A multi-level analysis of the driving forces of land use changes in Mu-Us desert in recent 30 years: case study of Uxin Banner, Inner Mongolia

Scale issue is a key to driving forces analysis of land use changes which are influenced by multi temporal and spatial scales. The smaller the scale, the more specific the data should be. Driving forces in county scale were analyzed through detecting the land-use change processes in Uxin Banner. Logistic regression was employed to analyze the macro-level driving forces based on the data of land use and social economy in 1978, 1988, 2000, and 2008, whereas the micro-level driving forces were analyzed based on fieldwork data in 2008. Several findings had been reached: (1) Land use changes were driven by topographic, hydrological, traffic and residential conditions as well as the population, economic and political factors in macro-level; (2) Livelihood played an important role during the process of land use change in micro-level. Various livelihood strategies determine land use pattern influenced by not only the market, culture and policies, but also the individual living demands and source conditions.