Land Cover Change Intensifies Actual and Potential Radiative Forcing through CO 2 in South and Southeast Asia from 1992 to 2015

Yaoping Cui, Michael E Meadows, Nan Li, Yiming Fu, Guosong Zhao and Jinwei Dong
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Yaoping Cui: Laboratory of Geospatial Technology for the Middle and Lower Yellow River Regions, Henan University, Kaifeng 475001, China
Michael E Meadows: Department of Environmental and Geographical Science, University of Cape Town, Rondebosch 7701, South Africa
Nan Li: Laboratory of Geospatial Technology for the Middle and Lower Yellow River Regions, Henan University, Kaifeng 475001, China
Yiming Fu: Laboratory of Geospatial Technology for the Middle and Lower Yellow River Regions, Henan University, Kaifeng 475001, China
Guosong Zhao: Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
Jinwei Dong: Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China

IJERPH, 2019, vol. 16, issue 14, 1-13

Abstract: Land cover change (LCC) and its impact on CO 2 sequestration and radiative forcing (RF) could dramatically affect climate change, but there has been little effort to address this issue in South and Southeast Asia over a long period of time using actual land cover information. In this study, annual land cover data from 1992 to 2015 were used to assess the CO 2 flux and corresponding RF due to LCC in South and Southeast Asia. The results showed that 553.2 × 10 3 km 2 of the region experienced LCC during this period, mostly due to land reclamation, urban expansion, and deforestation. These LCC caused a marked net decrease in net ecosystem productivity (NEP) as a composite of the various land cover categories during the whole study period, especially since 2001. The CO 2 sequestration was 2160 TgCO 2 during the early 1990s however cumulative sequestration decreased by 414.95 TgCO 2 by 2015. Correspondingly, the cooling effect of NEP, i.e. the total actual RF, was ?0.366 W m ?2 in South and Southeast Asia between 1992 and 2015. However, the potential RF of the cumulatively reduced NEP due to LCC relative to the 1990s resulted in a warming effect of 2.33 × 10 ?3 W m ?2 in 2015. Our study provides an applicable framework to accurately assess the potential effect of large-scale LCC on climate.

Keywords: CO 2 sequestration; warming; cooling; net ecosystem productivity; climate change (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
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