Encouraging investments in economic forests for revegetation will reduce cost-effectiveness of Chinese Sloping Land Conversion Program

IF 3.9 2区环境科学与生态学 Q1 ECOLOGY

Ecological Engineering Pub Date : 2025-02-26 DOI:10.1016/j.ecoleng.2025.107580

Ding Zhenmin , He Yulong , Lin Ying , Zhang Xiao , Liu Shuohua , Chen Shuai , Yao Shunbo

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

As China's largest ecological restoration program, the Sloping Land Conversion Program (SLCP) aims to improve vegetation coverage and mitigate soil erosion. The policy change of lifting the planting limitations on forest species and providing equal subsidies would encourage farmers to plant more economic forests than ecological forests in the new round of SLCP. However, these changes might lead to uncertainties in revegetation risks in the future because the cost-effectiveness of planting different forest species for revegetation remains unknown. Therefore, we are to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of planting economic and ecological forests in Shaanxi Province, China. Since the implementation of the SLCP, greening trends in Shaanxi Province have increased. It takes approximately four years after afforestation to maximize its ecological benefits. The main investment effect of ecological forests on revegetation is significant and positive; however, the investment return of economic forests is less pronounced. Furthermore, the remarkable crowding-out effect indicates that more economic forest investments would reduce the marginal contribution of ecological forest's to revegetation. Finally, all financial funds invested in ecological forests would bring maximum ecological returns. Hence, policy changes would result in risks of degraded vegetation and a decrease in the efficiency of fiscal investment. The government should be cautious regarding the forestry policy changes in the new round of the SLCP and encourage farmers to select appropriate forest species for afforestation aimed at ecological goals.

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来源期刊

Ecological Engineering 环境科学-工程：环境

CiteScore

8.00

自引率

5.30%

发文量

293

审稿时长

57 days

期刊介绍： Ecological engineering has been defined as the design of ecosystems for the mutual benefit of humans and nature. The journal is meant for ecologists who, because of their research interests or occupation, are involved in designing, monitoring, or restoring ecosystems, and can serve as a bridge between ecologists and engineers. Specific topics covered in the journal include: habitat reconstruction; ecotechnology; synthetic ecology; bioengineering; restoration ecology; ecology conservation; ecosystem rehabilitation; stream and river restoration; reclamation ecology; non-renewable resource conservation. Descriptions of specific applications of ecological engineering are acceptable only when situated within context of adding novelty to current research and emphasizing ecosystem restoration. We do not accept purely descriptive reports on ecosystem structures (such as vegetation surveys), purely physical assessment of materials that can be used for ecological restoration, small-model studies carried out in the laboratory or greenhouse with artificial (waste)water or crop studies, or case studies on conventional wastewater treatment and eutrophication that do not offer an ecosystem restoration approach within the paper.