Forest recovery and its driving forces in karst areas of southwest China

Author(s):  
Xiaona Guo ◽  
Ruishan Chen ◽  
Qiang Li ◽  
Michael E. Meadows ◽  
Zhenzhen Pan

<p><strong>Abstract: </strong>Globally, the loss of forest is of great concern as forest plays many key roles in the earth system, for example, it contributes to biogeochemical cycles and rural livelihoods. Forest could provide ecosystem services such as soil retention and flood regulation and is especially critical in mountain environments. Deforestation in such regions further results in carbon emission and biodiversity loss and may reduce agricultural productivity and increase the poverty rate. In China, recognition of these problems has prompted a series of ecological construction programs, including “Returning Farmland to Forest” (RFF), which advocates stopping farming on sloping land that is prone to soil erosion and promotes afforestation and recovery of forest vegetation and was initially implemented in 1999. The program has been widely applied in Guizhou Province, a typical fragile karst mountain area of southwest China. There is, however, a lack of knowledge of the effectiveness of the RFF policy, and the relative roles played by possible factors that lead to forest change. Here we analyze the pattern and process of forest change in the karst mountain regions of Guizhou province between 1980 and 2018 and evaluate how RFF and other driving forces contribute to these changes. Based on a temporal sequence of satellite images, we develop a Markov model to examine the forest change, and found that most of the forests grow on the slopes of 15-25°, the forest cover has increased by 1,410 km<sup>2</sup> between 1980 and 2019, and 36% of cropland in Guizhou province has been converted to forest since 1980. Out of nine municipalities in the province, the most significant increases in forest cover occurs in Qiandongnan, which accounts for 20% (583 km<sup>2</sup>) of the increased area. we also found that the RFF program has had a marked positive impact on forest cover and has also improved hydrothermal conditions in the region. However, population, GDP, and traffic accessibility have a negative impact on forest cover. Climate factors appear to have the least impact on forest change during the period of 1980 to 2018. The findings offer useful information for resource managers to engage in forest protection, deforestation prevention, and ecological restoration in regions with similar conditions.    </p><p><strong>KEYWORDS:</strong> forest; restoration; RFF; GDP; karst areas</p>

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marinela-Adriana Chețan ◽  
Andrei Dornik

<p>Natura 2000 network, the world's largest network of protected areas, is considered a success for habitat and biodiversity protection, in the last decades. Our objective is to develop an algorithm for satellite data temporal analysis of protected areas, and to apply subsequently this algorithm for analysis of all Natura 2000 sites in Europe. We have developed an algorithm for satellite data temporal analysis of protected areas using JavaScript in Google Earth Engine, which is a web interface for the massive analysis of geospatial data, providing access to huge amount of data and facilitating development of complex workflows. This work focused on analysis of Global Forest Change dataset representing forest change, at 30 meters resolution, globally, between 2000 and 2018. Our results show that at least regarding forest protection, the network is not very successful, the 25350 sites losing 35246.8 km<sup>2</sup> of forest cover between 2000 and 2018, gaining only 9862.1 km<sup>2</sup>. All 28 countries recorded a negative forest net change, with a mean value of -906.6 km<sup>2</sup>, the largest forest area change recording Spain (-5106.4 km<sup>2</sup> in 1631 sites), Poland (-4529 km<sup>2</sup> in 962 sites), Portugal (-2781.9 km<sup>2</sup> in 120 sites), Romania (-1601.4 km<sup>2</sup> in 569 sites), Germany (-1365.7 km<sup>2</sup> in 5049 sites) and France (-1270.9 km<sup>2</sup> in 1520 sites). Among countries with the lowest values in net forest change is Ireland (-17.4 km<sup>2</sup> in 447 sites), Estonia (-104.1 km<sup>2</sup> in 518 sites), Netherlands (-132.3 km<sup>2</sup> in 152 sites), Finland (-268.6 km<sup>2</sup> in 1722 sites) and Sweden (-341.6 km<sup>2</sup> in 3786 sites).</p>


Author(s):  
Zhenming Zhang ◽  
Xianfei Huang ◽  
Yunchao Zhou ◽  
Jiachun Zhang ◽  
Xubo Zhang

