Journal “The Spatial Analysis for the Allocation of Coastal Land Resources in Taiwan” (1)

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    The Spatial Analysis for the Allocation of Coastal Land Resources inTaiwan

    Sustainable urban and/or rural planning and managementYEN, Ke Chin

    Department of Architecture and Urban Planning, Chung Hua University

    707, Sec 2, Wu-Fu Rd, Hsinchu City 30012, Taiwan ROC

    [email protected]

    WANG, Ying-Yen

    Department of Architecture and Urban Planning, Chung Hua University

    707, Sec 2, Wu-Fu Rd, Hsinchu City 30012, Taiwan ROC

    ABSTRACT

    Flexible, complicated and special coast environment not only plays an important place to breed ecology, but also is a buffer zone to join sea and land. Facing climateabnormality caused by global environment change and developing sensitive coastshould appropriately make spatial plan via integrated coastal management tools toavoid the balance of ecological system and the damage of geographic resources.Abundant coast resources in Hsinchu County own two important wetlands, even a

    place where to keep the most natural coast in the western part of Taiwan. Owing toincreasing leisure activity and industrial development and how to obtain the optimal

    balance point and spatial distribution mode of coastal land resources on ecologicalenvironment and socio-economic benefit, it will be an important issue for coastal

    planning and decision-making in Hsinchu Count. In order to solve information lack ofcoastal land, insufficient representation of management system, difficulties in

    planning system operation, this study will not only combine Geographic InformationSystem (GIS), ecological planning method and biodiversity analysis according tocoastal environment properties, but also employ GIS spatial offset Kriging.Simulating the distribution of environmental resources by quantification to analyzethe load of coastal land resources and integrate the spatial allocation of in HsinchuCounty will minimize a spatial conflict between the preservation of coastal ecologyand land development to the minimum. Eventually, the results obtained from thespatial analysis not only integrate the potential of coastal land and information onecological sensitivity as well as provide the development of coastal land the

    preservation of environmental resources for the reference in Hsinchu County in thefuture, but also can be used for a study foundation of environmental managementtechnologies related to ecology and space.

    Keywords: coast, land resources, ecological planning, biodiversity, spatial analysis,Kriging

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    I. Introduction

    Taiwan's geographical and ecological environment is diverse, complex and special.Taiwan is a sub-tropical island rich in ecological resources. But in recent decades, extensivedevelopment of coastal land has caused serious problems of coastal areas. In recent years, the

    government put high priority on the issues with damaged coastal environment. CPA(Construction and Planning Agency) in conjunction with experts and scholars have beendispatched to the all coastal areas to conduct overall examination and found in many coastalareas the protected objects (including wildlife, ecology, natural resources, estuaries and sanddunes) had been subject to a certain degree of damage. Before "Coastal Act " is passed, it is inurgent need to formulate a national coastline mid-to-long-term policy, which will integrateand establish the coordinating organization, set up plans to improve the coastal environment,

    provide subsidy to local governments to conduct "Coastal restoration and landscapeimprovement demonstration projects", and encourage local governments to conduct tasks of"reduction, environmental restoration and clean-up" for coastal areas.

    Hsinchu County coastal towns include two administrative districts: Xinfeng Townshipand Jhubei City, which have active planning for coastal areas in recent years. There areabundant coastal resources, including ecological resources, natural landscape and culturalresources, such as Xinfeng Wetlands (National), Potou Fishing Port, Ginger House Settlement,a hundred-year-old Hackberry Woods, Jhubei Lotus Temple (local level) Wetland, Jhubei

    Native Woodland, Windbreaks, Crescent Bay, etc. They are very valuable to develop tourism.Therefore, in accordance with No. 0980801473 letter from the Ministry of Interior, HsinchuCounty Government on February 27, 2009 acquired the first-phase subsidy and commissionedthe Chung Hua University to conduct "2009 Hsinchu County sustainable coastal planning asa whole case, which is mainly in compliance with the legislative principles of the Coast Act(draft) to aim at sustainable coastal development to avoid sporadic, fragmental, individual andexclusive local developments. It will actively seek understanding of coastal ecology andenvironment through coastal resource investigation, compiling and analysis and focus

    protection on the key protection objects. Through professional assistance and the dialogueamong local communities, the consensus on the future overall direction for Hsinchu Countycoastal environment is formed and thus a feasible and specific plan for protection, preventionand management can be established.

