Integrated climate sensitive restoration framework for transformative changes to sustainable land restoration

Sustainable land restoration is the key to restore degraded land, halt biodiversity loss, and reinstate ecosystem services for human well‐being. Restoration needs to be planned and conducted with due recognition to growing climate uncertainty with an evolved understanding of the future restoration targets. The present opinion article attempts to provide an overview on an integrated climate sensitive restoration framework that recognizes the local participation in mapping degraded lands, identification of species for supporting species modeling to better understand climate uncertainty. Involvement of citizen science‐based restoration monitoring tools can contribute to big data analytics for ecological monitoring and policy support. The Framework potentially helps in sustainable land restoration by transformative changes for achieving the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration (2021–2030), Sustainable Development Goals 15, and addressing the post‐2020 Global Biodiversity Framework. However, to realize success, climate finance mechanisms to drive restoration should be seriously considered for reducing bias and enhancing opportunities of equitable sharing in the era of corruption, authoritarianism, and regulatory capture.     

Restoration of degraded lands through bioenergy plantations

Land degradation has become a worldwide problem. Increasing population, the conversion of forest land into cropland, and its gradual degradation due to unsustainable agricultural practices have led to this prevailing scenario. Unsustainable agriculture practices like use of chemical fertilizers for increasing crop productivity (recorded 281.75 lakh tonnes in the year 2010–2011) also leads to degradation of land. A total of 4.1 million hectares of culturable wasteland was recorded in the same year. Also, crude oil consumption is increasing at a rate of 1.7% which prompts for massive input of crude oil. Thus, biofuel plantations have recently attracted a lot of attention because of several advantages that they present. The genetically engineered bioenergy crops can help in land restoration by increasing the soil fertility, growing in stress conditions, and they also lead to the production of fuels through their various parts. The use of genetically engineered bioenergy crops will not only help in the prevention of degraded land but also yield biofuel as a product and enhance soil fertility and health for further sustainable agricultural practices.     

Ecosystem health through ecological restoration: barriers and opportunities

It is quite possible that no ecosystem on the planet is totally free of anthropogenic effects. Changes in the ozone layer, airborne transport of contaminants, and the persistence of pesticides and other chemicals, coupled with biological magnification, implies that even remote areas are probably not comparable to their condition before the industrial revolution and the recent explosion of human population. Theoretical ecologists have attempted to isolate their theories and studies from anthropogenic effects with varying degrees of success. However, finding ecosystems free of the effects of human society is becoming increasingly difficult, partly because of the global nature of pollution problems. Regrettably, many academicians are not educated in policy development as they work toward B.S., M.S., or Ph.D. degrees in the sciences. As a consequence, scientists are surprised to learn that a politically-appointed individual, experienced in law or some other non-scientific field, usually has final decision-making authority over policy that affects ecosystems. Scientists must understand that policy links science to social, economic, and legal societal values and needs. Finally, aside from the fact that policy or lack thereof now affects all of the planet's ecosystems, policy most likely will also determine which areas of research are funded. While some scientific studies could be carried out with personal funds, these are not particularly common in mainstream science and, therefore, obtaining financial support for ecosystem studies for the remainder of this century and probably early in the next will depend increasingly on societal policy other than purely science policy.     

Woodland restoration on agricultural land: long‐term impacts on soil quality

Woodland restoration is underway globally to counter the negative soil quality and ecological impacts of agricultural expansion and woodland fragmentation, and restore or enhance biodiversity, ecosystem functions and services. However, we lack information about the long‐term effects of woodland restoration on agricultural soils, particularly at temporal scales meaningful to woodland and soil development. This study utilized soil and earthworm sampling across a chronosequence of sites transitioning from “agricultural land” to “secondary woodland” (50–110 years) and “ancient woodland” (>400 years), with the goal of quantifying the effects of woodland restoration on agricultural land, on key soil quality parameters (soil bulk density, pH, carbon and nitrogen stocks, and earthworm abundance, biomass, species richness and diversity). Broad‐leaved woodland restoration led to significantly greater soil organic carbon (SOC) stocks compared to arable land, and young (50–60 years) secondary woodland increased earthworm species and functional diversity compared to both arable and pasture agricultural land. SOC stocks in secondary broad‐leaved woodlands (50–110 years) were comparable to those found in long‐term ancient woodlands (>400 years). Our findings show that broad‐leaved woodland restoration of agricultural land can lead to meaningful soil ecological improvement and gains in SOC within 50–110 years, and provide intel on how restoration activities may be best targeted to maximize soil quality and functions.     

