Forest Areas in China Are Recovering Since the 21st Century

作者：Xuexin Wei, Ronggao Liu, Yang Liu, Jiaying He, Jilong Chen, Lin Qi, Yanlian Zhou, Yuanwei Qin, Chaoyang Wu, Jinwei Dong, Xiangming Xiao, Jingming Chen, Quansheng Ge · 发表于：Geophysical Research Letters · 年份：2024 · DOI：10.1029/2024gl110312 · 被引用次数：18 · 研究领域：Land Use and Ecosystem Services、Forest Management and Policy、Conservation, Biodiversity, and Resource Management

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.