Analysis on Plantation Potential for Pistacia chinensis as an Energy Plant in Sichuan Province of China Based on GIS

Abstract

This article evaluated the plantation potential of Pistacia chinensis in Sichuan Province of China based on the spatial analyst technology of Geographic Information System and Analytic Hierarchy Process. The evaluation results show that the high suitable, suitable, moderate suitable and no suitable areas for the plantation of P. chinensis are 28×104hm2, 160×104hm2, 177×104hm2 and 690×104hm2 respectively. The high suitable areas of shrub land, open forest land and unutilized land for its plantation are 9×104hm2, 16×104hm2 and 3×104hm2 respectively. The high suitable regions distribute in fifteen prefecture-level cities. Yibin City has the biggest high suitable area with 4.92×104hm2. Dazhou City has the biggest suitable area of 23.47×104hm2. Ganzi Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture and Aba Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture aren’t suitable for its plantation basically. The evaluation results can provide scientific basis for the planting plan of P. chinensis to a certain extent.