Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

The contribution of China’s Grain to Green Program to carbon sequestration

  • Research Article
  • Published:
Landscape Ecology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Forests play an important role in regulating atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration and mitigating the greenhouse effect. The Grain to Green Program (GGP) is one of the largest ecological programs in China, and it aims at converting croplands on steep slopes to forests. However, the magnitude and distribution of carbon sequestration induced by GGP remain unknown. In this study, we estimated the changes in carbon fluxes and stocks caused by forests converted from croplands under the GGP using a process-based ecosystem model (i.e., IBIS). Our results showed that the converted areas from croplands to forests under the GGP program could sequester 110.45 Tg C by 2020, and 524.36 Tg C by the end of this century. The sequestration capacity showed substantial spatial variations with large sequestration in southern China. The economic benefits of carbon sequestration from the GGP were also estimated according to the current carbon price. The estimated economic benefits ranged from $8.84 to $44.20 billion from 2000 through 2100, which may exceed the current total investment ($38.99 billion) on the program. As the GGP program continues and forests grow, the impact of this program will be even larger in the future, making a more considerable contribution to China’s carbon sink over the upcoming decades.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8
Fig. 9

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Amthor JS (1984) The role of maintenance respiration in plant growth. Plant Cell Environ 7(8):561–569

    Google Scholar 

  • Anav A, Friedlingstein P, Kidston M, Bopp L, Ciais P, Cox P, Jones C, Jung M, Myneni R, Zhu Z (2013) Evaluating the land and ocean components of the global carbon cycle in the CMIP5 earth system models. J Clim 26:6801–6843

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Balesdent J, Chenu C, Balabane M (2000) Relationship of soil organic matter dynamics to physical protection and tillage. Soil Tillage Res 53:215–230

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Birdsey R, Pregitzer K, Lucier A (2006) Forest carbon management in the United States: 1600–2100. J Environ Qual 35(4):1461–1469

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Blujdea VNB, Pilli R, Dutca I, Ciuvat L, Abrudan IV (2012) Allometric biomass equations for young broadleaved trees in plantations in Romania. For Ecol Manage 264:172–184

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brown S, Lugo AE (1990) Effects of forest clearing and succession on the carbon and nitrogen content of soil in Puerto Rico and US Virgin Islands. Plant Soil 124:53–64

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Cai W, Yuan W, Liang S, Zhang X, Dong W, Xia J, Fu Y, Chen Y, Liu D, Zhang Q (2014) Improved estimations of gross primary production using satellite-derived photosynthetically active radiation. J Geophys Res 119(1):110–123

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Canadell JG, Raupach MR (2008) Managing Forests for Climate Change Mitigation. Science 320(5882):1456–1457

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Canadell JG, Le Quéré C, Raupach MR, Field CB, Buitenhuis ET, Ciais P, Conway TJ, Gillett NP, Houghton RA, Marland G (2007) Contributions to accelerating atmospheric CO2 growth from economic activity, carbon intensity, and efficiency of natural sinks. Proc Natl Acad Sci 104(47):18866–18870

    Article  CAS  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Chen JQ, Brosofske KD, Noormets A, Crow TR, Bresee MK, Le Moine JM, Euskirchen ES, Mather SV, Zheng D (2004) A working framework for quantifying carbon sequestration in disturbed land mosaics. Environ Manage 34(3):S210–S221

    Google Scholar 

  • Chen XG, Zhang XQ, Zhang YP, Wan CB (2009) Carbon sequestration potential of the stands under the Grain for Green Program in Yunnan Province, China. For Ecol Manag 258(3):199–206

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cooper CF (1983) Carbon storage in managed forests. Can J For Res 13(1):155–166

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dai ZG (2010) Intensive agropastoralism: dryland degradation, the Grain-to-Green Program and islands of sustainability in the Mu Us Sandy Land of China. Agric Ecosyst Environ 138(3–4):249–256

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • FAO (2012) Global forest land-use change 1990–2005. In: Lindquist EJ, D’Annunzio R, Gerrand A, MacDicken K, Achard F, Beuchle R, Brink A, Eva HD, Mayaux P, San-Miguel-Ayanz J, Stibig H-J (Eds) FAO forestry paper No. 169. Food and agriculture organization of the United Nations and European Commission Joint Research Centre. Rome, FAO

