Since the implementation of Grain for Green Program (GGP) in Yunnan in 1999, a lot of studies themed around its consequences have been conducted. XTBG Ph.D candidate Chen Xiangang studied the carbon sequestration potential in the forests converted from farmlands. Related research result has been published in Forest Ecology and Management, doi:10.1016/j.foreco.07.010.

Potential carbon sequestration has become an important issue for greenhouse gas management, with an increasing concern for global climate changes resulting from more and more anthropogenic greenhouse gas.  A variety of carbon sequestration policies have been evaluated. The initiation of Grain for Green Program (GGP) is one of effective policies. Protecting carbon stocks in the existing forests and getting the new carbon stocks through afforestation and reforestation have become the important measures to enhance the carbon sequestration capacity in the terrestrial ecosystems and mitigate the increasing carbon dioxide concentration in the atmosphere.

Full Abstract

Carbon sequestration potential of the stands under the Grain for Green Program in Yunnan Province, China

Xiangang Chen a,b,c,d,*, Xiaoquan Zhang e, Yiping Zhang a, Chengbin Wanf

The carbon sequestration potential in living biomass and soil organic matter under the Grain for Green Program (GGP) in Yunnan Province, one of themost important target provinces of the GGP in China, was estimated in this paper using empirical curves and factors. The area of tree species planted during 2000–2007 was collected, and four scenarios for the annual area of GGP-stands to be planted during 2008–2010 and harvest options were schemed. Empirical growth curves for different tree species were developed based on data about the growth of existing plantation in Yunnan Province from National Forestry Inventory, and were used for the estimation of the carbon stocks in the tree biomass pools by incorporating with basic wood density, biomass expansion factors and carbon fraction. Empirical factors were introduced to estimate the stock change in soil organic carbon (SOC) under the GGP. The results show that the carbon stock in the GGP-stands in Yunnan Province will increase by 12.474–12.608 TgC, 33.016–35.161 TgC, 38.119–47.100 TgC, 43.057–53.626 TgC and 49.918–56.621 by the year 2010, 2020, 2030, 2040 and 2050, respectively. The annual carbon stock change in the GGP-stands will peak at 2.342–2.536 TgC per year in 2013, followed by a gradual decrease. The estimated potential carbon sequestration by GGP-stands amounts to 10.82–12.27% of the carbon stocks of forest ecosystems in Yunnan province in the 1990s.