Assessment of farmland afforestation in the upstream Yangtze River, China
2012
The conversion of marginal farmland in China to forest or grassland has been in progress for more than 10 years, but the effects and problems of afforestation need to be investigated so as to affirm and improve farmland afforestation in China's Twelfth Five-Year Plan (2011-2015). According to results from remote sensing and field studies in one county, the local government-registered farmland area was much greater than the actual afforested area. This is likely to be linked to the subsidy payments available for afforestation. The most serious problems are the cultivation of exotic fast-growing forest species (not native pioneer species) selected for forest planting, and the use of single-species rather than mixed plantations. Afforestation of farmland is a systematic, long-term and complicated process, which needs to be performed step by step. The proportion and position of afforested land in the study area were analysed quantitatively on the basis of soil fertility, variation in ecological significance and different soil erosion levels. In light of the findings, the authors discuss how to prioritize afforestation areas.
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