  • Farquhar GD, Caemmerer S, Berry JA (1980) A biochemical model of photosynthetic CO2 assimilation in leaves of C3 species. Planta 149(1):78–90

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Fekedulegn D, Hicks RR, Colbert JJ (2003) Influence of topographic aspect, precipitation and drought on radial growth of four major tree species in an Appalachian watershed. For Ecol Manage 177(1–3):409–425

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Feng S, Hu Q, Qian W (2004) Quality control of daily meteorological data in China, 1951–2000: a new dataset. Int J Climatol 24:853–870

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Feng XM, Fu BJ, Lu N, Zeng Y, Wu BF (2013) How ecological restoration alters ecosystem services: an analysis of carbon sequestration in China’s Loess Plateau. Scientific Reports 3

  • Foley JA, Prentice IC, Ramankutty N, Levis S, Pollard D, Sitch S, Haxeltine A (1996) An integrated biosphere model of land surface processes, terrestrial carbon balance, and vegetation dynamics. Global Biogeochem Cycles 10(4):603–628

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Génard M, Dauzat J, Franck N, Lescourret F, Moitrier N, Vaast P, Vercambre G (2008) Carbon allocation in fruit trees: from theory to modelling. Trees 22:269–282

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gent PR, Danabasoglu G, Donner LJ, Holland MM, Hunke EC, Jayne SR, Lawrence DM, Neale RB, Rasch PJ, Vertenstein M, Worley PH, Yang ZL, Zhang MH (2011) The community climate system model version 4. J Clim 24(19):4973–4991

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Harris I, Jones PD, Osborn TJ, Lister DH (2013) Updated high-resolution grids of monthly climatic observations-the CRU TS3.10 dataset. Int J Climatol 34(3):623–642

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kucharik CJ, Foley JA, Delire C, Fisher VA, Coe MT, Lenters JD, Young-Molling C, Ramankutty N, Norman JM, Gower ST (2000) Testing the performance of a dynamic global ecosystem model: water balance, carbon balance, and vegetation structure. Global Biogeochem Cycles 14(3):795–825

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Lai Y, Zhu Q, Zhang Y, Qin W, Li W (2006) Valuing ecological effects of Grain to Green Program in Wuqi County. J Soil Water Conserv 20:83–87 (In Chinese)

    Google Scholar 

  • Law BE, Thornton PE, Irvine J, Anthoni PM, Van Tuyl S (2001) Carbon storage and fluxes in ponderosa pine forests at different developmental stages. Glob Change Biol 7(7):755–777

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Li X, Liang S, Yu G, Yuan W, Cheng X, Xia J, Zhao T, Feng J, Ma Z, Ma M, Liu S, Chen J, Shao C, Li S, Zhang X, Zhang Z, Chen S, Ohta T, Varlagin A, Miyata A, Takagi K, Saiqusa N, Kato T (2013) Estimation of gross primary production over the terrestrial ecosystems in China. Ecol Model 261–262:80–92

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Liu JG, Li SX, Ouyang ZY, Tam C, Chen XD (2008) Ecological and socioeconomic effects of China’s policies for ecosystem services. Proc Natl Acad Sci 105(28):9477–9482

    Article  CAS  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Liu C, Wang K, Meng S, Zheng X, Zhou Z, Han S, Chen D, Yang Z (2011) Effects of irrigation, fertilization and crop straw management on nitrous oxide and nitric oxide emissions from a wheat-maize rotation field in northern China. Agric Ecosyst Environ 140(1–2):226–233

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Lu F, Wang X, Han B, Ou-Yang Z, Duan X, Zheng H, Miao H (2008) Soil carbon sequestrations by nitrogen fertilizer application, straw return and no-tillage in China’s cropland. Glob Change Biol 15(2):281–305

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lugo AE, Sanchez MJ (1986) Land use and organic carbon content of some subtropical soils. Plant Soil 96:185–196

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Luo TX (1996) The spatial pattern and mathematical model of productions of China’s major forest types. Unpublished doctoral dissertation. Science Academy of China, Beijing, China

