干旱区生态环境知识资源中心(Arid): Considerations on Forest Changes of Northwest China in Past Seven Decades

Arid

DOI	10.3389/fenvs.2021.589896
	Considerations on Forest Changes of Northwest China in Past Seven Decades
	Yang, Guojing; Li, Junhao; Zhou, Lihua
通讯作者	Zhou, LH (corresponding author), Chinese Acad Sci, Inst Sci & Dev, Beijing, Peoples R China. ; Zhou, LH (corresponding author), Univ Chinese Acad Sci, Schl Publ Policy & Management, Beijing, Peoples R China.
来源期刊	FRONTIERS IN ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE
EISSN	2296-665X
出版年	2021
卷号	9
英文摘要	Forests cover four billion hectares (31 %) of the Earth's landmass and contain over 75% of all carbon in vegetation. They provide renewable raw materials and natural amenities, protect land and water resources, harbor biological diversity, and mitigate climate change. However, due to less precipitation, the forest coverage rate is only 5.86% in Northwest China. The forests in these arid areas are mainly distributed in alpine areas, which play a key role in runoff regulation and ensure the ecological and economic development of the middle and lower reaches of the inland basins. In the past several decades, China had experienced large-scale deforestation and reforestation. What were the changes of the few forest areas and growing stock in arid Northwest China? Has forest quality been restored? Changes of that had been analyzed in this article. The results showed that the forest area and growing stock decreased greatly from the 1950s to 1970s; the artificial forest area increased clearly; the natural forest area stabilized from the 1980s, growing stock of forest per unit area was still lower than that in the 1950s; and the forest quality had not yet been restored. Results of the analysis of influencing factors showed that the policy-led human activities in different periods were the efficient cause of forest changes in Northwest China. With the development of forestry science, more and more attention has been paid to forest ecological restoration. Three-North Shelter Forest Program (TNSFP) in 1978 had made great progress on forest areas by afforestation, and the ecological benefits and economic benefits also increased remarkably owing to the increase in the artificial forest area. In recent years, great progress on forest areas has been made by afforestation, and the forests also contribute significantly to the ecology and economy. However, large-scale afforestation in the Loess Plateau had caused a phenomenon of large investment and little effect on water conservation in some afforestation areas, which showed that afforestation initiated under different polices, which were not always scientifically based, resulted in unintended consequences. Clear ecological principles should be used to ensure best environmental and forest ecology outcomes.
英文关键词	forest changes forest area forest growing stock arid Northwest China forest structure forest function ecological principles
类型	Article
语种	英语
开放获取类型	gold
收录类别	SCI-E
WOS记录号	WOS:000664230500001
WOS类目	Environmental Sciences
WOS研究方向	Environmental Sciences & Ecology
资源类型	期刊论文
条目标识符	http://119.78.100.177/qdio/handle/2XILL650/350295
作者单位	[Yang, Guojing; Li, Junhao] Chinese Acad Sci, Northwest Inst Ecoenvironm & Resources, Key Lab Ecohydrol Inland River Basin, Lanzhou, Peoples R China; [Zhou, Lihua] Chinese Acad Sci, Inst Sci & Dev, Beijing, Peoples R China; [Zhou, Lihua] Univ Chinese Acad Sci, Schl Publ Policy & Management, Beijing, Peoples R China
推荐引用方式 GB/T 7714	Yang, Guojing,Li, Junhao,Zhou, Lihua. Considerations on Forest Changes of Northwest China in Past Seven Decades[J],2021,9.
APA	Yang, Guojing,Li, Junhao,&Zhou, Lihua.(2021).Considerations on Forest Changes of Northwest China in Past Seven Decades.FRONTIERS IN ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE,9.
MLA	Yang, Guojing,et al."Considerations on Forest Changes of Northwest China in Past Seven Decades".FRONTIERS IN ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE 9(2021).