    In general, the coastal environmental management related researches in recent yearsmostly use "Hierarchical Combination Method to address the issues with the environmentalimpact caused by Hsinchu coastal development. For Xiangshan wetlands, based on theconcepts of landscape ecology, ecological networks and partitioning, three main areas are

    planned: central zone, buffer zone and sustainable zone, with corresponding managementstrategy. The study is on the correlation between the development behavior of Hsinchu coastalwetlands and the ecological environment change. The growing and declining relationship

    between the development behavior and the spatial habitats is investigated to discuss the

    possible ecological environment damage by development behavior. Multi-objective planningmethod is used to integrate Hsinchu coastal environment resources. The research delivers theresult for the optimal development intensity for each type of land. Ecological planningmethod, multi-criteria decision-making, as well as a gray system and fuzzy theory are used toevaluate the land development and management policies. Hsinchu coastal wetland is used asan example to show a dramatic improvement in acquiring performance criteria, prioritizingland use and development, and land use area. The correlation between coastal development

    behavior and ecological environment change is used to design a coastal environmentinformation system and build a coastal GIS analysis model. Integrating the spatial informationof coastal land-use potential and the ecological sensitivity can provide references to HsinchuCity for future coastal land development and environmental resource conservation.

    Among the concepts for environmental development in the world and domestic

    researches, there are few cases that aim at coastal ecology and land use by combining GISinformation database for establishment and integration. The study is based on the fundamental

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    environment information for natural environment, ecological environment, human geographyto carry out integrated analysis of coastal resources, including natural and human andenvironment variance analysis, and through GIS spatial makeup tools (Kriging) estimate theecological data that is difficult to obtain or incomplete and plot animal diversity distributionmap. Lastly, according to the comprehensive results based on Hsinchu County coastalenvironment characteristics, environmental resources, and GIS overlay analysis, scientificapproach to coastal areas are divided by scientific methods with respect to resourcehomogeneity into four categories, namely, coastal conservation area, coastal protection area,coastal restoration area and moderate development area, which serve as references forHsinchu County coastal spatial management and partitioning.

    II. Research Scope

    Coastal area is the strip adjacent to the land and sea on both sides of coastline, includingcoastal land and coastal waters. The former is seawater or coastal land affected by coastalfactors like salt, while the latter is land or the waters affected naturally or artificially bycontinental shelf. The main space of utilization is the sea space and coastal land space that haswater depth of 30 meters or is offshore by 6 kilometer (Research, Development andEvaluation Commission, the Executive Yuan, 2001).

    As in the basis and operational principles for Ministry of the Interior designated "Coastalarea" established by Construction and Planning Agency, Ministry of the Interior, inaccordance with the definition of coastal area by Executive Yuan approved "National landrestoration strategy and action plan", the coastal inland uses "the first provincial highway,""coastal main roadway," "ridge line", the three designation indicators as comprehensiveguiding principles. In Hsinchu County, the designation is based on the "average high tide lineto the first provincial highways, the land area of main coastal roadway or mountain ridgeline.

    Therefore, the scope of this study was in accordance with the Hsinchu Countys"near-shore terrestrial areas" published in "the scope of the coastal area" by Construction andPlanning Agency in 2007. Its north starts at the boundary for Taoyuan County and HsinchuCounty. Its south reaches the boundary for Hsinchu City and Hsinchu County. The east isgenerally boundary by Provincial Highway No. 15. The west is boundary by the coastline.The government administrative area covers Xinfeng Township Potou Village, Hohu Village,Poho Village, Hsinfong Village, Fungkung Village, Chunshin Village, Upper Village, as wellas Jhubei Citys Shangyi District, Chongyi District, Hsingun District, Baidi District and DayiDistrict, which includes twelve villages or districts in total. The scope of this study takes up atotal area of about 2,146 hectares, mostly non-urban land, but some regions in the scope ofurban planning for Xinfeng (New Zhuangzi region) (see Figure 1).

