China has invested more resources than any other country in reversing deforestation and planting trees. However, given the large scale of these programs, it has been difficult to quantify their impact on forest cover.
A new study shows that much of China’s new tree cover consists of sparse, low plantations as opposed to large areas of dense, high tree cover. The results of the study could help policymakers track returns from tree-planting investment and identify suitable environments for future afforestation, aiding efforts to sequester carbon, prevent soil degradation and enhance biodiversity, Physorg reported.
“China has spent more than US$100 billion on planting trees over the last decade alone. However, despite the many successes of this program, planting trees is not the same as gaining forests,” said Antje Ahrends of the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh and Kunming Institute of Botany, and lead author of the study.
In China’s fight to halt tree cover loss, Ahrends and her colleagues analyzed high-resolution maps derived from satellite data using different definitions of “forest”.
Under the broadest definition used by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, China gained 434 000 square kilometers of forest cover between 2000 and 2010—larger than the areas of Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg combined.
However, this definition includes scattered, immature or stunted plantations often consisting of a single species or even single clones, which are unlikely to provide the same benefits as large areas of dense and tall forest.
The paper was published online in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B.
The report also looks at global trends. The researchers found that roughly half of the world’s forest cover has been lost over the past 10,000 years and that tree cover is being lost in low-income countries at the rate of around 25,000 square kilometers per year.
However, the researchers also found evidence that many countries, which have in the past lost much of their forests, may be shifting to protect their remaining tree cover.
