLOC decreases (ΔEP<0) (and elasticity<0). The strong decoupling is a perfect status between cultivated land occupation and eco-nomic growth. In the strong negative decoupling (strong re-coupling or reverse decoupling) (V in Fig. 1), economic output decreases (ΔDF<0) but CLOC increases (ΔEP>0) (and elasticity<0). The strong negative decoupling is a bad status between cultivated land occupation and economic growth. In the weak decoupling (VIII in Fig. 1), both economic output and cultivated land occupation increase (ΔDF>0, ΔEP>0) (and 0<elasticity<0.8). In the expansive coupling (VII in Fig. 1), both economic output and cul-

change rate of CLOC is βn+1%.

2.2.3 Critical value of decoupling elasticity and coor-dinate graph of decoupling degrees

A ±20% variation of the elasticity values around 1.0 is here still regarded as coupling in order not to overinterpret slight changes as significant (Li et al., 2005; Petri, 2005). Thus, 0.8 and 1.2 that are stood for by m1 and m2 respec-tively may be thought of as the critical values of decoupling elasticity. In the research on environmental quality and economic development, Beckerman et al. (1992) thought that with economic development, the environmental pres-sure fell automatically after arriving at a peak value. Conse-quently, an inverted U-curve that is called the environmen-tal Kuznets curve (EKC) appears (Beckeman, 1992; Shafik, 1992; Selden, 1994; Grossman, 1995; Panayotou, 1997). However, the environmental pressure rises again after a period’s fall in some instance. That is to say, re-coupling, reverse decoupling or negative decoupling occurs. In the research on EKC between material use and economic de-velopment in EU, Jarmo Vehmas et al. (2003) took total and relative quantity into consideration and put forward the conception model of relative decoupling and re-coupling. Referring to this model, this article divides the decoupling degrees further according to m1 and m2 into eight categories and forms the coordinate graph of decoupling degrees as follow (Jarmo et al., 2003; Zhao, 2006).

From Fig. 1, in the strong decoupling (I in Fig. 1),

expansive negativedecoupling β>m1

m1

VIVII

VIII

expansive couplingm1>β>m2

m2

weak decouplingβ>m2

I

II

III

IV

V

strong decouplingβ>0

recessive decouplingβ>m1

recessive couplingm1>β>m2

weak negativedecouplingβ>m2

strong negativedecoupling β>0

ΔEP/EP

ΔDP/DP

Fig. 1 Coordinate graph of decoupling degrees

70 000

60 000

50 000

40 000

30 000

20 000

10 000

0

Bei

jing

2000–2001 CLOC2002–2003 CLOC2004–2005 CLOC2006–2007 CLOC2000–2001 non-agricultural GDP2002–2003 non-agricultural GDP2004–2005 non-agricultural GDP2006–2007 non-agricultural GDP

45 000

40 000

35 000

30 000

25 000

20 000

15 000

10 000

5 000

0

nona

gric

ultu

ral G

DP

(100

mill

ion

yuan

RM

B)

Tian

jin

Heb

ei

Shan

xi

Inne

r Mon

golia

Liao

ning

Jilin

Hei

long

jiang

Shan

ghai

Jian

gsu

Zhej

iang

Anh

uiFu

jian

Jian

gxi

Shan

dong

Hen

an

Hub

ei

Hun

an

Gua

ngdo

ngG

uang

xi

Hai

nan

Cho

ngqi

ng

Sich

uan

Gui

zhou

Yunn

anTi

bet

Shaa

nxi

Gan

su

Qin

ghai

Nin

gxia

Xin

jiang

Fig. 2 Curves of CLOC and nonagricultural GDP from 1998 to 2007 in 31 provinces of China

CLO

C (h

a)

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120100

80

60

40

20 0

−20

−40

−60−80

−100

ΔEP/

EP (%

)

22 27 32 37 42 47 52

I strong decouplingΔDF/DF (%)

VII expansive coupling

VIII weak decoupling

VI expansive negative decoupling

(d) Decoupling degrees from 2006 to 2007

−50

−150

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ΔEP/

EP (%

)

22 27 32 37 42 47 52I strong decoupling ΔDF/DF (%)




