Land use transition is essentially one of the manifestations of land use/cover change (LUCC). Although a large number of studies have focused on land use transitions on the macro scale, there are few studies on the micro scale. Based on the data of two high-resolution land use surveys, this study used a land use transfer matrix and GeoDetector model to explore the spatial-temporal patterns and driving forces of land use transitions at the village level in Pu County over a ten-year period. Results show that Pu County has experienced a drastic process of land use transition. More than 80% of cropland and grassland have been converted to forest land, and over 90% of the expansion of built-up land came from the occupation of forest land, cropland, and grassland. The driving forces of land use transition and its magnitude depended on the type of land use. The implementation of the policy of returning farmland to forest, or grain-for-green (GFG) was the main driving force for the large-scale conversion of cultivated land to forest land in Pu County. In the context of policy of returning farmland to forests, the hilly and gully regions of China’s Loess Plateau must balance between protecting the ecology and ensuring food security. Promoting the comprehensive consolidation of gully land and developing modern agriculture may be an important way to achieve a win-win goal of ecological protection and food security.
Land Use Transition and Driving Forces in Chinese Loess Plateau: A Case Study from Pu County, Shanxi Province