Carbon Sink Effects in Conversion of Farmland to Forest Project in Karst Drainage Basin——A Case of Hongfenghu Drainage Basin in Guizhou Province

[Objective]Study on carbon sink effects in Conversion of Farmland to Forest Project in Hongfenghu drainage basin in order to provide evidences for assessing carbon sink potential of conversion of farmland to forest in Guizhou Province.[Method]By investigating the implement of Conversion of Farmland to Forest Project in Hongfenghu drainage basin from 2000 to 2006,the carbon sink amount and effect of seven main tree species in the foreat region like Cunninghamia lanceolata,Cryptomeria fortunei,Amygdalus persica,Prunus salicina,Armeniaca vulgaris,Camptotheca acuminate and Catalpa bungei were calculated,based on which the amount of forest carbon sinks in Hongfenghu drainage basin in 2015 was estimated.[Result]Biomass storage and carbon sink amount in middle and young aged forests were increasing over time from 2000 to 2006,which reached 1.05×107 kg by 2006 and would engage more and more potential.Cunninghamia lanceolata has the superior carbon sink capacity in the seven tree species in the research region,of which the amount of carbon sink per unit area will be 106.51 t/hm2 by 2015,followed by Cryptomeria fortunei with the amount of carbon sink per unit area by 99.42 t/hm2.Armeniaca vulgaris has the weakest carbon sink capacity of all the seven species with the amount of 13.03 t/hm2.The total amount of carbon sink in seven tree species was 2.35×107 kg,while the average amount of carbon sink per unit area was 26.17 t/hm2,which could produced economic benefit of 7.17×106 yuan calculated on the price of 305.0 yuan/t or 5.91×106 yuan calculated on the price of 254.1 yuan/t.[Conclusion]Economic benefits of carbon sink effects of Conversion of Farmland to Forest Project in Hongfenghu drainage basin were great with huge appreciation potential.

The Development Process,Current Situation and Prospects of the Conversion of Farmland to Forests and Grasses Project in China

The Conversion of Farmland to Forests and Grasses Project is the most symbolic and globally important ecological engineering effort to build the human and natural life community.After the call and mobilization stage since the founding of the People’s Republic of China,the first round of Conversion of Farmland to Forests and Grasses occurred at the end of the 20 th century.With the second round of Conversion of Farmland to Forests And Grasses launched in 2014,the central government has invested 535.3 billion yuan altogether by 2020,and 34.83 million ha have been returned to forest and grassland in 25 provinces(autonomous regions and municipalities)(2435 counties included).Among them,14.23 million ha were returned from farmland;barren hills and wasteland afforestation accounted for 17.53 million ha;and sealed mountain forest cultivation represented 3.07 million ha,accounting for 40%of the total afforestation area of national key projects in the same period,and 41 million households and 158 million farmers benefited directly.The project construction has made great achievements.The total value of ecological benefits has reached 1.42 trillion yuan,plus economic benefits of 0.26 trillion yuan,and social benefits of 0.73 trillion yuan,for a total amount of 2.41 trillion yuan.This effort has made outstanding contributions toward building an ecological civilization and a beautiful China.Looking forward to the future,the Conversion of Farmland to Forests and Grasses will embark on a new stage of high-quality development,which will strive to achieve high-quality construction,high efficiency and a high level of management.China will promote the third round of conversion of farmland to forest and grassland from 2021 to 2035,and it is expected to return 6.67 million ha to forests and grasses.

Review of Conversion of Farmland to Forests Project:Ranking First in Investment in the World

The Conversion of Farmland to Forests Project (CFF) is one of the six great forest ecological Projects inChina and one of the ten great forest ecological Projects in the world, ranking the third in overall scale and the first ininvestment. CFF was officially initiated in 2002, covering 1897 counties (county-level cities and districts) in 25provinces (autonomous regions or municipalities) of China. The whole investment is more than 40 billion US$ duringabout 20 years (from 1999 to 2017), aiming to form better ecology system in fragile ecology regions and effectivelycontrol the soil and water erosion of the Yangtze and the Yellow River and sandstorm of the Three-north Regions inChina. The experimental Project of CFF began in 1999, including Sichuan, Shanxi and Gansu province, and the scopeof CFF was widened later. About 1.16 million ha of farmlands were converted to forestlands, and one million ha ofplantation in mountains and wasted lands were completed in 3 years, involving 20 provinces (autonomous regions andmunicipalities), 400 counties, 27 thousand villages, 5.7 thousand towns, 4.1 million farm families and 16 millionfarmers.

Application of the Modified Neighborhood Interference Model to the Cultivation of Forest and Herbaceous Ecosystem

This paper is an extension of the application of neighborhood interference model--being modified--to the study of the interference between forest plants and herbaceous plants. The exploration of the neighborhood interference between triploid Populus tomentosa and Lolium multiflorum shows that the interference of Lolium multiflorum on triploid populus tomentosa is positive, with the primary interference factor living weight, and secondary factor cover degree; the growth of an individual tree is affected by the number, height, and coverage of the Lolium multiflorum; the more dense the coverage of the Lolium multiflorum in a certain area, the taller, faster and more trees will grow as a result of a greater positive neighborhood interference. The modified neighborhood interference model well serves as an effective approach to extend the application of neighborhood interference researches.

A Study of Consistency between Land Degradation Control Policy and Farmers’ Needs in Western Area, China

The paper chose two counties (Qis) in Inner Mongolia as the research areas to study the policies of conversion of farmland to forest and grazing prohibition and indoor raising implemented in there, which are closely related to the interests of farmers and herdsmen. Based on the investigation and interview among farmer households, the paper analyzed the consistency between land degradation prevention and control policy and the needs of farmers and herdsmen, and finally presented the countermeasures and suggestions which are conducive to improving the effectiveness of land degradation prevention and control policy.