(c) Decoupling degrees from 2004 to 2005


250

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100

50

0

−50

−100

19 24 29 34 39

I strong decoupling ΔDF/DF (%)


(b) Decoupling degrees from 2002 to 2003

ΔEP/

EP (%

)


Fig. 3 Coordinate graphs of decoupling degrees in 31 provinces of China from 1998 to 2007

tivated land occupation increase (ΔDF>0, ΔEP>0) (and 0.8<elasticity<1.2). In the expansive negative decoupling (Δ in Fig.1), both economic output and cultivated land oc-cupation increase (ΔDF>0, ΔEP>0) (and 1.2<elasticity). In the weak negative decoupling (III in Fig.1), both economic output and cultivated land occupation decrease (ΔDF<0, ΔEP<0) (and 0<elasticity<0.8). In the recessive coupling (III in Fig. 1), both economic output and cultivated land occu-pation decrease (ΔDF<0, ΔEP<0) (and 0.8<elasticity<1.2). In the recessive decoupling (II in Fig. 1), both economic output and cultivated land occupation decrease (ΔDF<0, ΔEP<0) (and 1.2<elasticity). The six latter categories do not help to protect and utilize cultivated land reasonably, and thus are imperfect status.

3 Results and analysis

3.1 Results

This article takes the quantity of CLOC as a token index of the status of CLOC. The economic growth rate

often stands for the status of economic growth. This paper chooses the actual growth rate of nonagricultural GDP (sum of secondary and tertiary industry GDP) as a token index of the status of economic growth. To eliminate the hysteresis and impacts on nonagricultural GDP caused by cultivated land occupation, policies and laws (Jia et al., 1997), this paper divides the time span (1998–2007) of study into five periods by two years interval. Fig. 2 describes the change curves of CLOC and nonagricultural GDP in five periods in 31 provinces of China. Apparently, the respective spatial trends of change curves are basically identical in each peri-od. The index value is calculated respectively, as presented in Table 1 and Fig. 3.

3.2 Analysis

3.2.1 Analysis based on gross method and IU curve

Gross method and IU curve are regarded as two main western evaluation modes of the decoupling theory (Deng and Duan, 2004). The followings are an analysis of the de-coupling results with these two modes.

14

400350

ΔEP/

EP (%

)

300250200150100 50 0

−50−100−150

I strong decoupling

19 24 29 34 39ΔDF/DF (%)


(a) Decoupling degrees from 2000 to 2001

VII expansive couplingVIII weak deoupling

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Table 1 Status and elasticity of decoupling between CLOC and nonagricultural GDP in 31 provinces of China from 1998 to 2007

Provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities

2000–2001 2002–2003 2004–2005 2006–2007

β Decoupling status β Decoupling

status β Decoupling status β Decoupling

status

Beijing 15.57 END −1.74 SD −0.42 SD −1.91 SD

Tianjin 2.97 END 0.06 WD 11.83 END −2.13 SD

Hebei −1.96 SD 0.20 WD 6.15 END 0.73 WD

Shanxi −0.56 SD 0.32 WD −0.49 SD 3.36 END

Inner Mongolia −2.22 SD 2.98 END −0.16 SD −0.13 SD

Liaoning −2.40 SD −0.78 SD 10.81 END −1.34 SD

Jilin 0.14 WD −0.90 SD 1.19 EC 2.20 END

Heilongjiang −3.00 SD −2.07 SD 2.04 END −0.39 SD

Shanghai 6.80 END −2.16 SD 0.02 WD −1.44 SD

Jiangsu −0.20 SD 4.03 END 0.48 WD −0.60 SD

Zhejiang 3.86 END 2.71 END −0.27 SD −0.80 SD

Anhui −1.33 SD 1.89 END 1.21 END 0.30 WD

Fujian −1.71 SD 0.82 EC 0.55 WD 0.91 EC

Jiangxi −0.60 SD 5.79 END −1.14 SD 2.45 END

Shandong 1.34 END 1.96 END −0.12 SD −0.91 SD

Henan −0.54 SD 5.24 END −0.49 SD 0.19 WD

Hubei 0.12 WD 0.72 WD 0.21 WD 0.69 WD

Hunan −0.38 SD −0.19 SD 0.19 WD 2.74 END

Guangdong −2.01 SD 0.15 WD 0.34 WD 0.34 WD

Guangxi −1.12 SD 0.12 WD 5.25 END −0.54 SD

Hainan −4.11 SD −1.51 SD 3.87 END −0.29 SD

Chongqing −1.94 SD 2.41 END 1.15 EC −0.95 SD

Sichuan −2.84 SD −1.05 SD 1.94 END −0.27 SD

Guizhou −2.73 SD 0.75 WD 0.43 WD −0.10 SD

Yunnan −1.03 SD −0.42 SD 2.26 END −0.84 SD

Tibet 3.41 END 6.71 END 1.02 EC −0.77 SD

Shaanxi −0.63 SD 1.06 EC 0.35 WD −0.25 SD

Gansu −0.84 SD −0.05 SD 0.44 WD −0.51 SD

Qinghai 4.41 END 2.45 END 1.79 END −2.20 SD

Ningxia −0.18 SD 3.99 END 2.18 END −2.03 SD

Xinjiang −2.46 SD 2.36 END −0.97 SD −1.15 SD

National total −0.75 SD 1.41 END 0.79 WD −0.43 SD

Note: END: expansive negative decoupling; EC: expansive coupling; WD: weak decoupling; SD: strong decoupling

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3.2.1.1 Analysis based on gross methodThe changes of contemporaneous economic gross and

material use are comparatively studied in this mode. Only when gross economy increases but material consump-tion keeps no change or decreases, decoupling occurs and reflects the dependence on material use in the growth of economy better (Deng and Duan, 2004). Fig. 4 describes the change curves of gross CLOC and nonagricultural GDP.

According to this mode, decoupling began in the period of 2000–2001, but re-coupling happened in 2002 and con-tinued to 2005. Decoupling occurred again in the period of 2006–2007. As a whole, this result is similar to those pre-sented in Table 1 by equation (2).3.2.1.2 Analysis based on IU curve

IU (the intensity of material use), evolved from the calculation formula for certain kind material use in accoun-tancy, refers to the quantity of material used to produce goods and services. It consists of the ratio of a certain ma-terial to product and the ratio of the product to economic output. Simply, we can use the quantity of material used per unit of economic output to stand for it (Cutler and Matthias, 1998). Thus IU is applied often to evaluate the relationship between economic output and material use in the course of producing goods and service. It is one of the indices used most extensively in the evaluation of decoupling in western countries nowadays (Deng and Duan, 2004). In this paper, the ratio of CLOC per nonagricultural GDP stands for IU. Fig.4 also describes the IU curve of CLOC and nonagricul-tural GDP from 1998 to 2007 in China. Obviously, the IU curve inclines to the right and is similar to the right branch of inverted U-curve (EKC). According to this mode, decou-pling continued from 1998 to 2007. This result is not com-pletely similar to that result (Table 1) obviously.

As the analysis above shows that the result with gross

method is not similar to that in IU mode. The gross method studies the relationship between economic growth and ma-terial use in gross quantity and reflects the pressure from economic growth. However, the IU mode reflects the rise of resource efficiency and does not mean the fall of pres-sure from population and environment. Thus the decoupling with gross method expresses the pressure from CLOC bet-ter and is basically similar to the decoupling by equation (2). Consequently, we can conclude that this model in this article is exact and convincing.

3.2.2 Analysis based on the spatial-temporal aspect

As a whole country, the decoupling status in the periods of 2000–2001, 2002–2003, 2004–2005 and 2006–2007 are strong decoupling, expansive negative decoupling, weak decoupling and strong decoupling (Table 1) respectively. In these periods, with economic growth, CLOC firstly de-creased, then increased quickly and smoothly, and lastly decreased gradually. It means that the demand of CLOC increased in the period of 2002–2003. But after 2006 the quick increase of CLOC was controlled effectively, and the demand decreased gradually. In Fig. 3, the number of provinces located in the perfect area I decreased from 22 to 8 and increased quickly to 21. Apparently, the decoupling status in most provinces of China changed from a perfect status to an imperfect status, and lastly back to another per-fect status from 1998 to 2007.

