Do afforestation projects increase core forests? Evidence from the Chinese Loess Plateau

Wang, Yuhang; Brandt, Martin; Zhao, Minghui; Xing, Kaixiong; Wang, Lanhui; Tong, Xiaowei; Xue, Feng; Kang, Muyi; Jiang, Yuan; Fensholt, Rasmus

doi:10.1016/j.ecolind.2020.106558

Cited by 41 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 56 publications

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“…To verify the time effect and intensity of the impacts of SPEI on apple production, the linear relationship between apple output and SPEI was evaluated based on apple output data for the 31 provinces in 1978–2019 (Wang et al, 2020; Wang, Brandt, et al, 2020).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Spatiotemporal evolution and suitability of apple production in China from climate change and land use transfer perspectives

Wang¹,

Liu²

2022

Food and Energy Security

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Apple production in China, the world's largest apple producer and consumer, is challenged by a huge and growing population coupled with rapid industrialisation and urbanisation. China's apple output has increased continuously over the past 42 years with distinctive spatial differences. Herein, changes in the spatial patterns of apple production increases, and their potential impact factors in China are described at the provincial level. Between 1978 and 2019, the centreof-gravity of apple production shifted southwest towards the upper reaches of the Yellow River, the main water source for agricultural irrigation in North China.Analysis of absolute and relative growth of apple output reveals that the Loess Plateau, characterised by fragile habitat and low land productivity, has gradually become a major contributor to apple production. Despite annual increases in apple output, apple production system has become more fragile and unstable overtime, especially in the Shaanxi-Gansu region where apple cultivation is prevalent. With continuous changes in policy, the amount of forest transfer (i.e. the area of other land use types converted to forest) has significantly affected the impact of standardised precipitation evapotranspiration index on apple production increases in China. Thus, to prevent the degradation of new forests, a differentiated management and protection system should be implemented for apple planting sub-regions. This should include altering subsidy policies on apple production, enhancing soil erosion control in the Loess Plateau and strengthening ecological management of forests and grassland. K E Y W O R D Sapple production increase, forest transfer, spatiotemporal evolution, standardised precipitation evapotranspiration index How to cite this article: Wang, J., & Liu, T. (2022). Spatiotemporal evolution and suitability of apple production in China from climate change and land use transfer perspectives. Food and Energy Security, 11, e386.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Spatiotemporal evolution and suitability of apple production in China from climate change and land use transfer perspectives

Wang¹,

Liu²

2022

Food and Energy Security

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“…The average altitude is 1,000 to 1,500 m, and the annual precipitation is 150 to 750 mm (NDRC et al, 2010). The rainfall is generally low and unevenly distributed, and the annual average temperature is 3.6-14.3°C (Wang et al, 2020). The topography is complex, the soil nutrient content is low, and the terrain is high in the northwest and low in the southeast.…”

Section: Study Areamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The total afforestation area on the Loess Plateau has reached 18.906 million ha (Jiang et al, 2018), and a large amount of sloping farmland has been converted into grassland and woodland (Deng et al, 2014). Returning cropland or barren slope cropland to woodland (grassland) has been discontinued for more than 20 years (Wang et al, 2020). Land type has undergone unprecedented large scale, transformative changes, and the ecological restoration effect has been significant (Niu et al, 2019).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evolution Characteristics and Simulation Prediction of Forest and Grass Landscape Fragmentation Based on the “Grain for Green” Projects on the Loess Plateau, P.R. China

Gong

2021

Preprint

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Forest fragmentation is one of the major environmental issues that the international community is generally concerned about under the background of global climate change. Studying the impact and the interaction mechanism of land use change processes on landscape fragmentation is important to gaining a comprehensive understanding of the ecosystem response to human activities and global climate change. Based on the implementation background for the “Grain for Green” Project, we selected the Loess Plateau as the research area and used the coupled future land use simulation (FLUS) model and landscape fragmentation model to explore the temporal and spatial changes in forest and grass landscape fragmentation. The results showed that (1) Woodland, grassland, and cropland are the main landscape types, accounting for about 90% of the total area. In addition, the area of cropland initially increased and then decreased, while the area of woodland and grassland exhibited the opposite trend Oover the last 35 years. In particular, the period from 2000 to 2015 was a forest and grass restoration stage, and the average annual rate of forest and grass restoration reached 0.56%. (2) The FLUS model was used to predict the land use on the Loess Plateau in 2030. The kappa coefficient was 0.85, and the figure of merit coefficient (FOM) was 0.11 for a 1% random sampling, which are within a reasonable range, and the simulation results are also consistent with the objective change in the current social and economic development. (3) The fragmentation of woodland and grassland were dominated by edge type and core type. The core type had a concentrated distribution and an absolute advantage, accounting for more than 75% of the total area. It is predicted that the landscape fragmentation will gradually slowdown in 2030 under different intensities of the “Grain for Green” project. The dynamics of landscape fragmentation based on land use changes are conducive to the reasonable planning and objective evaluation of woodland and grassland spatial allocation and quality improvement, and provide an important basis for the formulation of ecological protection and land management policies.

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“…First, we should pay more attention to the utilization of ecological resources. Currently, regional ecosystem services are still declining despite the implementation of policies that have reversed the massive loss of natural resources to some extent, such as the increased forestland identified in recent years [63]. However, the utilization quality of ecological resources still needs to be further strengthened.…”

Section: Managerial Implicationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reoccupying Ecological Land for Excessively Expanded Rust Belt Cities in Traditional Grain Bases: An Eco-Economic Trade-Off Perspective

Liu

Lei

Wang

et al. 2020

Land

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The optimization of ecological resource allocation is increasingly seen as a potential solution for urban revitalization and sustainable land use planning, and the key point is to assess and simulate the spatial arrangement of the ecological land. In this study, we proposed a conceptual framework with the aim of reoccupying ecological resources for rust belt cities from the perspective of eco-economic trade-offs. The ecological security pattern, the urban development pattern, and the ecological quality of cropland were constructed and evaluated to measure the development level of an ecological system and a socio-economic system. Furthermore, the results were used as the constraints that influenced land use distribution to simulate the ecological land reoccupation pattern. The suitable area, the preservation area, the configurable area, and the unsuitable area in the reoccupation pattern accounted for 6.94%, 49.97%, 28.17%, and 0.69%, respectively. Significantly, under strict cropland protection policies, the available space for ecological land expansion was heavily compressed. Therefore, the emphasis on agricultural production should be reexamined to release more space for ecological resources. This method could be an effective pathway to alleviate the pressures on urban and natural space caused by the competition between land-use activities, such as economic development, agricultural production, and ecological conservation. The findings are expected to promote urban revitalization, green agriculture, and sustainable social development in rust belt cities, and provide certain references for the utilization of land resources and regional policy making.

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Do afforestation projects increase core forests? Evidence from the Chinese Loess Plateau

Cited by 41 publications

References 56 publications

Spatiotemporal evolution and suitability of apple production in China from climate change and land use transfer perspectives

Spatiotemporal evolution and suitability of apple production in China from climate change and land use transfer perspectives

Evolution Characteristics and Simulation Prediction of Forest and Grass Landscape Fragmentation Based on the “Grain for Green” Projects on the Loess Plateau, P.R. China

Reoccupying Ecological Land for Excessively Expanded Rust Belt Cities in Traditional Grain Bases: An Eco-Economic Trade-Off Perspective

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