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Contents

• B.C. Home
• Environment

• State of Environment
  • What is State of Environment Reporting?
  • Publications
  • Indicators
    • Air
      • AIR-01 Ground Level Ozone in B.C.
      • AIR-02 Particulate Matter (PM2.5) in B.C.
    • Climate Change
      • CC-01 Trends in Greenhouse Gas Emissions in British Columbia
      • CC-02 Fossil Fuel Use in the Transportation Sector in British Columbia
      • CC-03 Long-Term Trends in Air Temperature in British Columbia
      • CC-04 Precipitation Changes in British Columbia
      • CC-05 Coastal Sea Surface Temperature
      • CC-06 Changes in Annual Mean Sea Level on the British Columbia Coast
    • Contaminants
      • CNT-01 Total on-site discharge of toxic substances in B.C.
      • CNT-02 Trends in dioxin and furan levels in pulp and paper mill effluent, sediments and Dungeness crab
      • CNT-03 Cleanup of contaminated sites in B.C.
      • CNT-04 Trends in pesticide use by landscape services in the lower mainland of B.C.
      • CNT-05 Long-term trends in persistent organic pollutants in bird eggs in B.C.
      • CNT-06 Persistent organic pollutants in tissues of marine mammals on B.C. coast
      • CNT-07 Long-term trends in deposition of pollutants in sediments on the B.C. coast
    • Linking Economy
      & Environment
      • ECN-01 Intensity of conventional energy use in economic activity in BC
    • Ecosystems
      • ECS-01 Trend in the number of road crossings of streams in BC
      • ECS-02 Economic and conservation tenures in the intertidal areas of BC estuaries
      • ECS-03 Status of grasslands in southern interior BC
      • ECS-04 Area of protected grasslands in BC
      • ECS-05 Status of BC forests
      • ECS-06 Land cover status of BC's coastal forests
      • ECS-07 Changes in area of sensitive ecosystems on eastern Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands
    • Freshwater
      • FW-01 Daily Municipal Water Use per Capita in B.C.
      • FW-02 Water Quality Index for Surface Water Bodies in B.C.
      • FW-03 Trends in Surface Water Quality in B.C.
      • FW-04 Observation Wells with Declining Water Levels Mainly Due to Human Activity
      • FW-05 Number of Heavily Developed Aquifers in B.C.
    • Land Use
      • LU-01 Changes in Road Intensity and Road Length in B.C.
      • LU-02 Changes in Land Use in Metro Vancouver Since 1986
      • LU-03 Changes in Area of the Agricultural Land Reserve in B.C.
    • Marine
      • MRN-01 Status of Salmonid Populations
      • MRN-02 Current Outlook of Managed Salmon Stocks in B.C.
      • MRN-03 Trends in Abundance of Killer Whale Populations Along the B.C. Coast
      • MRN-04 Density of Marine Traffic
      • MRN-05 Estimated Trends in Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Catch
      • MRN-06 Trends in Discards in Trawl Fisheries
    • Population Growth
      • POP-01 B.C. Population Density and Distribution
    • Protected Areas
      • PA-01 Protected area in B.C.
      • PA-02 Stressors in Protected Areas of Coastal B.C.
      • PA-03 Number, Area and Size of Protected Areas on the B.C. Coast
      • PA-04 Proportion of Ecosections that are Protected
      • PA-05 Ecologically Intact Land in Protected Areas in B.C.
      • PA-06 Proportion of Ecologically Intact Land within Protected Areas in Coastal B.C.
    • Species
      • SP-01 Changes in the Conservation Status of Animals and Plants in B.C.
      • SP-02 Species and Ecological Communities on the B.C. Red List
      • SP-03 Threats to Species at Risk in B.C.
      • SP-04 Progress toward completing recovery strategies for species at risk in B.C.
      • SP-05 Number of Alien Species, by Group, in B.C.
      • SP-06 Number of Alien Species, By Group, in Coastal B.C.
      • SP-07 Changes in the Conservation Status of Threatened and Endangered Vertebrates of the Coast of B.C.
    • Waste & Waste Diversion
      • WA-01 Trends in Municipal Solid Waste Disposed and Recycled
      • WA-02 Trends in Waste Diversion through Industry-led Product Stewardship Programs
      • WA-03 Level of Municipal Wastewater Treatment in B.C.
      • WA-04 Trends in Shellfish Closures Due to Sewage Contamination
      • WA-05 Proportion of B.C. Coastal Population Served by Municipal Wastewater Treatment
  • Supplementary Information
  • Updated/New Indicators
  • Regional Indicator Data
  • Classification Systems Used for Indicators
  • Contact Us

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B.C. Home » Environment » State of Environment

Population & Economic Activity - Land Use Changes

B.C. State of Environment Indicators

LU-03 Increases and Decreases in Types of Land Use in Metro Vancouver Since 1986 Net change in land use (ha) in the GVRD. 1986-2003 by land cover and land use type. Source: BCMSRM 2004. For Metro Vancouver (formerly the Greater Vancouver Regional District): Between 1991 and 2001 the population of the region increased by about 25 per cent, yet the area of land converted to urban uses only increased about 2 per cent. Regional and municipal policies and the Agricultural Land Reserve (ALR) appear to have restrained suburban sprawl and slowed the loss of rural land and open space over the last 30 years. The rate of urbanization and land use conversion was highest in the 1993-1998 five-year period. In the 1998-2002 period, the rate of land conversion slowed to one tenth of the previous period. Since 1986, there was a 2 per cent increase in urban use land area and a 5 per cent increase in agriculture/urban mix use area. Most of the expanded urban area came from forest land, with conversion of agricultural land in second place. The total area province-wide has increased slightly (1 per cent) since the ALR was put in place in 1974 to protect agricultural land. Most of the movement of land into and out of the ALR has been “secondary capability land” (mainly suitable for grazing or forage crops). For detailed information, including graph data, see In-Depth Report [pdf]. Next: Municipal wastewater treatment in British Columbia >>

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