    III. Research Content and Method

    Hsinchu coastal areas are mostly wetlands and distribution of small-to-mediumcommunities. This study plans to use land-use suitability analysis, combined withGIS-assisted planning features, in an attempt to spatialize planning results with GIS tools,including various ecological environment and land development factors. Land-use suitabilityanalysis is used to conduct simulation for spatial designation distribution. Through spatialmakeup technique (Kriging method), that data that is difficult to obtain can be acquired in aquantitative manner and the optimal management model can be sought between ecologicalresources and land use after spatial integration to resolve the conflict with competing forusing various environmental resources. The suitability analysis related to the ecologicalenvironment and land-use and the research methods for GIS applications are discussed asfollows:

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    Figure 1 Coastal Area Range for Hsinchu County

    1. Ecological resources and land development surveys and data archiving

    During literature collection and review, Hsinchu County coastal ecological resources andland development data are examined, collected, complied and archived. Scope of the study is

    defined to classify ecological characteristics and land development characteristics. On-siteobservation and examination will be conducted in accordance with the GIS informationsurvey system established in this study with basis on base characteristics for on-site PDAinvestigation.

    Eco-environmental analysis is based on aerial photographs and takes reference to the project which is "2009 Hsinchu County sustainable coastal planning commissioned to ChungHua University by Hsinchu County Government and contains summer and autumn animalsand plants survey results and the relevant ecological data; land development uses the latestedition of orthoimage map of color aerial photographs (scale 1:5,000) by the Aerial SurveyBureau, Forest Service, Council of Agriculture, the Executive Yuan as the basic map. Data aremainly based on the planning reports and on-site survey by Hsinchu County to facilitateassuring data correctness and completeness.

    2. Establish Hsinchu County Coastal Environment Information Survey System

    It will combine SuperPad system to establish Hsinchu County Coastal EnvironmentInformation Survey System. SuperPad is Taiwanese developed Mobile GIS. The geographicobject data model management database designed and improved by Super GIS mainlycontains functions like input, encoding, storage, query, display, computing, analysis andoverlay, and uses the latest edition of orthoimage map of color aerial photographs (scale1:5,000) by the Aerial Survey Bureau, Forest Service, Council of Agriculture, the ExecutiveYuan as the basic map to facilitate comparing the development change for spatial dimension.

    3. GIS Spatial Makeup Simulation (Kriging Simulation Analysis)

    Environmental planning is often limited by funding, resources, or the impact of terrain,

    leading to sampling points and basic information failing to cover the entire study area. Whenthe information distribution of the whole region is needed, it can be assisted with spatial

    Administrative regionAnnounced range of coast lineThe study area

    Coastal Zone(Coastal Waters)

    Coastal Zone(Coastal Land)

    TaoyuanCounty

    Hsinchu County

    Hsinchu City

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    makeup technique. It assumes spatial information has continuity, uses linear regression andfew spatial sample points to calculate the overall trend. It inserts the prediction of the entiregroup of sample points between the measured sample points. Inverse distance weight (IDW),Kriging, spline etc. are adopted. Kriging method is widely used and its error is less. Krigingmethod is geostatistics that is developed through spatial variability model, regional variabletheory, spatial structure analysis, spatial interpolation estimation etc. Its applications includeestimation and projection for underground water, soil salinity, precipitation distribution,distribution of plants in land and undersea, animal species distribution and abundance,

    biodiversity.The development of spatial statistics, a breakthrough for the traditional statistics that

    does not consider space factor, converts spatial variables through quantification, not onlyconsidering the complexity of information, but also integration of statistical analysistechniques to meet the actual situation. Spatial interpolation method is based on the spatialdependence presented by the data, and with the observed values of nearest sampling points,uses the optimized weighed average value as the estimated value for the non-sampling points.This technique is called Kriging method. The research through Super GIS Spatial StatisticalAnalyst combines the Kriging method that studies the variable spatial dependence in GIS and

    geostatistics. It also has the GIS spatial data attributes like data query, display and basicstatistical skills and the spatial information geostatistical features, and therefore further able tounderstand the variability and dependencies of spatial information and estimate the value ofnon-sampling points and enhance the capability for geographic information system inassisting spatial data decision-making analysis. This research intends to make up for the datalacking for eco-environmental resources through the Kriging method, so it can combine withland use development model and simulate the spatial distribution and conduct correlationanalysis.

    4. Hsinchu County Coastal Resource Integration

    It adopts the concepts of natural ecological environment opportunity and constraint and puts suitability analytical method of land use and GIS data processing function in the

    established integration model to generate areas that have different degree of environmentimpact. Then it uses effective and limited resources for reasonable spatial distribution thatallows the decision-maker to conduct reasonable base development strategy within anacceptable load range. To ensure that development activities be compatible withenvironmental conservation objectives, the research result on the interpretation of roleorientation for each area can be used as the basis to review current policies and regulationsregarding coastal land development.

