Review
Environmental Sciences
Junjie Zhai, Ling Wang, Yuan Liu, Chengyuan Wang, Xuegang Mao
Summary: China's Three Northern Protected Forest Program (TNSFP) is the world's largest afforestation program, which has provided critical ecosystem services and effectively controlled wind and sand hazards and soil erosion. However, there are still knowledge gaps in its scientific basis and limited local engagement and insufficient investment.
SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT
(2023)
Review
Forestry
Hui Wang, Mengyu He, Nan Ran, Dong Xie, Qiang Wang, Mingjun Teng, Pengcheng Wang
Summary: China has implemented key forestry ecological development programs to alleviate environmental issues caused by deforestation, including NFPP, CCFP, DCBT, KSDP, and WCNR. These programs have made significant progress in increasing vegetative coverage, enhancing carbon sequestration, controlling soil erosion, and biodiversity conservation, but a more balanced approach and active involvement of scientific communities are needed for proper implementation and remarkable achievement. The environmental impact of DCBT, KSDP, and WCNR warrant more research attention.
Article
Environmental Sciences
Wenqi Song, Yuhao Feng, Zhiheng Wang
Summary: In the past two decades, China has implemented various ecological restoration programs, resulting in significant greening of vegetation. The study found that in northern China and the southern coastal regions, ecological restoration programs have played a dominant role in vegetation greening. However, in southwestern China, Inner Mongolia, and the implementation regions of certain ecological restoration programs in northeastern China, temperature or precipitation has dominated vegetation greening. Except for the Three-North Shelterbelt Forest Program, the impact of ecological restoration programs on vegetation greening was stronger than the combined effects of temperature and precipitation changes.
SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT
(2022)
Review
Environmental Sciences
Qing Yang, Gengyuan Liu, Marco Casazza, Stefano Dumontet, Zhifeng Yang
Summary: Ecological restoration programs have been beneficial to ecosystem services improvement, but challenges remain in planning and management due to climate change, rapid land use change, and insufficient simulation and identification of thresholds. A new framework is proposed to address these challenges, including attribution analysis, assessment of climate-land use change impacts, simulation of restoration program effects, and threshold identification. Recommendations for future research directions are also provided.
SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT
(2022)
Article
Soil Science
Yi Han, Wenwu Zhao, Ao Zhou, Paulo Pereira
Summary: Soil erosion is a serious threat to terrestrial ecosystems globally, with drylands being particularly sensitive. China's drylands are at risk from both wind and water erosion, and more research is needed to understand the effectiveness of ecological restoration measures in these areas.
Review
Environmental Sciences
Sijing Qiu, Jian Peng, Huining Zheng, Zihan Xu, Jeroen Meersmans
Summary: Exploring cost-effective pathways for ecosystem restoration is crucial for a sustainable future. The South China karst region has experienced severe environmental degradation but has shown remarkable vegetation recovery following large-scale ecological restoration programs. Research suggests that these programs have increased biomass and carbon sequestration while also correlating with poverty alleviation, but uncertainties remain in understanding their overall impacts.
SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT
(2022)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Yiran Li, Yong Niu, Tianxing Wei, Yushi Liang, Peng Chen, Xiaodong Ji, Chuanjie Zhang
Summary: Ecological restoration programs play a crucial role in climate change and carbon management policies. This study examined the spatiotemporal patterns of rainfall interception (RI) and its drivers after ecological restoration implementation in China, and assessed the sustainability of these programs. The research found that ecological restoration increased RI in China, but unsustainability was observed in certain regions.
ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH LETTERS
(2022)
Article
Green & Sustainable Science & Technology
Di Ye, Yufei Zhang, Qilun Li, Xue Zhang, Chunli Chu, Meiting Ju
Summary: The ecological civilization strategy in China has had a positive impact on the country's sustainable development. Researchers have developed an integrated assessment system based on the United Nations' indicators and policies to evaluate the sustainable development levels of Chinese ecological civilization. The results show that there has been a continuous improvement in China's ecological civilization over time, but with regional variations. The institutional, social, and cultural dimensions have played a greater role in promoting the development of ecological civilization.
