Abstract
Forests are the largest and most important terrestrial ecosystem on Earth, and they provide fundamental goods and services on which the welfare of human society depends (Salim and Ullsten 1999). Man’s attitude towards forests is evolving with human civilization, ranging from venerating them as sacred for their immensity, fearing them due to dangers associated with forests, finding them as impediments to agricultural development, to seeing them as sources of economic value (Vogt et al. 2007). Laarman and Sedjo (1992) summarized the goods and services that forests can provide for human welfare in five categories: (1) protective services and influences, such as soil and water conservation, climate regulation as well as conservation of biodiversity; (2) educational and scientific services, where forests are used in research and teaching to obtain and transmit basic knowledge; (3) psycho-physiological influences, including tourism, recreation, inspiration for art, religion and philosophy, etc.; (4) consumption of plants, animals and derivatives, referring to timber, fuelwood, and other derived products from forests; (5) source of land and living space. Traditional forest practice is primarily aimed at extraction of direct and derivative products from forests to maximize economic gains, while other goods and services that forests offer are frequently not adequately valued. As a result, large areas of forests are cut for timber or fuelwood every year. In addition, due to the rapid growth of human population, large areas of forests are either converted to cropland for food production or to developed area.
Keywords
- Normalize Difference Vegetation Index
- Gross Domestic Production
- Forest Cover
- Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer
- Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsReferences
China National Bureau of Statistics (2005) China compendium of Statistics 1949–2004. China Statistics Press, Beijing
China State Forestry Administration (2000–2007) Annals of Forestry in China. China Forestry Press, Beijing, China
Chinese Government Documents (1977–2005) Chinese Ministry of Forestry, 1977, National Forest Resource Statistics: 1973–1976; Chinese Ministry of Forestry, 1993, National Forest Resource Statistics: 1977–1981; Chinese Ministry of Forestry, 1989, China Forest Resource Statistics: 1984–1988; Chinese Ministry of Forestry, 1994, National Forest Resource Statistics: 1989–1993; Division of Forest Resources, Policy and Management, Chinese Ministry of Forestry, 1996, Forest Resources of Contemporary China: 1949–1993; China State Forestry Administration, 2000, National Forest Resource Statistics: 1994–1998; State Forestry Administration, 2005, Report of China Forest Resources in 2005, China Forestry Press
Dobson AP, Bradshaw AD, Baker JM (1997) Hopes for the future: restoration ecology and conservation biology. Science 277:515–522
Ehrhardt-Martinez K, Crenshaw EM, Jenkins JC (2002) Deforestation and the environmental Kuznets curve: a cross-national investigation of intervening mechanisms. Soc Sci Q 83:226–243
Ewers RM (2006) Interaction effects between economic development and forest cover determine deforestation rates. Global Environ Change 16:161–169
Fang JY, Piao SL, He JS et al (2004) Increasing terrestrial vegetation activity in China, 1982–1999. Sci China (Ser C) 47(3):229–240
Fang JY, Guo ZD, Piao SL et al (2007) Terrestrial vegetation carbon sinks in China, 1981–2000. Sci China Ser D-Earth Sci 50:1341–1350
Food and Agricultural Organization of United Nations (FAO) (2006) Global Forest Resources Assessment 2005: progress toward sustainable forest management. FAO Forestry Paper 147. ISBN 92-5-105481–9.