    The integration approach is to conduct comprehensive analysis of various environmentalfactors and attributes and conducts mapping on Geographic Information System with differentways of presentation according to their suitability for coastal planning. Then through thelayer overlapping and calculation of attribute values, suitable area distribution can bedetermined by layer analysis. The study, based on animal diversity Kriging map, plant naturalmap, geological disaster-sensitive distribution map, land use maps and other relevant layers,conducts overlay analysis. The comprehensive overlay procedure is shown in Table 1

    Table 1 Comprehensive Overlay Procedure

    Step Description Output

    Step 1

    Build first-hand investigated and second-hand collected environmentalinformation on geographic information systems and information makeanalytical maps of different subjects based on data attributes, includinganimal diversity Kriging distribution map, plant natural map,geological disaster-sensitive distribution map and land use map.

    S u b j e c t

    agricultural recreation industry

    housing

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    Step Description Output

    Step 2

    Define environment-sensitive locations and analytical rules for theanalytical maps of various subjects, then conduct spatial locationcomprehensive overlay and environment attribute analysis tounderstand spatial development potential and limitation for HsinchuCounty coastal area.

    D e v e l o pm e n t

    l i mi t a t i on

    Step 3

    Based on the development potential and limitation for Hsinchu Countycoastal area, conduct homogeneous classification and definition forspatial location and regional characteristics by scientific methods. Themain divisions include coastal preservation area, coastal protectionarea, coastal restoration area and moderate development area.

    E n vi r onm

    e n t

    z oni n g

    Step 4

    Conduct final partitioning integration on the comprehensive overlay ofthe above-mentioned environmental partitioning maps. With the

    priority in Hsinchu County sustainable coastal development andrespecting environment natural resources, the overlap map is in thefollowing sequence (from top to bottom): coastal preservation area coastal protection area coastal restoration area moderatedevelopment area

    Z oni n gi n t e gr a t i on

    IV. Hsinchu County Coastal Environment Information Survey and Analysis

    Hsinchu County coastal areas include Xinfeng Township and Jhubei City, which is thearea that has less development in Taiwan's western coastal area. In addition to Xinfeng andJhubei Lotus Temple wetlands, there are abundant cultural and recreational resources. Thestudy conducts status survey based on the dimensions like natural environment, industry type,

    primary settlements and recreation landscape and builds GIS database:

    1. Natural Environment

    In recent years, "Biological Diversity Group" of the Executive Yuan's National Councilfor Sustainable Development seeks to maintain native biological diversity by designating theConstruction and Planning Department of the Ministry of Interior to execute "importantnational wetlands" project and promote wetland eco-tourism and education. To present to theinternational community with our conservation accomplishment, in December 2007 years, 75

    places were designated as "national key wetlands. The important wetlands located inHsinchu County coastal area are Xinfeng wetland (National) and two Jhubei Lotus Templewetlands (local level), which ecological resources and characteristics are summarized asfollows:(1) Xinfeng wetland (National)

    Xinfeng Wetland is located in Xinfeng River Estuary. Its north starts from Xinfengmangrove area, its south extends to 1.2 kilometers from the south side of Fung Hang check

    point, the east is boundary by Tsiho Bridge on Provincial Rout 15, and the west sea areaextends to 6 meters depth counter (see Figure 2). Its total area is 165 hectares. Its

    administrative authority is Hsinchu County Government. It is not designated as protected areayet. The reason for the formation of Xinfeng marsh wetland is that there is a sand dune terrainat Hongmao River Estuary that causes the river to turn before flowing to sea and thereforethere is abundant organic deposition on the banks, forming an estuary wetland that comprisesmudflats and beach wetlands. Xinfeng River estuary has about 8.5 hectares of mangroves. Inthe east of Iron Bridge there is Kandelia pure forest, while in the west there is mixed woods ofKandelia and Haijia Dong. Animals there include arc-side fiddler crabs, Wu thick crab,Grapsidae, Sri Lanka's sand crabs, Hemigrapsus penicillat and Mictyris brevidactylus etc.Reptiles include Swinhoe's japalura, Eumeces elegans Boulenger and Takydromus stejnegerietc. Amphibians include Microhyla ornate and Chinese tree toad, etc. Fishes include spottedcatfish and Candidia barbatus, etc. Birds include Cattle Egret and Black Drongo etc.(2) Jhubei Lotus Temple

