Exploring Spatiotemporal Variation of Carbon Storage Driven by Land Use Policy in the Yangtze River Delta Region

Abstract

Land use/land cover (LULC) change driven by land use policy always leads to dramatic change in carbon storage and sequestration, especially in a rapidly urbanizing region. However, few studies explored the influences of land use polices on carbon storage and sequestration in a rapidly urbanizing region. Through Integrated Valuation of Ecosystem Services and Tradeoffs (InVEST) model, the spatial-temporal pattern of carbon storage altered by LULC transformation and its linkage with land use policies were analyzed in five periods (1990–1995, 1995–2000, 2000–2005, 2000–2010, 2010–2015) in the Yangtze River Delta (YRD) Region. The results indicated that: (1) the carbon storage in the YRD was substantially altered by continuous LULC transformation, totally decreased by 1.49 × 107 Mg during 1990–2015. (2) The total amount of carbon storage increased from 2.91 × 109 Mg in 1990 to 2.95 × 109 Mg in 1995, and then decreased to 2.90 × 109 Mg in 1995–2015. Thus, the total economic value of carbon storage increased approximately from 467.42 million dollars in 1990 to 472.99 million dollars in 1995, and then decreased to 465.01 million dollars in 2015. (3) The carbon storage and sequestration were influenced by LULC transformation driven by land use policies in five periods: large areas of grassland converted to woodland in 1990–1995 led by Forest Law, then clustered areas of cropland converted to built-up land in 1995–2015 around large cities of YRD Region led by Land Management Law and Development Plans, and finally, the conversion of cropland to built-up land was decreased and scattered in the entire region influenced by land use polices led by early stage of ecocivilization construction. The study can facilitate to develop regional land use policy for carbon storage conservation and carbon neutrality in a rapidly urbanizing region.

Blackland Conservation and Utilization, Carbon Storage and Ecological Risk in Green Space: A Case Study from Heilongjiang Province in China

“…Due to the insignificant change in water areas under the BCU scenario, the carbon sequestration benefits of water areas are not immediately apparent. This section’s findings can serve as an empirical study of land use policy-induced carbon stock changes [ 5 , 63 ].…”

“…Land use and cover change (LUCC) influences carbon cycling by altering the spatial and temporal patterns of ecosystems, and governments have all decided to increase terrestrial ecosystem carbon stocks to offset CO 2 emissions from societal development [ 3 , 4 ]. The implementation of the action plan to address climate change has been on the agenda since China proposed, in 2020, to strive to achieve the carbon peak by 2030 and strive to complete the carbon-neutral target by 2060 [ 5 ]. Agriculture and forestry are two policy-oriented engineering techniques that have been found to increase ecosystem carbon storage.…”

Multiscale Analysis of the Effects of Landscape Pattern on the Trade-Offs and Synergies of Ecosystem Services in Southern Zhejiang Province, China

“…Land use/land cover (LULC), topographic conditions, and climate change play an important role in the formation and allocation of ESs [3]. Inappropriate changes in LULC may lead to the extinction of local species and the reduction of natural habitats and ecosystem functions, thereby affecting the provision of ESs, such as carbon sequestration [4], water conservation [5], and food production [6]. As ES provision is based on the interaction of multiple related ecological processes, complex relationships usually exist among ESs, i.e., trade-offs and synergies (TOSs) [7].…”

Does Exploitation Reduce Carbon Storage? A Study on the Liao River Estuary Wetland

“…Land use change is an essential factor affecting carbon stock. Positive ecological evolution increases land carbon stocks (Meena et al, 2018;Cai et al, 2021;He et al, 2022), mainly including the conversion of cultivated land and unused land to woodland and grassland (Chuai et al, 2021;Meena et al, 2018;Xu et al, 2021;Deng et al, 2022), but also a small increase in wetlands (Hou et al, 2022;Dai et al, 2021). However, most studies have found that carbon stocks have declined over time because of land use change (Li et al, 2021;Zhu et al, 2021;Wang et al, 2022;Zhu et al, 2020).…”