Ecological restoration programs dominate vegetation greening in China

Area of Science:

• Ecology
• Environmental Science
• Remote Sensing

Background:

• China has implemented extensive ecological restoration programs over the past two decades, coinciding with significant national vegetation greening.
• Direct comparative assessments of restoration program contributions versus climate change impacts on vegetation greening, using high-resolution data, are limited.

Purpose of the Study:

• To systematically evaluate the contribution of ecological restoration programs to vegetation greening in China.
• To compare the influence of restoration programs against temperature and precipitation changes on vegetation dynamics (NDVI).
• To analyze the relative effectiveness of different restoration programs.

Main Methods:

• Utilized high-resolution data on forest plantations and mountain closures, daily climate data from 2480 stations, and GIMMS 3g NDVI data (1999-2015).
• Employed multiple linear regression to compare influences of temperature, precipitation, and restoration programs on NDVI.
• Applied hierarchical variance partitioning to determine the relative contribution of each factor to NDVI dynamics.

Main Results:

• Observed a significant greening trend in China (0.0017 yr^-1 increase in mean growing season NDVI).
• Ecological restoration programs were the primary driver of greening in northern and southern coastal China.
• Climate factors (temperature/precipitation) dominated greening in southwestern China, Inner Mongolia, and parts of northeastern China.

Conclusions:

• Ecological restoration programs have demonstrably enhanced vegetation greening across China.
• The effectiveness of restoration programs varies regionally, with some outperforming climate change impacts.
• Findings offer crucial insights for prioritizing future ecological restoration planning and policy-making.