  • Nabuurs GJ, Masera O, Andrasko K, Benitez-Ponce P, Boer R, Dutschke M, Elsiddig E, Ford-Robertson J, Frumhoff P, Karjalainen T, Krankina O, Kurz WA, Matsumoto M, Oyhantcabal W, Ravindranath NH, Sanz-Sanchez MJ, Zhang X (2007) Forestry. In Metz B, Davidson OR, Bosch PR, Dave R, Meyer LA (Eds) Climate Change 2007: Mitigation. Contribution of Working Group III to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Cambridge, United Kingdom and New York, NY, USA

  • Nilsson S, Schopfhauser W (1995) The carbon-sequestration potential of a global afforestation program. Clim Chang 30(3):267–293

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Niu XZ, Duiker SW (2006) Carbon sequestration potential by afforestation of marginal agricultural land in the Midwestern U.S. For Ecol Manage 223(1–3):415–427

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pan YD, Birdsey RA, Fang JY, Houghton R, Kauppi PE, Kurz WA, Phillips OL, Shvidenko A, Lewis SL, Canadell JG, Ciais P, Jackson RB, Pacala SW, McGuire AD, Piao SL, Rautiainen A, Sitch S, Hayes D (2011) A large and persistent carbon sink in the world’s forests. Science 333(6045):988–993

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Pan YD, Birdsey RA, Phillips OL, Jackson RB (2013) The Structure, Distribution, and Biomass of the World’s Forests. Annu Rev Ecol Evol Syst 44:593–622

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Paul KI, Polglase PJ, Nyakuengama JG, Khanna PK (2002) Change in soil carbon following afforestation. For Ecol Manage 168:241–257

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Persson M, Moberg J, Ostwald M, Xu J (2013) The Chinese Grain for Green Programme: assessing the carbon sequestered via land reform. J Environ Manage 126:142–146

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Pilli R, Grassi G, Kurz WA, Smyth CE, Blujdea V (2013) Application of the CBM-CFS3 model to estimate Italy’s forest carbon budget, 1995–2020. Ecol Model 266:144–171

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Post WM, Kwon KC (2000) Soil carbon sequestration and land-use change: processes and potential. Glob Chang Biol 6(3):317–327

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pregitzer KS, Euskirchen ES (2004) Carbon cycling and storage in world forests: biome patterns related to forest age. Glob Chang Biol 10(12):2052–2077

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Richter DD, Markewitz D, Trumbore SE, Wells CG (1999) Rapid accumulation and turnover of soil carbon in a re-establishing forest. Nature 400:56–58

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Schulze ED, Wirth C, Heimann M (2000) Managing forest after Kyoto. Science 289(5487):2058–2059

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Shang-Guan W, Dai YJ, Liu BY, Ye AZ, Yuan H (2012) A soil particle-size distribution dataset for regional land and climate modelling in China. Geoderma 171–172:85–91

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shang-Guan W, Dai YJ, Liu BY, Zhu AX, Duan QY, Wu LZ, Ji DY, Ye AZ, Yuan H, Zhang Q, Chen DD, Chen M, Chu JT, Dou YJ, Guo JX, Li HQ, Li JJ, Liang L, Liang X, Liu HP, Liu SY, Miao CY, Zhang YZ (2013) A China data set of soil properties for land surface modeling. J Adv Model Earth Syst 5(2):212–224

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • State Forestry Administration of China (2013) Grain for Green Program: Looking Forward to restart, from http://tghl.forestry.gov.cn/portal/tghl/s/3815/content-617743.html

  • State Forestry Administration of China (SFA) (2000-2012) China’s Forestry Development Report. Chinese Forestry Publishing House, Beijing, China

  • Turner J, Lambert M (2000) Change in organic carbon in forest plantation soils in eastern Australia. For Ecol Manage 133(3):231–247

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Valentini R, Matteucci G, Dolman AJ, Schulze ED, Rebmann C, Moors EJ, Granier A, Gross P, Jensen NO, Pilegaard K, Lindroth A, Grelle A, Bernhofer C, Grünwald T, Aubinet M, Ceulemans R, Kowalski AS, Vesala T, Rannik U, Berbigier P, Loustau D, Gümundsson J, Thorgeirsson H, Ibrom A, Morgenstern K, Clement R, Moncrieff J, Montagnani L, Minerbi S, Jarvis PG (2000) Respiration as the main determinant of carbon balance in European forests. Nature 404(6780):861–865