Spatially, the decoupling status distributed dissimilarly but had a regional characteristic in different periods. In the period of 200–2001 expansive negative decoupling oc-curred in Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, Zhejiang, Shandong, Tibet and Qinghai. The latter two belong to the western region, and the rest belong to the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei region or the eastern coastal region of China. In the period of 2002–2003 expansive negative decoupling occurred not only in Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shandong etc. (in the eastern coastal region), but also in Henan, Anhui and Jiangxi etc. (in the central region) and in Chongqing, Qinghai and Xinjiang etc. (in the western region). In the period of 2004–2005 ex-pansive negative decoupling occurred mainly in Guangxi, Yunnan and Xinjiang etc. (in the western region), and also in Liaoning and Heilongjiang etc. (in the northeastern re-gion). In the period of 2006–2007 expansive negative de-coupling occurred mainly in Shanxi, Jiangxi and Hunan etc. (in the central region) and Jilin. It is obvious that the imper-fect decoupling status transferred from the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei and the eastern coastal regions to the western, the

260

220

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0

Gro

ss in

dex

120

100

80

60

40

Inde

x of

IU

1998–1999 2000–2001 2002–2003 2004–2005 2006–2007

the gross index of CLOCthe gross index of non-agricultural GDPthe index of IU

Fig. 4 Change curves of gross index and IUYear

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central and the northeastern regions during the last 10 years. The transfer had an obvious regional characteristic.

In most provinces of China, the relationship between the CLOC and economic growth had transformed from expan-sive negative decoupling to strong decoupling from 1998 to 2007. In general, the transformation was firstly started in economically advanced eastern municipalities of Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, then in economically advanced eastern coastal provinces, such as Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and finally in central, western and northeastern regions.

3.2.3 Analysis based on policies and laws

As the measures taken by governments, the decoupling status had a close connection with contemporaneous poli-cies and laws on cultivated land protection and regional development planning. The period of 1997–1999 is a main term to cultivated land protection. On 14 March 1997, the crimes of destroying cultivated land, approving and trans-ferring land illegally were written in Criminal Law. On 15 April 1997, the rigid land use control was approved by the State Council in order to manage and protect cultivated land more effectively. The land approval was frozen according to the 11th document enacted by central government in 1997. Meanwhile, the local governments also took a series of measures to stop out-of-order cultivated land occupation and use. On 1 January 1999, Dynamic Equilibrium of the Total Cultivated Land was put forward definitely in the new Land Management Law. Because of these rigid measures, in the period of 2000–2001, CLOC decreased in 71% of the provinces in China, resulting in a strong decoupling rela-tionship between CLOC and economic growth. Neverthe-less, due to the urbanization, CLOC increased in Beijing, Tianjin and Shanghai, where expansive negative decoupling occurred. Because of good locations and the prior develop-ment strategy of the eastern region, expansive negative de-coupling happened in Shandong, Jiangsu and Zhejiang etc.

Before freezing the approval of farmland for urban con-struction use, some local governments took measures to increase land reserve. As some construction projects began, the demand of land increased gradually. Particularly after unfreezing land approval, CLOC increased quickly (Qu et al., 2005). As the real estate market resuscitated and the urban construction accelerated after 2002, new enclosure movement in the real estate market swept nationally. Cities and towns developed quickly, resulting in rapid expansion of construction land. By December in 2003, 6015 develop-ment zones with a planning area of 3 540 000 ha had been

checked by the Ministry of Land and Resources. According to the statistical data of 10 provinces, 68.7% of develop-ment zones with an area of 305 400 ha were approved ille-gally. The excess land exploitation and use was regarded as a convenient approach to finance in many places and made construction land scant artificially. Since the implementa-tion of the Western Development Strategy of China in 2001, the demand of construction land has increased obviously in western provinces such as Inner Mongolia, Chongqing and Qinghai. In the period of 2002–2003 CLOC increased in 68% of the provinces in China. The relationship between CLOC and economic growth was mainly expansive nega-tive decoupling, expansive coupling and weak decoupling.

