Assessing the Potential of Vegetation Carbon Uptake from Optimal Land Management in the Greater Guangzhou Area

Zongyao Sha, Dai Qiu, Husheng Fang, Yichun Xie, Jiangguang Tu, Xicheng Tan, Xiaolei Li and Jiangping Chen ()
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Zongyao Sha: Key Laboratory of Natural Resources Monitoring in Tropical and Subtropical area of South China, Ministry of Natural Resources, Guangzhou 510631, China
Dai Qiu: School of Remote Sensing and Information Engineering, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430079, China
Husheng Fang: School of Remote Sensing and Information Engineering, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430079, China
Yichun Xie: Department of Geography and Geology, Eastern Michigan University, Ypsilanti, MI 48197, USA
Jiangguang Tu: School of Remote Sensing and Information Engineering, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430079, China
Xicheng Tan: School of Remote Sensing and Information Engineering, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430079, China
Xiaolei Li: School of Remote Sensing and Information Engineering, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430079, China
Jiangping Chen: School of Remote Sensing and Information Engineering, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430079, China

Land, 2022, vol. 11, issue 11, 1-18

Abstract: Rapid urbanization has threatened sustainable urban development in many cities across the globe, causing green space loss and vegetation cover degradation which reduce carbon sequestration. Optimal land management practices (LMPs) in an urban context are known as ways capable of promoting urban vegetation growth and contributing to carbon sequestration. Due to variations of physical, biological, and social structures in urban areas, policymakers often lack relevant information to decide and implement site-specific LMPs. Here we try to extract the areas in need of the optimal LMPs, identify location-dependent optimal LMPs, and assess how much more carbon can be captured by applying a combination of segmenting homogeneous urban environments and neighborhood-based analysis. As one of the most developed cities in China, the greater Guangzhou area (GGA) was selected as a case study. We found that the carbon uptake from the urban vegetation in GGA could be improved on average by 185 gC m −2 yr −1 in flux (or 1.3 TgC yr −1 in total) with optimal LMPs, equivalent to a ~30% increase considering the current level of 662 gC m −2 yr −1 in flux (4.4 TgC yr −1 in total). The carbon uptake potential was found to differ considerably across locations and among different ecosystem types, highlighting spatially varied priorities for implementing optimal LMPs over the space. This study reveals the usefulness of the model in assessing carbon uptake potential from optimal LMPs and emphasizes that future urban planning may consider the importance of optimal LMPs in enhancing vegetation carbon uptake in urban planning.

Keywords: urban vegetation; carbon sequestration; flux; land management; environment heterogeneity (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q15 Q2 Q24 Q28 Q5 R14 R52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jlands:v:11:y:2022:i:11:p:1878-:d:950700

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