Evaluation of coastal zone development and utilization considering natural ontology, a case study in Liaoning Province, China

The evaluation of coastal zone development and utilization is important for land sea coordination. Previous single-indicator evaluations have often ignored the development potential of coastal zones, which may lead to underestimation and misestimation. This study considered the coastal natural properties based on multi-source remote sensing data. The data were used to comprehensively evaluate the development and utilization intensity of coastal zones by multiple indexes to explore the development suitability. The Liaoning Province in China was used as a case study. The results show that during the past 30 years, human development activities in the coastal zone of Liaoning Province have been more frequent between the early 2000s and 2010. Based on the coastal reclamation intensity and the loss of coastal ecological land, Jinzhou and Panjin near the Liaohe estuary were the most heavily exploited. Nevertheless, combined with the original geological conditions of the coast, Huludao had the most overloaded resources and environment in the perspective of development suitability. We propose an evaluation method of coastal zone development and utilization considering natural ontology, which can provide guidance for future Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM) decisions, and hopes to provide reference and revelation for related studies in other regions.