In 2003, the strategy of Revitalizing the Northeast Old Industrial Base was carried out formally. Between 2004 and 2005 Wen Jiabao, the premier of the State Department, presided and held two leading group conferences on this strategy successively. Because of this strategy, the economy of three northeastern provinces has been developing quickly and successfully, and the power of attracting investment has been enhanced. From 2004 to 2006, GDP increased by 15.9%, 21.8% and 20.7% respectively, and foreign direct in-vestment used effectively increased respectively by 51.7%, 89.5% and 48.0% (Leng and Zhang, 2009). In the period of 2004–2005, expansive negative decoupling occurred in Hei-longjiang and Liaoning, and expansive coupling occurred in Jilin. In order to promote the harmonious development of regional economy, the State Council brought forward a strategy of accelerating economic development of central region, i.e. the Middle Region Rises Strategy, proposed for the first time in March 2004. The ratio of total GDP of central region to GDP of China began to ascend. The urban agglomerations rose as a new force, represented by central Henan urban agglomeration, Wuhan urban agglomera-tion and Chansha-Zhuzhou-Xiangtan urban agglomera-tion. CLOC increased obviously in central provinces such as Anhui, Hubei and Hunan. Imperfect decoupling status such as expansive negative decoupling or weak decoupling occurred. In the period of 2004–2005, CLOC increased in 72% of provinces in China. The relationship between CLOC and economic growth was mainly expansive nega-tive decoupling, expansive coupling and weak decoupling.

In 2005, the Central Government delivered the first doc-ument to implement the most rigid system of cultivated land protection, to improve cultivated land quality and stipulate the use of land granting fee and paid use fee from newly-increasing construction land. On 18 October 2005 the State

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Council published the document, The Examination Methods of Responsibility and Target for Cultivated Land Protection of Province Government. In 2006 the Central Government published the first document, Some Opinions on Promoting the Building of a New Socialist Countryside, making some regulations about cultivated land occupancy tax, land grant-ing fee and paid use fee from newly-increasing construction land. In May 2006 the Ministry of Land and Resources sent out an urgent notification to raise the approval threshold of construction land. On 31 August 2006 the notification by the State Council about strengthening land regulation had far-reaching impact on cultivated land protection (Liu and Zhao, 2009). On 20 November 2006, the Ministry of Land and Resources sent out the notification about basic farmland, planning to establish 116 demonstration areas and five-year plan for the basic farmland consolidation, infrastructure construction and informationization etc. Meanwhile, it emphasized that demonstration areas were top-priority in funds and management. In 2007 the Central Government published the first document to strengthen and carry out the responsibility system for cultivated protection, and continue to enhance the improvement of cultivated land quality. In addition, the Government Work Report of 2007 pointed out that the area of cultivated land should never be less than 1.2 billion ha. Because of policies and laws, in the period of 2006–2007, CLOC decreased in 68% of the prov-inces in China. Regarded as the perfect status, strong de-coupling occurred. It is concluded that the above measures have played a positive role in the protection of farmland.

4 Conclusions and discussion

First, the article applies IU curve and gross method. By contrast, the decoupling status by gross method can express the pressure from cultivated land occupation better and is similar to the result based on the model of decoupling in this paper. Consequently, this model is exact and convinc-ing.

Second, in most provinces of China, the relationship between the CLOC and economic growth had transformed from expansive negative decoupling to strong decoupling. In general, the transformation was firstly from economically advanced eastern municipalities directly under the central government, then to economically advanced eastern coastal provinces, and lastly to central, western and northeastern regions.

Third, the decoupling status had a close connection with contemporaneous policies and laws in cultivated land pro-tection and regional development planning. These measures have mitigated the pressure from cultivated land occupa-tion. Their effect is obvious and positive.

Fourth, CLOC is only one of many factors affecting the economic growth. In aspect of cultivated land protection, this paper analyzes the correlation between cultivated land occupation and economic growth only qualitatively. In ad-dition, land occupied by construction contains forest land, grassland and unused land etc., besides cultivated land. It is of significance how to quantify, analyze and remove ef-fectively contributions of other occupied land to economic growth.

Fifth, this article takes nonagricultural GDP as a token index of the status of economic growth. However, it does not explain. Other indices can be also applied tentatively and contrastively in the further study.

Sixth, with the different critical values, the decoupling status is different. The result is relative and dynamic. It is important to determine the critical value exactly and divide the decoupling status, which is significant for the protection of cultivated land.

Acknowledgements: This research was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant no. 70673097). We ex-press our sincere thanks to Professor Lu Changhe as well as Doctor Du

Hongliang for their invaluable help.

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