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Vesterdal L, Rosenqvist L, Van der Salm C, Hansen K, Groenenberg B-J, Johansson M-B (2007) Carbon sequestration in soil and biomass following afforestation: experiences from oak and Norway spruce chronosequences in Nenmark, Sweden and the Netherlands. In: Hansen K, Heil GW, Muys B (eds) Environmental effects of afforestation in North-Western Europe pland and vegetation. Spinger, Netherlands, pp 19–51

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Xiao JF, Sun G, Chen J, Chen H, Chen S, Dong G, Gao S, Guo H, Guo J, Han S, Kato T, Li Y, Lin G, Lu W, Ma M, McNulty S, Shao C, Wang X, Xie X, Zhang X, Zhang Z, Zhao B, Zhou G, Zhou J (2013) Carbon fluxes, evapotranspiration, and water use efficiency of terrestrial ecosystems in China. Agric For Meteorol 182–183:76–90

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yuan WP, Liu SG, Liu HP, Randerson JT, Yu GR, Tieszen LL (2010) Impacts of precipitation seasonality and ecosystem types on evapotranspiration in the Yukon River Basin, Alaska. Water Resour Res 46(2):2010. doi:10.1029/2009WR008119

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yuan WP, Xu B, Chen ZQ, Xia JZ, Xu WF, Chen Y, Wu XX, Fu Y (2014a) Validation of China-wide interpolated daily climate variables from 1960 to 2011. Theoret Appl Climatol. doi:10.1007/s00704-014-1140-0

    Google Scholar 

  • Yuan WP, Li XL, Liang SL, Cui XF, Dong WJ, Liu SG, Xia JZ, Chen Y, Liu D, Zhu WQ (2014b) Characterization of locations and extents of afforestation from the Grain for Green Project in China. Remote Sens Lett 5(3):221–229

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yuan W, Liu D, Dong W, Liu S, Zhou G, Yu G, Zhao T, Feng J, Ma Z, Chen J, Chen Y, Chen S, Han S, Huang J, Li L, Liu H, Liu S, Ma M, Wang Y, Xia J, Xu W, Zhang Q, Zhao X, Zhao L (2014c) Multiyear precipitation reduction strongly decreases carbon uptake over northern China. J Geophys Res 119(5):881–896

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Zhang H, Yuan W, Dong W, Liu S (2014) Seasonal patterns of litterfall in forest ecosystem worldwide. Ecol Complex. doi:10.1016/j.ecocom.2014.01.003

    Google Scholar 

  • Zhuang D, Tang X (2006) Ecological-economic effects of Grain to Green Program in Zhangjiajie. J Mt Sci 24:373–377

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

This study was supported by the National Science Foundation for Excellent Young Scholars of China (41322005), National Natural Science Foundation of China (41201078), Program for New Century Excellent Talents in University (NCET-12-0060) and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities, and the IceMe of NUIST. We thank the anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments on the manuscript.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Earth Surface Processes and Resource Ecology, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, 100875, China

    Dan Liu, Yang Chen, Wenwen Cai, Wenjie Dong, Haicheng Zhang, Jiangzhou Xia & Wenping Yuan

  2. Earth Systems Research Center, Institute for the Study of Earth, Oceans, and Space, University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH, 03824, USA

    Jingfeng Xiao

  3. International Center for Ecology, Meteorology, and Environment, School of Applied Meteorology, Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology, Nanjing, 210044, Jiangsu, China

    Jingfeng Xiao & Jiquan Chen

  4. Centre for Global Change & Earth Observations, Department of Geography, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, 48823, USA

    Jiquan Chen

Authors
  1. Dan Liu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Yang Chen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Wenwen Cai
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Wenjie Dong
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Jingfeng Xiao
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Jiquan Chen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Haicheng Zhang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  8. Jiangzhou Xia
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  9. Wenping Yuan
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Wenping Yuan.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Liu, D., Chen, Y., Cai, W. et al. The contribution of China’s Grain to Green Program to carbon sequestration. Landscape Ecol 29, 1675–1688 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10980-014-0081-4

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10980-014-0081-4

Keywords

Search

Navigation