The assessment of soil organic carbon (SOC) in mountainous karst areas is very challenging, due to the high spatial heterogeneity in SOC content and soil type. To study and assess the SOC storage in mountainous karst areas, a total of 22,786 soil samples were collected from 2,854 soil profiles in Guizhou Province in Southwest China. The SOC content in the soil samples was determined by the oxidation of potassium dichromate (K2Cr2O7), followed by titration with iron (II) sulfate (FeSO4). The SOC storage was assessed based on different land uses. The results suggested that the average SOC density in the top 1.00 m of soil associated with different land uses decreased in the following order: Croplands (9.58 kg m−2) > garden lands (9.07 kg m−2) > grasslands (8.07 kg m−2) > forestlands (7.35 kg m−2) > uncultivated lands (6.94 kg m−2). The SOC storage values in the 0.00–0.10 m, 0.00–0.20 m, 0.00–0.30 m and 0.00–1.00 m soil layers of Guizhou Province were 0.50, 0.87, 1.11 and 1.58 Pg, respectively. The SOC in the top 0.30 m of soil accounted for 70.25% of the total within the 0.00–1.00 m layer in Guizhou Province. It was concluded that assessing SOC storage in mountainous karst areas was more accurate when using land use rather than soil type. This result can supply a scientific reference for the accurate assessment of the SOC storage in the karst areas of southwestern China, the islands of Java, northern and central Vietnam, Indonesia, Kampot Province in Cambodia and in the general area of what used to be Yugoslavia, along with other karst areas with similar ecological backgrounds.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 1301
Author(s):  
Lei Gao ◽  
Fang Li ◽  
Jingran Zhang ◽  
Xu Wang ◽  
Yue Hao ◽  
...  

Southwest China is a fragile terrestrial ecosystem restricted by its geological background, which leads to a contradiction between its industrial economic development and the ecological environment. In this study, to explore the influence and mechanisms of the three industrial agglomeration modes, namely, specialization, related diversification, and unrelated diversification, on the eco-efficiency of the region, linear and nonlinear regression models were applied to the data of five Southwest provinces from 2006 to 2018. Specialization agglomeration had a significant negative impact on the eco-efficiency of four provinces outside Tibet in Southwest China. With the decrease of industrial specialization, their eco-efficiency improved. The effects of related diversification agglomeration on the ecological efficiency of four provinces outside Tibet in Southwest China showed a “U” curve. The degree of industrial diversification in these provinces exceeded the critical value of 1.46, and the effect on eco-efficiency was shown. The unrelated diversification agglomeration had a negative effect on the ecological efficiency of the four provinces outside Tibet in Southwest China. The degree of industrial-unrelated diversification in Guizhou Province increased slightly, which was not conducive to the improvement of local eco-efficiency. Additionally, it decreased significantly in other provinces, which caused the improvement of local eco-efficiency. The conclusion provides a theoretical basis for industrial green transformation path selection and related policy formulation in Southwest China.


2019 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 63-69
Author(s):  
Hanifah Ikhsani

Forest cover changes were influenced by many factors, some of which were biophysical characteristics, socio-economic conditions, and community cultural. The behavior of forest cover changes in each of Indonesia's regions varied, either its rate or its driving factors. The establishment of village typologies to categorize village administrative areas becomes important to see the driving factors that trigger forest change in each typology. The objective of this study was to develop the village typology and to identify the driving forces of forest cover change in each village in Kubu Raya Regency, West Kalimantan. The development of village typology was done by applying the clustering approach with standardized euclidean distances. Based on the proportion of forest in 2015, the study found that there are two village typologies within the study area with 81% OA. The study also recognized that the most significant driving forces of forest cover change in T1 were the distance from rivers (X2) and settlements (X3), whereas in T2 were the distance from roads (X1) and the edge of forest in 2015 (X9). The study concludes that the proximity from the center of the human activities holds a significant influence on the behavior of forest cover changes.


2017 ◽  
Vol 72 (4) ◽  
pp. 465-474 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christian A. Kull

Abstract. Forest transitions have recently received much attention, particularly in the hope that the historical transitions from net deforestation to forest recovery documented in several temperate countries might be reproduced in tropical countries. The analysis of forest transitions, however, has struggled with questions of forest definition and has at times focussed purely on tree cover, irrespective of tree types (e.g. native forest or exotic plantations). Furthermore, it has paid little attention to how categories and definitions of forest are used to political effect or shape how forest change is viewed. In this paper, I propose a new heuristic model to address these lacunae, building on a conception of forests as distinct socio-ecological relationships between people, trees, and other actors that maintain and threaten the forest. The model draws on selected work in the forest transition, land change science, and critical social science literatures. It explicitly forces analysts to see forests as much more than a land cover statistic, particularly as it internalizes consideration of forest characteristics and the differential ways in which forests are produced and thought about. The new heuristic model distinguishes between four component forest transitions: transitions in quantitative forest cover (FT1); in characteristics like species composition or density (FT2); in the ecological, socio-economic, and political processes and relationships that constitute particular forests (FT3); and in forest ideologies, discourses, and stories (FT4). The four are interlinked; the third category emerges as the linchpin. An analysis of forest transformations requires attention to diverse social and ecological processes, to power-laden official categories and classifications, and to the discourses and tropes by which people interpret these changes. Diverse examples are used to illustrate the model components and highlight the utility of considering the four categories of forest transitions.