Foley JA, DeFries R, Asner GP et al (2005) Global consequences of land use. Science 309:570–574
Hyde WF, Amacher GS, Magrath W (1996) Deforestation and forest land use: theory, evidence and policy implications. World Bank Res Obs 11:223–248
Kauppi PE, Ausubel JH, Fang J et al (2006) Returning forests analyzed with the forest identity. PNAS 103:17574–17579
Laarman JG, Sedjo RA (1992) Global forests: issues for six billion people. McGraw-Hill, New York
Liu J, Diamond J (2005) China’s environment in a globalizing world. Nature 435:1179–1186
Mather AS, Needle CL (1998) The forest transition: a theoretical basis. Area 30:117–124
Nei J (2005) Forest resources of China. China Forestry Press, Beijing, P. R. China
Piao SL, Fang JY, Zhu B et al (2005) Forest biomass carbon stocks in China over the past 2 decades: estimated based on integrated inventory and satellite data. J Geophys Res 110 (G01006). doi:10.1029/2005JG000014
Rozelle S, Albers H, Li G et al (1998) Forest resources under economic reform in China. China Info 13:106–125
Rudel TK, Coones OT, Moran E et al (2005) Forest transitions: toward a global understanding of land use change. Global Environ Change 15:23–31
Salim E, Ullsten O (1999) Our forests our future. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK
Satake A, Rudel TK (2007) Modeling the forest transition: forest scarcity and ecosystem service hypotheses. Ecol Appl 17:2024–2036
Song C (2000) Comments on China’s forest policy for the 21st century. Science. Edebate. http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/eletters/288/5474/2135
Song C, Lord WJ, Zhou L et al (2008) Empirical evidence for impacts of internal migration on vegetation dynamics in China from 1982 to 2000. Sensors 8:5069–5080
Stern DI, Common MS, Barbier EB (1996) Economic growth and environmental degradation: the environmental kuznets curve and sustainable development. World Dev 24:1151–1160
Sun J, Zhao C, Wang L (2002) The long march of green: the chronicle of returning agricultural land to forests in China. China Modern Economics Press, Beijing
Trac CJ, Harrell S, Hinckley TM et al (2007) Reforestation programs in Southwest China: reported success, observed failure, and the reasons why. J Mount Sci 4:275–292
Tucker CJ, Pinzon JE, Brown ME et al (2005) An extended AVHRR 8-km NDVI dataset compatible with MODIS and SPOT vegetation NDVI data. Int J Remote Sens 26(20):4485–4498
Uchida E, Xu J, Rozelle S (2005) Grains for green: cost-effectiveness and sustainability of China’s conservation set-aside program. Land Econ 81:247–264
Vogt KA, Gara RI, Honea JM et al (2007) Historical perceptions and uses of forests. In: Vogt KA, Honea JM, Vogt DJ et al (eds) Forests and society: sustainability and life cycles of forests in human landscapes. Cromwell, Trowbridge, UK
Wang G, Innes JL, Lei J et al (2007a) China’s forestry reforms. Science 318:1556–1557
Wang S, Liu C, Wilson B (2007b) Is China in a later stage of a U-shaped forest resource curve? A re-examination of empirical evidence. Forest Policy Econ 10:1–6
Wang S, Chen JM, Ju WM et al (2007c) Carbon sinks and sources in China’s forests during 1901–2001. J Environ Manage 85:524–537
Watson RT, Noble IR, Bolin B et al (2000) Land use, land-use change, and forestry. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK
Xiao J, Moody A (2004) Trends in vegetation activity and their climatic correlations: China 1982–1998. Int J Remote Sens 25:5669–5689
Xiong D (1989) Recent history of forestry in China: 1840–1949. China Forestry Press, Beijing
Xu Z, Bennett MT, Tao R et al (2004a) China’s sloping land conversion programme four years on: current situation and pending issues. Int Forestry Rev 6(3–4):317–326
Xu J, Tao G, Amacher GS (2004b) An empirical analysis of China’s state-owned forests. Forest Policy Econ 6:379–390
Xu J, Yin R, Li Z et al (2006) China’s ecological rehabilitation: unprecedented efforts, dramatic impacts, and requisite policies. Ecol Econ 57:595–607
Yin R (1998) Forestry and the environment in China: the current situation and strategic choices. World Dev 26:2153–2167
Zhang and Xu 2003: Zhang XQ, Xu DY (2003) Potential carbon sequestration in China’s forests. Environ Sci & Pol 6(5): 421–432
Zhang Y, Song C (2006) Impacts of afforestation, deforestation and reforestation on forest cover in China from 1949 to 2003. J For 104(7):383–387
Zhang P, Shao GF, Zhao G et al (2000) Ecology – China’s forest policy for the 21st century. Science 288:2135–2136
Zhang Y, Tachibana S, Nagata S (2006) Impact of socio-economic factors on the changes in forest areas in China. For Policy Econ 9:63–76
Acknowledgments
This work was partly supported by NASA grant NNX06AE28G. The authors thank Jackson Lord for help collecting provincial GDP data for China, and Limin Zhou for providing the NDVI data.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2009 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Song, C., Zhang, Y. (2009). Forest Cover in China from 1949 to 2006. In: Nagendra, H., Southworth, J. (eds) Reforesting Landscapes. Landscape Series, vol 10. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-9656-3_15
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-9656-3_15
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-1-4020-9655-6
Online ISBN: 978-1-4020-9656-3
eBook Packages: Biomedical and Life SciencesBiomedical and Life Sciences (R0)