Defining a land boundary for sustainable livestock consumption

The need for more sustainable production and consumption of animal source food (ASF) is central to the achievement of the sustainable development goals: within this context, wise use of land is a core challenge and concern. A key question in feeding the future world is: how much ASF should we eat? We demonstrate that livestock raised under the circular economy concept could provide a significant, nonnegligible part (9–23 g/per capita) of our daily protein needs (~50–60 g/per capita). This livestock then would not consume human‐edible biomass, such as grains, but mainly convert leftovers from arable land and grass resources into valuable food, implying that production of livestock feed is largely decoupled from arable land. The availability of these biomass streams for livestock then determines the boundaries for livestock production and consumption. Under this concept, the competition for land for feed or food would be minimized and compared to no ASF, including some ASF in the human diet could free up about one quarter of global arable land. Our results also demonstrate that restricted growth in consumption of ASF in Africa and Asia would be feasible under these boundary conditions, while reductions in the rest of the world would be necessary to meet land use sustainability criteria. Managing this expansion and contraction of future consumption of ASF is essential for achieving sustainable nutrition security.     

土壤质量与可持续土地利用管理

可持续发展的基础是农业的可持续发展,可持续农业应当包含对于资源的成功管理来满足人类需求的变化,同时维持或提高环境质量,保护自然资源。土壤质量是可持续土地利用管理的重要指标,本文在深入剖析土壤质量与可持续土地利用管理内涵基础上,总结、分析了土壤质量和可持续土地利用管理的相互关系,提出了二者研究的发展趋势。并就土壤质量研究如何在可持续土地利用管理中发挥重要作用,以及目前存在的问题等做了探讨。     

现阶段中国生态农业可持续发展面临的实践和理论问题探讨

随着全球经济一体化的发展以及中国实施可持续发展和全面建设小康社会的需要,中国生态农业面临着新的机遇和挑战。我国生态农业经过20多年的实践,现已取得了一定进展,并具备了一定的发展基础。目前,全国2000多个县、乡镇先后实施了生态农业建设。然而,当前我国生态农业可持续发展面临着一系列实践和理论问题。在实践方面,存在着思想认识、技术、资金、建设与管理等问题。在科学理论方面则需要解决如生态农业的基本内涵、分类、生态模式的内在过程与机理及其生态服务功能、模式的尺度转换以及生态农业模式变化规律、生态农业安全等问题。因此,加快开展全国生态农业建设规划,加大资金投入和政策扶持力度,加强农业基础设施和社会化服务体系建设,加快农业产业结构调整和优化升级,发展生态产业,全面推动生态农业的产业化、标准化、信息化和现代化发展。是当前生态农业建设面临的重要任务。     

山地社区土地资源可持续管理评估

从联合国粮农组织提出的土地资源可持续管理目标出发 ,采用层次分析法 (AHP) ,以西双版纳地区爱尼族大卡老寨为研究点 ,选择 4 1个因素作为参评变量 ,建立区域土地可持续管理评价指标体系。评估结果表明 ,目前大卡老寨的土地经营管理仍处于初步可持续管理的前期阶段。主要因为土地生产力过低 ,其他保护性、安全性、生产性均处于较低水平。作者针对提出了改变土地经营模式等参考建议 :1发展生态农业模式 ,提高土地生产率 ;2应用科技成果 ,提高良种普及率 ;3保护耕地 ,推进规模经营 ;4充分发挥森林的经济、生态和社会效益 ;5提高人口素质 ,改变就业结构     

Trade‐offs between land and water requirements for large‐scale bioenergy production