    Lotus Temple wetland is located in the north of Lotus Temple, near the Feng Nose TailHill at the junction of Jhubei and Xin Feng (see Figure 2), an area of 1 hectare. The

    agricultural housing

    recreation industry

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    administrative authority is Hsinchu County Government. It is not designated as protectedarea yet. Geology in this area is mainly barren sandstone, mudstone, shale andnon-coagulated red soil and gravel, sand and clays. Besides, this area has inherited theabundant Feng Yamazaki Mountain groundwater. Therefore, collapse in this area is veryobvious and it tends to form say valley. In sag valley area there tends to form small wetlandenvironment, nourishing many rare breeds of aquatic plants. It is the restoration land forinsectivorous plants in Hsinchu County. Insectivorous plants there include Drosera indica,Drosera burmannii, Drosera spathulata and Utricularia caerulea. It is the only habitat forDrosera indica. Aquatic plants include Xyris formosana Hayata, Philydrum lanuginosum,Juncus ohwianus M. T. Kao & DeVol, Lavandulaeleaf Dendranthema, Lobelia alsinoides,Philipine Eriocaulonaceae, Juncellus serotinus, Fuirena, Fimbristyles nutans, Eriocaulonsexangulare L., Rotala mexicana, Sisyrinchium rosulatum etc. Animals there include Luciolaanceyi , Potamidae, melanostictus, frog and in the peripheral mountains there are Spilornischeela, Black Drongo, Hypsipetes leucocephalus etc. The main potential threats to thewetlands started 1997 because West Coast Expressway excavation, leisure and regionalexpansion, the construction of dams, resulting in reduced groundwater, and habitatdestruction, and sandy dryland plant invading original habitat of carnivorous plants. The

    species to be protected in the wetland should include Drosera indica, Drosera spatulata,Drosera burmannii Vahl, and Utricularia caerulea etc.

    Figure 2 Major Wetland Locations in Hsinchu Coastal Area

    2. Ecological Environment

    Within the scope of this study, ecological data from the aggregate data mostly are justrecords of eco-species, lacking species distribution information such as location and quantity.Thus, the ecological data for animals and plants are mainly primary survey data. The periodof survey process is divided into summer and autumn. Summer survey period is July andAugust, 2009. Autumn survey period is September and October, 2009. The method ofecological survey is in compliance with Technical Specifications for Animal EcosystemAssessment (92.12.29, EPA No. 0920094979 Notice) published by the EnvironmentalProtection Agency and Technical Specifications for Ecological Assessment of Plants(91.3.28 EPA No. 0910020491 Notice). For ecological information to cover every aspect,sample points cover the whole region, accessible places, pass-through census, establishmentof species lists with the scope of study, species number and distribution of location etc.

    Animal diversity distribution maps are composed of overlaying map sets fromMammalia, Aves, Amphibia, Reptilia, Arachnida, strip fin Pisces, Insecta, Malacostraca,maxilliped Gang, Bivalvia, and Gastropoda animal. It also calculates the Shannon-Wienerdiversity index (divergence index). The compiled animal diversity diagram is presented by

    Sinfong Wetland Jhubei Lianhua Temple Wetland

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    summer and autumn (see Figure 3). Nioupu River estuary is also the place where rare speciesusually show up.

    For the divergence index of Hsinchu County coastal animals in summer and autumn,except in the two survey locations, Xinfeng mangrove and Jhubei virgin forest that Mammaliaand Insecta have lower divergence index in autumn than in summer, and Reptilia andArachnida have higher divergence index in autumn than in summer, there is not muchdifference. After reviewing the compiled data for divergence index in summer and autumn, itis found that Xinfeng mangrove has higher divergence index in autumn than in summer andJhubei virgin forest has lower divergence index in autumn than in summer, while FengshanRiver and Nioupu River estuary have not much difference in divergence index betweensummer and autumn see Figure 3). This mainly depends on the habitat of main active speciesand the habits in each season.

    A Summer B. Autumn

    Figure 3 Animal Divergence Kriging Simulation Distribution Diagram

    3. Cultural Geographic Environment

    The scope of this study is established in accordance to the Range of Coastal Water forHsinchu County published by the Construction and Planning Department in 2007, an area ofabout 2,146 hectares, mostly in non-urban development areas. Part of the east of the scope is

    situated within Xinfeng Township New Zhuangzi urban planning zone, an area of about 35hectares, accounting for 2% of total area. From the land-use survey results it is found the landin this study is mostly farmland and mixed forest, together accounted for 72% of the total area(see Figure 4).

