Distribution of ecological restoration projects associated with land use and land cover change in China and their ecological impacts

Xin Chen; Le Yu; Zhenrong Du; Yidi Xu; Jiyao Zhao; Haile Zhao; Guoliang Zhang; Dailiang Peng; Peng Gong

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.153938

Distribution of ecological restoration projects associated with land use and land cover change in China and their ecological impacts

Sci Total Environ. 2022 Jun 15:825:153938. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.153938. Epub 2022 Feb 17.

Authors

Xin Chen¹, Le Yu², Zhenrong Du¹, Yidi Xu¹, Jiyao Zhao¹, Haile Zhao³, Guoliang Zhang³, Dailiang Peng⁴, Peng Gong⁵

Affiliations

¹ Department of Earth System Science, Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Earth System Modeling, Institute for Global Change Studies, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China.
² Department of Earth System Science, Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Earth System Modeling, Institute for Global Change Studies, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China; Ministry of Education Ecological Field Station for East Asian Migratory Birds, Beijing 100084, China. Electronic address: leyu@tsinghua.edu.cn.
³ College of Land Science and Technology, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, China.
⁴ Key Laboratory of Digital Earth Science, Aerospace Information Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100094, China.
⁵ Ministry of Education Ecological Field Station for East Asian Migratory Birds, Beijing 100084, China; Department of Geography and Department of Earth Sciences, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong 999077, China.

PMID: 35183635
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.153938

Abstract

China is prone to broad land degradation and thus has been implementing ecological restoration projects (ERPs) since the reform and opening up. The extent of ERPs, as well as the varied planting efforts including tree gain projects (TGPs), grass gain projects (GGPs), and shrub gain projects (SGPs), have remained largely unknown. In addition, the mixed success of ERPs on preventing soil erosion and improving biodiversity is not well known. Based on a land use and land cover (LULC) product and a trajectory-based change detection approach, we successfully generated the first national map of ERPs associated with land use and land cover change (LUCC) and its three associated subcategories. Then, we applied the Integrated Valuation of Ecosystem Services and Tradeoffs (InVEST) model to evaluate the dynamics of sediment retention and habitat quality. In addition, we explored the heterogeneous patterns for the ecological impacts of ERPs. Our results suggested that during the past 40 years, a total ERP area of 9.54 × 10⁶ hm² was observed nationwide, mainly in the northwestern provinces of China. Of the three ERP subcategories, TGPs accounted for the largest area (48.55%), followed by GGPs (47.50%) and SGPs (3.96%). The national average sediment retention experienced a significant increase, whereas the national average habitat quality experienced a significant decline. ERP-driven increases in habitat quality were offset partly by the LUCCs induced by economic development policies in some regions, especially in northeast China. The simultaneous effect of construction land expansion and ERP implementation on sediment retention made the synchronization between ERP implementation and sediment retention improvement insignificant. We also suggested the optimal direction for ERP implementation.

Keywords: Ecological impacts; Ecological restoration projects; Google Earth Engine; InVEST; Satellite-based observations.

MeSH terms

Biodiversity
China
Conservation of Natural Resources*
Ecosystem*