The success of ecological engineering projects on vegetation restoration in China strongly depends on climatic conditions

Yujie Dou; Xiaoye Tong; Stéphanie Horion; Luwei Feng; Rasmus Fensholt; Quanqin Shao; Feng Tian

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.170041

The success of ecological engineering projects on vegetation restoration in China strongly depends on climatic conditions

Sci Total Environ. 2024 Mar 10:915:170041. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.170041. Epub 2024 Jan 11.

Authors

Yujie Dou¹, Xiaoye Tong², Stéphanie Horion², Luwei Feng¹, Rasmus Fensholt², Quanqin Shao³, Feng Tian⁴

Affiliations

¹ Hubei Key Laboratory of Quantitative Remote Sensing of Land and Atmosphere, School of Remote Sensing and Information Engineering, Wuhan University, Wuhan, China.
² Department of Geosciences and Natural Resource Management, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
³ Key Laboratory of Land Surface Patterns and Simulation, Institute of Geographic Science and Natural Resources Research, CAS, Beijing 100101, China; College of Resources and Environment, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 101407, China.
⁴ Hubei Key Laboratory of Quantitative Remote Sensing of Land and Atmosphere, School of Remote Sensing and Information Engineering, Wuhan University, Wuhan, China; Perception and Effectiveness Assessment for Carbon-neutrality Efforts, Engineering Research Center of Ministry of Education, Wuhan, China. Electronic address: tian.feng@whu.edu.cn.

PMID: 38218475
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.170041

Abstract

China has implemented extensive ecological engineering projects (EEPs) during recent decades to restore and enhance ecosystem functioning. However, the effectiveness of these interventions can vary due to factors such as local climate and specific project objectives. Here, we used two independent satellite remote sensing datasets, including the Global Inventory Monitoring and Modeling System (GIMMS) Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and vegetation optical depth from Ku-band (Ku-VOD), to investigate the vegetation trends in two hotspot regions of EEPs characterized by different climate conditions, i.e., the xeric/semi-xeric Loess Plateau and mesic southwest China. We found diverging vegetation greenness/biomass trend shift patterns in these two regions as a result of the combined effects of EEPs and climate variations, as indicated by changes in the Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI). In the Loess Plateau, where no significant climate variations were observed, NDVI/Ku-VOD increased continuously after the implementation of key EEPs in 2000. Conversely, southwest China has experienced persistent drying since 2000, and vegetation greenness/biomass showed an increasing trend during the initial stages of ecological engineering implementation but subsequently reversed towards a decline due to the continued dry climatic conditions. We used the residual trend method to separate the influence of EEPs from climate variations on vegetation trends and found a positive effect of the ecological management practices in the Loess Plateau, yet a predominantly negative effect in the southwest China region, which means that projects implemented in southwest China did not lead to a long-term improvement in vegetation growth under the given climate conditions in southwest China. This adverse impact suggests that ecological engineering practices could potentially increase the ecosystem's vulnerability to droughts, owing to the increased transpirational water demands introduced by ecological engineering interventions. Our study highlights the importance of considering the expected occurrence and magnitude of climatic variability when implementing large-scale EEPs.

Keywords: Change detection; Climate change; Ecological engineering.

MeSH terms

Biomass
China
Climate Change
Climate*
Ecosystem*
Temperature