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Nathan Levi, Noa Hillel, Eli Zaady, Guy Rotem, Yaron Ziv, Arnon Karnieli, Tarin Paz-Kagan
Summary: Mining activities have both economic benefits and environmental consequences, with soil quality often being impacted. The study in an open-pit phosphate mine in Israel's hyper-arid environment showed significant differences in soil quality between restoration practice areas and natural areas. Soil biological indicators primarily influence restoration effectiveness in hyper-arid ecosystems, emphasizing the importance of selecting appropriate soil properties for evaluation.
ECOLOGICAL INDICATORS
(2021)
Article
Green & Sustainable Science & Technology
Minghong Wu, Yihong Liu, Zhenci Xu, Geng Yan, Mingyang Ma, Shuyi Zhou, Yan Qian
Summary: The study assessed the progress of ecological civilization across China's provinces from 2012-2017 and 2007-2012, showing an improvement in ecological civilization development. The overall progress rate in 2012-2017 reached 14.94%, which was 2.3 times higher than in 2007-2012. Developing provinces made more improvement in ecological civilization progress, highlighting the importance of ecosystem conservation for future ecological civilization development policies.
JOURNAL OF CLEANER PRODUCTION
(2021)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Yi Han, Wenwu Zhao, Jingyi Ding, Carla Sofia Santos Ferreira
Summary: Drylands in China face the dual threat of water erosion and wind erosion. This study explores the spatial variation of soil erodibility in China's drylands and examines the effects of aridity, vegetation, and soil properties on soil erodibility. The results show that aridity has a negative effect on water erosion, while soil properties have a more pronounced effect on soil erodibility than vegetation. This study provides valuable information for implementing vegetation restoration and soil conservation measures in drylands.
SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT
(2023)
Article
Ecology
Gabriel C. C. Runte, Ryoko Oono, Nicole A. A. Molinari, Stephen R. R. Proulx, Carla M. M. D'Antonio
Summary: Forest restoration is an effective method to combat drought and fire threats in the Western United States. This study focuses on the endemic bigcone Douglas-fir in Southern California and examines the impact of planting conditions on seedling survival. Results suggest that microhabitat and summer watering have strong influences on seedling success, while slope position and soil amendment have minimal effects.
FRONTIERS IN FORESTS AND GLOBAL CHANGE
(2022)
Article
Environmental Studies
Kun Chen, Rui Bian
Summary: This research examines the role of green finance and renewable resource efficiency in supporting China's sustainable development goals. The study analyzes the economic and environmental changes from 1988 to 2020, uses a linear regression model to assess the influence of the macroeconomic industry on China's sustainable development, and investigates how green technology investments, renewable energy use, and environmental legislation impact China's sustainable economic trajectory. The findings highlight the importance of green finance and renewable resource efficiency in achieving China's sustainable development goals, emphasizing the need to integrate environmental concerns into economic policies and practices.
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Zhaoliang Song, Yuntao Wu, Yuanhe Yang, Xiaodong Zhang, Lukas Van Zwieten, Nanthi Bolan, Zimin Li, Hongyan Liu, Qian Hao, Changxun Yu, Xiaole Sun, Alin Song, Wenying Wang, Congqiang Liu, Hailong Wang
Summary: Phytolith carbon plays a crucial role in mitigating global climate change. This study provides more accurate estimates of phytolith carbon storage and production in China's grasslands and highlights the importance of altitude and soil texture in its distribution. The findings contribute to the parameterization and validation of global carbon models.
GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Xiongyi Zhang, Quanqin Shao, Bing Wang, Xiang Niu, Jia Ning, Meiqi Chen, Tingjing Zhang, Guobo Liu, Shuchao Liu, Linan Niu, Haibo Huang
Summary: This study analyzed the spatiotemporal changes in the ecosystem status of the National Key Ecological Function Zones (NKEFZ) in China from 2000 to 2019. The overall ecosystem quality of these zones improved, but there were disparities in changes related to ecosystem services. Water conservation services exhibited a decreasing trend, while soil conservation and windbreak and sand fixation services showed a steady improvement. The research highlighted the challenges in the construction and preservation of the NKEFZ and emphasized the need to leverage natural resources for eco-friendly economic industries.
