Forest Areas in China Are Recovering Since the 21st Century

Abstract China is reported as the leading country in the Earth's greening. However, it is a challenge to capture the gradual recovery in forest cover and distinguish the contribution of trees from herbaceous vegetation using remote sensing data. We developed a new fractional tree cover product (GLOBMAP FTC China) from MODIS time series data to investigate change patterns of China's forests during 2000–2022. This annual product showed high consistency with China's National Forest Inventory. We found a significant increase (∼4 Mha/year) in the annual forest area in China from ∼154.47 Mha in 2000 to ∼236.01 Mha in 2015. This rate then slowed by 50% in 2015–2022 (∼2 Mha/year). The forest recovery primarily started in 2000–2004, and reached saturation in 2015. It was primarily contributed by the tree cover gain (92%) from forest conservation and restoration programs. Our findings can support forest management and carbon neutrality achievement for the country.

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Publication Details

Journal
Geophysical Research Letters
Published
2024-11-24
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1029/2024gl110312
Citations
14
Primary Topic
Land Use and Ecosystem Services
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
3.96

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article

Forest Areas in China Are Recovering Since the 21st Century

Jilong Chen, Yang Liu, Yanlian Zhou, Ronggao Liu et al.
14 citations
Geophysical Research Letters
Land Use and Ecosystem Services
3.96
article

Forest Areas in China Are Recovering Since the 21st Century

Jilong Chen, Yang Liu, Yanlian Zhou, Ronggao Liu, Yuanwei Qin, Chaoyang Wu, Jiaying He, Jingming Chen, Quansheng Ge, Jinwei Dong, Xiangming Xiao, Lin Qi, Xuexin Wei
article en
14 citations

Abstract

Abstract China is reported as the leading country in the Earth's greening. However, it is a challenge to capture the gradual recovery in forest cover and distinguish the contribution of trees from herbaceous vegetation using remote sensing data. We developed a new fractional tree cover product (GLOBMAP FTC China) from MODIS time series data to investigate change patterns of China's forests during 2000–2022. This annual product showed high consistency with China's National Forest Inventory. We found a significant increase (∼4 Mha/year) in the annual forest area in China from ∼154.47 Mha in 2000 to ∼236.01 Mha in 2015. This rate then slowed by 50% in 2015–2022 (∼2 Mha/year). The forest recovery primarily started in 2000–2004, and reached saturation in 2015. It was primarily contributed by the tree cover gain (92%) from forest conservation and restoration programs. Our findings can support forest management and carbon neutrality achievement for the country.

Geophysical Research LettersVol. 51(22)
Fujian Normal University (CN), University of Toronto (CA), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN), Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research (CN), University of Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN), University of Oklahoma (US), Nanjing University (CN)
National Key Research and Development Program of China
Life in Land
Openalex Percentile: Top 6%
Land Use and Ecosystem Services
3.96
DOIOpen Access PDFOpenAlex
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