Bioenergy is expected to play an important role in the future energy mix as it can substitute fossil fuels and contribute to climate change mitigation. However, large‐scale bioenergy cultivation may put substantial pressure on land and water resources. While irrigated bioenergy production can reduce the pressure on land due to higher yields, associated irrigation water requirements may lead to degradation of freshwater ecosystems and to conflicts with other potential users. In this article, we investigate the trade‐offs between land and water requirements of large‐scale bioenergy production. To this end, we adopt an exogenous demand trajectory for bioenergy from dedicated energy crops, targeted at limiting greenhouse gas emissions in the energy sector to 1100 Gt carbon dioxide equivalent until 2095. We then use the spatially explicit global land‐ and water‐use allocation model MAgPIE to project the implications of this bioenergy target for global land and water resources. We find that producing 300 EJ yr^?1 of bioenergy in 2095 from dedicated bioenergy crops is likely to double agricultural water withdrawals if no explicit water protection policies are implemented. Since current human water withdrawals are dominated by agriculture and already lead to ecosystem degradation and biodiversity loss, such a doubling will pose a severe threat to freshwater ecosystems. If irrigated bioenergy production is prohibited to prevent negative impacts of bioenergy cultivation on water resources, bioenergy land requirements for meeting a 300 EJ yr^?1 bioenergy target increase substantially (+ 41%) – mainly at the expense of pasture areas and tropical forests. Thus, avoiding negative environmental impacts of large‐scale bioenergy production will require policies that balance associated water and land requirements.     

土地退化零增长评估——以蒙古高原为例

由于全球气候变化以及人类活动对生态系统的影响加剧,干旱半干旱区的土地退化愈发严重。为了防止土地退化,联合国防治荒漠化公约(UNCCD)提出了土地退化零增长(LDN)的目标。首先介绍LDN的概念与评估方法,接下来以蒙古高原为例,采用土地覆盖、土地生产力和土壤有机碳3个核心指标,评估2001-2020年蒙古高原LDN目标的实现情况。研究结果表明,相对于基线期(2001-2010年)的生态系统状态,评估期内(2011-2020年)新增恢复区域的面积(10.83×10⁴km²)大于新增退化区域的面积(7.77×10⁴km²),蒙古高原在2020年已实现土地退化零增长目标。两个十年中,恢复面积比退化面积分别超出6.87×10⁵km²(2001-2010年)和9.44×10⁵km²(2011-2020)。但是现有的LDN评估方法存在指标和方法不完善以及数据源不确定等问题,未来研究需进一步优化和发展评估指标与方法。此外,目前以LDN为概念框架的实证性研究还比较少,区域评估有助于评判区域土地退化状况和识别关键区域,从而制订空间明晰的生态恢复策略。     

延安市生态修复双赢模式实证研究

"越穷越垦、越垦越穷"的贫困陷阱是困扰全球可持续发展的学术难题之一,探索摆脱贫困陷阱的有效途径,是生态修复的核心目标。因此,生态修复不仅要依据当地气候与地理条件开展生态治理,同时要改变当地居民的生产生活行为,发展有利于生态修复的绿色产业,使当地居民的生产生活行为既可以提高收入、改善生活,又有利于生态修复。从而摆脱"越穷越垦、越垦越穷"的被动局面,实现生态修复与居民生计改善的双赢目标。为了验证这一模式的可行性,该研究在退耕还林项目实施的基础上,通过补短板的方式,在延安市开展了生态修复双赢模式实证研究。结果表明,新方案实施前,延安市NDVI增长速度是陕西省平均水平的41%;新方案实施后,是陕西省平均水平的195%,新方案的贡献率为74.0%。双赢模式较好解决了环境保护与社会经济发展彼此分离的这一矛盾,提高了生态修复的治理效果,为我国生态脆弱区精准扶贫和生态文明建设提供了理论依据和治理样板。     

