Soil Carbon Sequestration Potential for “Grain for Green” Project in Loess Plateau, China

Abstract

Conversion of cropland into perennial vegetation land can increase soil organic carbon (SOC) accumulation, which might be an important mitigation measure to sequester carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. The "Grain for Green" project, one of the most ambitious ecological programmes launched in modern China, aims at transforming the low-yield slope cropland into grassland and woodland. The Loess Plateau in China is the most important target of this project due to its serious soil erosion. The objectives of this study are to answer three questions: (1) what is the rate of the SOC accumulation for this "Grain for Green" project in Loess Plateau? (2) Is there a difference in SOC sequestration among different restoration types, including grassland, shrub and forest? (3) Is the effect of restoration types on SOC accumulation different among northern, middle and southern regions of the Loess Plateau? Based on analysis of the data collected from the literature conducted in the Loess Plateau, we found that SOC increased at a rate of 0.712 TgC/year in the top 20 cm soil layer for 60 years under this project across the entire Loess Plateau. This was a relatively reliable estimation based on current data, although there were some uncertainties. Compared to grassland, forest had a significantly greater effect on SOC accumulation in middle and southern Loess Plateau but had a weaker effect in the northern Loess Plateau. There were no differences found in SOC sequestration between shrub and grassland across the entire Loess Plateau. Grassland had a stronger effect on SOC sequestration in the northern Loess Plateau than in the middle and southern regions. In contrast, forest could increase more SOC in the middle and southern Loess Plateau than in the northern Loess Plateau, whereas shrub had a similar effect on SOC sequestration across the Loess Plateau. Our results suggest that the "Grain for Green" project can significantly increase the SOC storage in Loess Plateau, and it is recommended to expand grassland and shrub areas in the northern Loess Plateau and forest in the middle and southern Loess Plateau to enhance the SOC sequestration in this area.

Effects of land use/land cover and climate changes on surface runoff in a semi-humid and semi-arid transition zone in northwest China

“…The main goal of the GGP was to reduce soil erosion and improve the eco-environmental status of western and northern China (Xu et al, 2004). Noticeable evidence of ecological restoration was observed on the Loess Plateau after the GGP was implemented (Chang et al, 2011;Sun et al, 2015). In addition to preventing soil erosion, the GGP improved the soil's physical and chemical properties (Deng et al, 2014;Song et al, 2014) and facilitated vegetation restoration.…”

Biomass carbon storages and carbon sequestration potentials of the Grain for Green Program‐Covered Forests in China

“…At present, there are many Chinese scientists exploring carbon storages of (Fang, Chen, Peng, Zhao, & Ci, 2001; Zhao & Zhou, 2006), carbon sequestration (Li & Lei, 2010), carbon sequestration potential of forest vegetation (Chen, Zhang, Zhang, & Wan, 2009), as well as some others focusing on carbon storages (Yu et al., 2007), carbon sequestration (Deng, Liu, & Shangguan, 2014), and carbon sequestration potential of forestland soils (Chang, Fu, Liu, & Liu, 2011; Zhang, Dang, Tan, Cheng, & Zhang, 2010) in China. However, there are a few researches on carbon sequestration capacities of plantations in China (Liu et al., 2014).…”

“…Chang et al. (2011) studied soil organic carbon sequestration potentials of the GGP‐covered Loess Plateau. And Zhang et al.…”

Biomass, Carbon and Nutrient Storage in a 30-Year-Old Chinese Cork Oak (Quercus Variabilis) Forest on the South Slope of the Qinling Mountains, China

“…A growing number of studies have addressed C storage and sequestration in key national ecological restoration programs in China, such as the Sloping Land Conversion program, Three-North Sheltbelt Forest program, Changjiang (Yangtze) River Basin Forest Protection program, Beijing-Tianjin Sandstorm Source Control program, Natural Forest Protection program (NFP), and other programs [2,[5][6][7][8][9].…”