    V. Coastal Resource Integration and Analysis

    To ensure environmental conservation and sustainable development of life for the coastalarea of Hsinchu County, this study designates environment sensitive areas and restricteddevelopment areas based on the natural and human environment conditions of HsinchuCounty. In the aspect of layer management and deployment, the study mainly takes referenceto the Construction and Planning Agency's "Limited development areas in northern Taiwanand land-use zoning review" report and "regional land use planning management system".The designation and analysis of geographic information systems is conducted in accordancewith Hsinchu County's natural environment status survey and land-use status survey.

    Sampling Points Nioupu RiverJhubeiSinfongFengshan RiverDiversity Index

    Sampling Points Nioupu RiverJhubeiSinfongFengshan RiverDiversity Index

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    A. built area B. land use

    Figure 4 Building Areas and Land Use Distribution for Hsinchu County Coastal Area

    1. Naturalness AnalysisBased on the surface geographical landscape and land use classification map layers and

    sets of overlapping aerial photographs, and zoning according to their content, the study drawsnaturalness diagram with the following classification criteria:

    1 Naturalness 5 Undeveloped plant habitat, including mangroves.2 Naturalness 4 Including grasslands and secondary forests.3 Naturalness 3 Including orchards and tea plantations.4 Naturalness 2 Including farmland.5 Naturalness 1 Including the waters.6 Naturalness 0 Including building sites and roads.

    The analytical results indicate the highest naturalness is the unaffected area by humanactivities in Xinfeng mangrove the next is naturalness 4 and it is Jhubei virgin forest and theLotus Temple wetlands. The rest were mostly orchards, agricultural land, or mixed forest withnaturalness 3 and 2 for agricultural use, accounting for about 72% of the total area; the lowest

    naturalness is human building areas, accounting for about 22% of the total area.2. Analysis of Human and Environment DifferenceBy superimposing the land use zoning and animal diversity Kriging simulation, it can be

    found that in summer and autumn the animals are mainly located in the Jhubei native forest,Xinfeng River mouth and the Fengshan River Basin, which keep more integrity of habitatareas (for details, see Figure 5). Main biological habitats are Xinfeng River basin, theFengshan River basin, the river's mouth and Jhubei Nioupu native forest.

    Based on Hsinchu County coastal land use and biological diversity contours distribution,it can be found along the Xinfeng River community and industrial activities are more diverseand complex. However, Xinfeng wetland at the river estuary is an important wetland atnational level and it is also a place with relatively higher environment conflict, so it isessential to control the factors like land use intensity and sewage release for the midstream

    and upstream of Xinfeng River to avoid irrecoverable damage to the wetland ecology. Jhubeivirgin forest is the only remaining and more intact native woodlands along Hsinchu County

    Building and road

    The study area

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    coast and the analytical result shows higher potential of conflict for this area. This is mainly because the location is close to the major transportation system (West Coast Expressway) andis more vulnerable to the impact of human activities, and besides, several fires have occurredin recent years. So in the future the protection and management of this woodland should bestrengthened. Fengshan River and Nioupu habitats at the estuaries are more intact and theland use along the rivers is relatively simple. So the conflict between land use andeco-environment is little. Thus the ecological integrity of habitats can maintain and growsteadily. However, the Mangrove at Nioupu River estuary has overgrown, changing theestuary geography. For the future, control should be put on the growth of Kandelia to preventover-rampant, which could affect the drainage function and ecological stability of the habitat.

    A Summer B. Autumn

    Figure 5 Contour Maps for Animal Diversity

    3. Coastal Resource Management and ZoningAccording to the comprehensive results based on Hsinchu County coastal environment

    characteristics, environmental resources, and GIS overlay analysis, the study adopting previous methods divides coastal areas with respect to resource homogeneity into fourcategories, namely, coastal conservation area, coastal protection area, coastal restoration areaand moderate development area. Designating principles are in accordance with Article IX andArticle XI of the drafted Coastal Act and applied to coastal conservation area and coastal

    protection area. Besides, based on the previous comprehensive humanities and theenvironment analysis, the area with higher environmental conflict potential is designated ascoastal restoration area and the area with humanity and geographic development features isdesignated as moderate development area, which provides the coastal eco-environmentrehabilitation education and appropriate development (detailed in Table 2, Figure 6).