Cost‐effective ecological restoration

Ecological restoration is a multibillion dollar industry critical for improving degraded habitat. However, most restoration is conducted without clearly defined success measures or analysis of costs. Outcomes are influenced by environmental conditions that vary across space and time, yet such variation is rarely considered in restoration planning. Here, we present a cost‐effectiveness analysis of terrestrial restoration methods to determine how practitioners may restore the highest native plant cover per dollar spent. We recorded costs of 120 distinct methods and described success in terms of native versus non‐native plant germination, growth, cover, and density. We assessed effectiveness using a basic, commonly used metric (% native plant cover) and developed an index of cost‐effectiveness (% native cover per dollar spent on restoration). We then evaluated success of multiple methods, given environmental variation across topography and multiple years, and found that the most successful method for restoring high native plant cover is often different from the method that results in the largest area restored per dollar expended, given fixed mitigation budgets. Based on our results, we developed decision‐making trees to guide practitioners through established phases of restoration—site preparation, seeding and planting, and maintenance. We also highlight where additional research could inform restoration practice, such as improved seasonal weather forecasts optimizing allocation of funds in time or valuation practices that include costs of specific outcomes in the collection of in lieu fees.     

基于生态足迹的土地资源可持续发展容量与潜在转换关系

耕地保护和建设用地扩张之间的矛盾愈来愈严重,严重威胁着社会经济的可持续发展。基于生态足迹理论,测算了卢龙县耕地和建设用地可持续发展容量和负荷系数,用以表征区域经济可持续发展所能容纳的耕地和建设用地规模,并以可供转用量为基准探讨了卢龙县耕地与建设用地潜在转换关系,结果表明:(1)1997—2008年卢龙县人均生态足迹、承载力和生态赤字分别为1.7667、0.5381hm2和1.2285hm2,平均每年增长3.40%、1.73%和4.29%;(2)耕地与建设用地足迹1997—2008年都处于增加趋势,耕地足迹多年平均为0.4621hm2/人,占总足迹的26.16%,建设用地足迹为0.0134hm2/人,其需求量较耕地明显下降。耕地承载力为0.3831hm2/人,占总承载力的71.20%;建设用地承载力0.1447hm2/人,占总承载力的26.89%,平均每年增长0.63%;(3)耕地可持续发展容量逐渐小于现有实际耕地面积,出现耕地利用负荷现象,不再满足可持续发展要求;建设用地可持续容量具有一定的波动性,负荷系数多年平均大于2.20。(4)1997—2003年,耕地需求未曾超出可持续发展的要求,可供转用量锐减到1889.46hm2;2004—2005年,耕地维持可供转用量已出现负值,建设用地整理供应满足耕地可持续发展要求;2006—2008年,即使将所有建设用地超额全部整理为耕地也不能满足其需求。     

The impact of interventions in the global land and agri‐food sectors on Nature’s Contributions to People and the UN Sustainable Development Goals

Interlocked challenges of climate change, biodiversity loss, and land degradation require transformative interventions in the land management and food production sectors to reduce carbon emissions, strengthen adaptive capacity, and increase food security. However, deciding which interventions to pursue and understanding their relative co‐benefits with and trade‐offs against different social and environmental goals have been difficult without comparisons across a range of possible actions. This study examined 40 different options, implemented through land management, value chains, or risk management, for their relative impacts across 18 Nature's Contributions to People (NCPs) and the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). We find that a relatively small number of interventions show positive synergies with both SDGs and NCPs with no significant adverse trade‐offs; these include improved cropland management, improved grazing land management, improved livestock management, agroforestry, integrated water management, increased soil organic carbon content, reduced soil erosion, salinization, and compaction, fire management, reduced landslides and hazards, reduced pollution, reduced post‐harvest losses, improved energy use in food systems, and disaster risk management. Several interventions show potentially significant negative impacts on both SDGs and NCPs; these include bioenergy and bioenergy with carbon capture and storage, afforestation, and some risk sharing measures, like commercial crop insurance. Our results demonstrate that a better understanding of co‐benefits and trade‐offs of different policy approaches can help decision‐makers choose the more effective, or at the very minimum, more benign interventions for implementation.     

