title: Chinese Grain for Green Program led to highly increased soil organic carbon levels: a meta-analysis.
abstract: The Grain for Green Program (GGP), initiated in 1999, is the largest ecological restoration project in central and western China. Here, for the first time, we performed a meta-analysis and found that the GGP largely increased the soil organic carbon (SOC). The SOC was increased by 48.1%, 25.4%, and 25.5% at soil depths of 0-20 cm, 20-40 cm, and 40-60 cm, respectively. Moreover, this carbon accumulation has significantly increased over time since GGP implementation. The carbon accumulation showed a significantly more active response to the GGP in the top 20 cm of soil than in the deeper soil layers. Conversion of cropland to forest could lead to significantly greater SOC accumulation than would the conversion of cropland to grassland. Conversion from cropland to woodland could lead to greater SOC accumulation than would the conversion to either shrubland or orchard. Our results suggest that the GGP implementation caused SOC to accumulate and that there remains a large potential for further accumulation of carbon in the soil, which will help to mitigate climate change in the near future.
authors.affiliation: The Nurturing Station for the State Key Laboratory of Subtropical Silviculture, Zhejiang A&F University, Lin'an, 311300, China.
authors.forename: Xinzhang
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Song
authors.affiliation: 1] State Key Laboratory of Soil Erosion and Dryland Farming on the Loess Plateau, College of Forestry, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, Shaanxi 712100, China [2] Center of CEF/ESCER, Department of Biological Science, University of Quebec at Montreal, Montreal, H3C 3P8, Canada.
authors.forename: Changhui
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Peng
authors.affiliation: The Nurturing Station for the State Key Laboratory of Subtropical Silviculture, Zhejiang A&F University, Lin'an, 311300, China.
authors.forename: Guomo
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.affiliation: The Nurturing Station for the State Key Laboratory of Subtropical Silviculture, Zhejiang A&F University, Lin'an, 311300, China.
authors.forename: Hong
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.affiliation: Department of Geography, McGill University, Montreal, H3A 0B9, Canada.
authors.forename: Weifeng
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Wang
mesh_terms: D002244:Carbon / Q000737:chemistry*; D002681:China; D017753:Ecosystem; D002523:Edible Grain; D005843:Geography; D058871:Organic Agriculture; D012987:Soil / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D012987:Soil; D002244:Carbon