    The designated coastal conservation area is primarily the area for precious and rareanimals and plants and important estuarine areas and it is to provide the balance for ecologicalsystems and environmental education function. They include Xinfeng mangroves, Jhubeinative forest, and Fengshan River estuaries, etc. Xinfeng Jiangs Residence is an importantcultural heritage and is also incorporated within the coastal conservation area.

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    Table 2 Designation Scheme for Hsinchu County Coastal Environment

    Classification Designation Principle Note

    coastal

    conservationarea

    Coastal conservation area is to protect rare resources in natural orhuman environment, maintain the ecosystem balance and provideenvironmental education or recreation function. With the followingconditions within the area, it may be designated as level-1 or level-2Coastal conservation area:important aquatic resources areas, rare flora and fauna areas, speciallandscape resource areas, important cultural assets, importantestuarine eco-region, other areas under protection by laws.

    Designation by Article IXof the drafted Coastal Act .

    coastal protection

    area

    It is to prevent and control coastal disasters, prevent seawaterintrusion and land loss, protect people's lives and property. Theconditions are as follows:eroded coast, flood overflow flooded area, surge overflow floodedarea, land subsidence, areas with other potential disasters.

    Designation by Article XIof the drafted Coastal Act

    coastalrestoration

    area

    It is to restore near-natural coast, restore diverse species and habitatsetc., and provide coastal protection, including artificial restorationand protection. The conditions are as follows: dike, eroded coast, the

    larger scale natural environment.

    The study suggestsdesignation be inaccordance with Hsinchu

    County coastal environmentcharacteristics.

    moderatedevelopment

    area

    It is to improve the living environment quality for the residents and promote local industry. The conditions are as follows: local industry,existing community and landscape.

    The study suggestsdesignation be inaccordance with HsinchuCounty coastal communitydevelopment plan.

    Figure 6 Hsinchu County Coastal Zoning Plan

    Coastal conservation areaCoastal protection area

    Coastal restoration areaModerate development area

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    Coastal protection area mainly considers potential disaster factors like coastal erosion,flood overflow and flooded vulnerable strata and it is to prevent and control coastal hazards,

    protect people's lives and property of the designated areas. It is mainly concentrated in theriver basin and estuary.

    To restore near-natural coastal environment, considering species diversity to facilitatehabitat restoration, artificial seawall, eroded coast and large scale natural environment areasare designated as coastal restoration area, which includes important estuaries wetlands,coastal lines, and the original woodland hills, etc.

    Moderate development area considers factors such as local industry features, existingsettlement size and function, environment landscape to improve the living environmentquality and promote local industry. For examples, it includes Xinfeng duck industry andJhubei mullet industry.

    VI. Conclusions

    This study is mainly to establish 2009 Hsinchu County coastal environment database, build analytical model for coastal environment classification, and further complete HsinchuCounty coastal environment spatial management and zoning. There are three preliminaryaccomplishments. On one hand, through this study it is to build analytical model for coastalenvironment management and apply it to the Hsinchu County coast to understand theaccuracy and feasibility for this analysis model on the other hand, it is to integrate HsinchuCounty coastal environment resources and understand the locations of environmentalsensitivity and development suitability. The ecological survey on the area that data is difficultto obtain can be conducted by Kriging simulation analysis. It can work with ecologicalinformation interpretation based on land use and aerial photographs to understand speciesdistribution and ecological characteristics. This study conducts divergence simulation analysiswith Kriging method for summer and autumn animals and superimposes the results onto landuse zoning map. The results indicate that in summer and autumn the animals are mainlylocated in the Jhubei native forest, Xinfeng River mouth and the Fengshan River Basin, which

    have high integrity of habitat, and compete for some of the surrounding human developedarea.Through this research it can be found that the outcome from this integrated environment

    resource model is reasonable and consistent with present Hsinchu County coastalenvironment needs and reasonable. Further, According to the comprehensive analysis basedon Hsinchu County coastal environment characteristics, environmental resources, and GISoverlay analysis, the coastal area is divided with resource homogeneity into coastalconservation area, coastal protection areas, coastal restoration areas and moderatedevelopment area for environment resource protection and regional developmentmanagement.

    ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

    The authors would like to thank the National Science Council of the Republic of China(Taiwan) and Chung Hua University for financially supporting this research under Contract

    No. NSC 98-2410-H-216-018 and CHU- NSC 98-2410-H-216-018.

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