Carbon flow through energycane agroecosystems established post‐intensive agriculture

As part of an integrated energy and climate system, biomass production for bioenergy based on the tropical perennial C₄ grass energycane can both offset fossil fuels and store soil carbon (C). We measured energycane yields, root biomass, soil C pools, and soil C stocks in a 4 year field trial and modeled C flow from plants to soils in the surface layer of no‐till energycane planted after more than a century of intensive sugarcane agriculture. Aboveground yields ranged from 16.7 to 19.0 Mg C/ha over the 4 year trial. Although total C stocks did not significantly differ in the surface layer (approx. 0–20 cm) during the study, C in free and occluded light fractions decreased, whereas C in the mineral‐rich dense fraction increased over 4 years. Belowground system inputs, estimated from measurements and informed by convergence in the final soil fraction model, were set to 2.5 Mg C ha^?1 year^?1. With this input value, we estimated that surface soils retained photosynthetically fixed C predominantly within the mineral‐associated organic matter pool for a mean and median transit time of 177 and 110 years, respectively. Although we did not model C flow to deep soil layers (approx. 0–100 cm), observed C accumulation (11.4 Mg C ha^?1 year^?1) and root growth down to 120 cm suggest that soil processes and resulting C sequestration at the surface are likely to persist deeper into the soil profile. Energycane, as a strong candidate for climate change mitigation and land degradation remediation, showed high biomass yields and allocation of resources to roots, with sequestered soil C expected to persist for over a century.     

Stream ecosystem responses to spatially variable land cover: an empirically based model for developing riparian restoration strategies

1. The restoration of native, forested riparian habitats is a widely accepted method for improving degraded streams. Little is known, however, about how the width, extent and continuity of forested vegetation along stream networks affect stream ecosystems. 2. To increase the likelihood of achieving restoration goals, restoration practitioners require quantitative tools to guide the development of restoration strategies in different catchment settings. We present an empirically based model that establishes a relationship between a ‘stress’ imposed at different locations along a stream by the spatial pattern of land cover within catchments, and the response of biologically determined ecosystem characteristics to this stress. The model provides a spatially explicit, quantitative framework for predicting the effects of changes in catchment land cover composition and spatial configuration on specific characteristics of stream ecosystems. 3. We used geospatial datasets and biological data for attached algae and benthic macroinvertebrates in streams to estimate model parameters for 40 sites in 33 distinct catchments within the mid‐Atlantic Piedmont region of the eastern U.S. Model parameters were estimated using a genetic optimisation algorithm. R² values for the resulting relationships between catchment land cover and biological characteristics of streams were substantially improved over R² values for spatially aggregated regression models based on whole‐catchment land cover. 4. Using model parameters estimated for the mid‐Atlantic Piedmont, we show how the model can be used to guide restoration planning in a case study of a small catchment. The model predicts the quantitative change in biological characteristics of the stream, such as indices of species diversity and species composition, that would occur with the implementation of a hypothetical restoration project.     

面向可持续城市生态系统管理的国土空间开发适宜性评价——以烟台市为例

国土空间开发适宜性评价是国土空间规划编制的基础和前提。面向可持续城市生态系统管理目标,基于生态保护红线和永久基本农田的"底线"思维,以资源环境禀赋为基础,构建了本底约束—综合限制—承载力评价-多空间适宜评价的资源环境承载力和国土空间开发适宜性评价的逻辑框架和指标体系,并以烟台为例,设置城市生态系统保护的不同情景,综合运用特尔斐法及多要素空间叠置等方法,开展了城市资源环境承载力与国土空间开发适宜性评价的实践应用。研究结果表明:①资源环境对烟台经济社会发展的阻碍与限制总体较小,高限制区面积仅占烟台国土面积的6.09%。②烟台市不同区县之间的资源环境承载力差异较大。从西北部向东南,烟台市资源环境承载力呈现出逐渐提高的变化趋势。③面向可持续城市生态系统管理情景,烟台市各县市国土空间开发建设适宜性差异显著,适宜建设区范围为2380 km²。面向城市生态系统一般保护情景,烟台市适宜建设区面积达2610 km²,不适宜建设开发区与适宜建设开发区数量结构为1.12∶1,未来国土空间开发利用潜力较大。两种情景下烟台市国土空间开发适宜性适宜建设区面积均大于现状建...     

