From deforestation to afforestation: Effect of slopeland use policies on land use/cover change in Taiwan

Understanding the effects of public policy on land-use/cover change is an important step for improving management strategies and policy. Few studies have constructed scholarly evidence on the effects of policy on slopeland change from deforestation to afforestation. This research adopted a land-use change analysis using GIS to evaluate the influence of the inducted slopeland-use policy on the slopeland-use change in Veterans Affairs Council (VAC) farms. Taiwan’s slopeland-use policies included Veteran Agricultural Reclamation Policy (VARP) (1955−1988), Farmland Release Policy (FRP) (1989–2004), and National Land Restoration Policy (NLRP) (2005−2015). The results showed that VARP quickly changed 21.15 % forestland into farmland to obtain economic benefits and cause potential negative environmental impacts through veterans’ migration. The potential labor and population migration should be considered on public policy decision-making for avoiding forestland-use change. The 7.36 % public farmland and 0.72 % private farmland changed into forestland in FRP. The 27.33 % public farmland and 3.53 % private farmland changed into forestland in NLRP. FRP changed public farmland into private farmland and obstructed afforestation. NLRP had a strong regulatory power for afforestation and potential ecological benefits with farmland reduction in public land. The effect of restoration policy was obstructed by private farmland. The potential land privatization should be taken into account for the efficacy of afforestation and conservation policy. This study also found critical information. The ecotourism and non-ecotourism strategies produced different slopeland-use changes and potential impacts. Ecotourism strategy increased 29.19 % and 9.72 % public forestland in two farm cases and reduced potential negative environmental impacts. Non-ecotourism strategy increased 9.81 % construction land and 2.05 % road on private land and reflected potential negative environmental impacts. Ecotourism strategy was suggested to be a suitable method to balance ecology and economy for sustainable development.