2018 ◽  
Vol 38 (24) ◽  
Author(s):  
习慧鹏 XI Huipeng ◽  
王世杰 WANG Shijie ◽  
白晓永 BAI Xiaoyong ◽  
唐红 TANG Hong ◽  
吴路华 WU Luhua ◽  
...  

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (7) ◽  
pp. 3006 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yanqing Li ◽  
Zhongcheng Jiang ◽  
Zhihua Chen ◽  
Yang Yu ◽  
Funing Lan ◽  
...  

In fragile karst environments that have seen past and current human exploitation of agricultural and forest resources, the quantification of underground riverine sediment has been widely used to evaluate subterranean stream basin erosion. These measures are highly influenced by both precipitation and anthropogenic factors; therefore, soil erosion control measures must be urgently designed and applied. In this study, 17 years of sediment discharge across the Nandong underground river system in southwest China was monitored. To achieve this goal, the Mann–Kendal mutation test and proxy indicators were used to estimate the general influence of human activities and precipitation on sediment discharge. The results showed that: (1) Both anthropologic disturbance and rainfall have impacted the sediment discharge, although the influence of the anthropologic factor on sediment discharge was greater (61.53%), and (2) rainfall showed a hysteresis effect on sediment discharge. We obtained three different stages based on the mutation points and variation characteristics of the studied sediment discharge resulting from different driving forces, from 1998 to 2014. Prior to 2004, in the whole basin, the decrease of sediment yield was the result of the Natural Forest Protection Project. During the period from 2004 to 2008, due to continuous droughts, flood disasters, and intensive cultivation practices on the steeper hillslopes, the total sediment discharge of the whole basin increased. After 2009, the sediment discharge decreased due to the development of soil conservation projects and mushrooming reservoirs. These findings are expected to provide insights into watershed management and ecological restoration in fragile karst ecosystems, specifically, in southwestern Chinese river systems. More research must be conducted to monitor, with in situ measurements and observations, possible extreme events that can determine the exact erosion control measures that need to be designed and applied.


Author(s):  
Fatimah Said ◽  
Zarinah Yusof ◽  
Saad Mohd Said ◽  
Ahmad Farid OSMAN

This study uses the ordinary least squares technique to examine the effect of foreign investment and government expenditure on the growth in GDP per capita in Malaysia over the period 1978-2005. The regression results showed that the growth of export and ratio of government expenditure to GDP are the driving forces in enhancing the economic growth in Malaysia. Foreign investment and previous year real income per capita growth depict positive impact, whereas population growth exerts a negative impact on economic growth.  


2011 ◽  
pp. 31-48 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rodel x Rodel Lasco ◽  
Florencia Pulhin ◽  
Leonida Bugayong

Many sectors in the Philippines are looking at the potential of Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation-plus (REDD+) under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) to help finance forest protection and rehabilitation in the country. However, one major problem is that there is little information on the potential benefits the country can expect under REDD+. Specifically, it is not known how each component activities of REDD+ can benefit smallholder farmers. Thus, this paper assesses the potential benefits of activities under REDD+ to smallholder farmers in the country. The key question is what the potential of REDD+ in the Philippines is for improving the sequestration potential of the forest sector and to serve as a form of supplemental livelihood for rural forest dwellers? The main approach of the paper is to summarize what is known about: the historical pattern of deforestation and degradation, the driving forces behind them, community-based forest management (CBFM), tenure and rights, and to analyze the implications of Copenhagen and Cancun meetings for the Philippines. The main finding of the study is that depending on which REDD+ activity is implemented, smallholder farmers under CBFM areas would have varying roles and potential benefits. Smallholder farmers will benefit the most from avoiding forest degradation and enhancing of forest stocks activities because these activities pose the highest potential carbon credits. Due to the rising total forest cover of the country, very few carbon credits are expected from avoiding deforestation. This implies that government policies and programs could focus on preparing local communities and institutions for activities that decrease forest degradation and enhance carbon stocks. In addition, there are many uncertainties and information gaps remaining. For example, the rate of biomass degradation in Philippines forests and the drivers of forest degradation are still unknown. The ability of government agencies to implement REDD+ is still inadequate. A strong capacity building program is therefore essential.


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