Long‐term trends in restoration and associated land treatments in the southwestern United States

Restoration treatments, such as revegetation with seeding or invasive species removal, have been applied on U.S. public lands for decades. Temporal trends in these management actions have not been extensively summarized previously, particularly in the southwestern United States where invasive plant species, drought, and fire have altered dryland ecosystems. We assessed long‐term (1940–2010) trends in restoration using approximately 4,000 vegetation treatments conducted on Bureau of Land Management lands across the southwestern United States. We found that since 1940, the proportions of seeding and vegetation/soil manipulation (e.g. vegetation removal or plowing) treatments have declined, while the proportions of prescribed burn and invasive species treatments have increased. Treatments in pinyon‐juniper and big sagebrush communities declined in comparison to treatments in desert scrub, creosote bush, and riparian woodland communities. Restoration‐focused treatment objectives increased relative to resource extraction objectives. Species richness and proportion of native species used in seeding treatments also increased. Inflation‐adjusted costs per area rose 750% for vegetation/soil manipulation, 600% for seeding, and 400% for prescribed burn treatments in the decades from 1981 to 2010. Seeding treatments were implemented in warmer and drier years when compared to the climate conditions of the entire study period and warmer and wetter years relative to several years before and after the treatment. These results suggest that treatments over a 70‐year period on public lands in the southwestern United States are shifting toward restoration practices that are increasingly large, expensive, and related to fire and invasive species control.     

Selecting plant species for practical restoration of degraded lands using a multiple‐trait approach

Ecological restoration is essential in rehabilitating degraded areas and safeguarding biodiversity, ecosystem services and human welfare. Using functional traits to plan restoration strategies has been suggested as they are the main ecological attributes that underlie ecosystem processes and services. However, few studies have translated ecological theory into actual restoration practices that can be easily used by different stakeholders. In this article, we applied a multiple‐trait approach to select plant species for the restoration of degraded lands inside the Brazilian Amazon Forests. We selected 10 traits encompassing ease of management, geographical distribution and interactions with animals and other ecosystem services and scored these traits using 118 native species. Then, we ranked all species according to the total number of traits that they exhibited to obtain a list of 53 highly ranked species. In addition, we employed non‐metric multidimensional scaling (NMDS) to assess the variation in these traits across the entire group of species. Based on the results, we selected a subset of species that maximizes functional diversity (high variability). We performed a sparse linear discriminant analysis (SLDA) to highlight a minimum set of traits to effectively discriminate botanical families. The final list of species and their traits highlight the importance of preserving not only the historical reference of a focused ecosystem but also its functional diversity to restore the interaction with local fauna, enrich the food chain and guarantee ecosystem services for local communities.     

The effects of management on vegetation trajectories during the early‐stage restoration of previously arable land after hay transfer

The restoration of floodplain grasslands has benefited from many studies of the underlying mechanisms. Among the operational tools that resulted, hay transfer is now used increasingly to alleviate the effects of limited seed dispersal and recruitment. To improve this method, we still need to understand how it can affect restoration trajectories, and particularly their direction and magnitude during the early stages of restoration. Based on concepts from the field of community ecology theory, we investigated the effects of early‐stage management through grazing or mowing on restoration trajectories after soil harrowing and hay transfer. We established a randomized block design experiment and quantified several community‐related metrics to formalize restoration trajectories for 3 years after hay transfer on a previously arable alluvial island in southwestern France. Whatever the management treatment, the species richness and evenness were significantly higher in hay‐inoculated than in control plots. This effect was linked to the recruitment of species originating not only from the reference grassland through hay transfer, but also from the seed bank, a well‐known effect of soil harrowing. Although generally oriented toward the reference grassland, the origin, direction, and magnitude of the trajectory of hay‐inoculated plots all depended on the management applied. Sheep grazing applied at the same time as hay transfer enhanced the recruitment of reference species as from the first experimental year, because it controlled aboveground competition and maintained the window of opportunity open for a sufficiently longer period of time. Our findings show that the type of management applied simultaneously to hay transfer influences the origin of a grassland trajectory, while its direction and magnitude are dependent on the management applied in subsequent years. Grazing immediately after hay transfer may be appropriate to accelerate the recruitment of species from the reference grassland.