J. Geogr. Sci. 2010, 20(3): 406-416 DOI: 10.1007/s11442-010-0406-4 © 2010 Science China Press Springer-Verlag Received: 2009-12-31 Accepted: 2010-02-26 Foundation: Key Project of Zhejiang Provincial Science and Technology Programs, No.2005C23059; National Key Tech- nology R&D Program of China, No.2006BAJ11B03; National Natural Science Foundation of China, No.40701177 Author: Ren Liyan (1976–), Ph.D, specialized in land management and wetland protection. E-mail: renliyan@nbu.edu.cn *Corresponding author: Yue Wenze, E-mail: yuewenze@gmail.com www.scichina.com www.springerlink.com Impact of economic development on wetlands in Hangzhou Bay Industrial Belt REN Liyan 1 , * YUE Wenze 2 , LI Jialin 1 , WU Cifang 2 1. Faculty of Architectural Civil Engineering and Environment, Ningbo University, Ningbo 315211, Zhejiang, China; 2. College of Public Administration, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310029, China Abstract: Based on Landsat TM images in 2005 and urban planning data of 2005–2020 in Hangzhou Bay Industrial Belt, this paper studied the potential risk of the planned urban con- struction land extension to the wetlands by employing a GIS spatial analysis method. The results show that: (1) The wetland resources are widely distributed and diverse, with a proximal distribution to present urban construction lands spatially. (2) From 2005 to 2020, the urban construction lands will expand vastly and rapidly, and will take over large areas of wetlands that are mostly the ponds and the aquiculture water areas in the reclamation areas of Hangzhou Bay south coast. Moreover, this change will be spatially uneven obviously, e.g., the most serious recessions of the wetlands are concentrated in Ningbo city, Hangzhou city and Cixi city. (3) Overall, the potential risk to wetlands is very high, and will keep increasing with the trend of urbanization. (4) The quantity and spatial pattern of the planning urban con- struction land have substantial impacts on the wetland loss. Therefore, some policies and regulations are suggested to coordinate the relationship between urban economic develop- ment and wetland resource protection such as adjusting the construction land planning, compensating for wetland occupation as well as constructing wetland parks. Keywords: wetlands; change prediction; risk analysis; urban planning; Hangzhou Bay Industrial Belt (HBIB) 1 Introduction Wetland is an ecological landscape with the richest biodiversities in nature, and one of the most important living environments for human beings (Chen, 1995). As one of the three greatest ecosystems (the other two are forest and ocean), it has many benefit functions, e.g., climate regulation, water regulation, waste treatment, habitat, food production, recreation and research and education (Cui, 2004; Lu, 2002). However, at the same time wetland has been dramatically destroyed with the development of human society. Wetland area decreas- ing, ecological function deteriorating and biodiversity reducing have produced a series of