Dynamics of land cover changes and carbon emissions driven by large dams in China

Autor: Liuyue He, Nishan Bhattarai, Yadu Pokhrel, Nan Jia, Peng Zhu, Guanqiong Ye, Zhenci Xu, Shaohua Wu, Zhongbin B. Li
Jazyk: angličtina
Rok vydání: 2024
Předmět:
Zdroj: iScience, Vol 27, Iss 4, Pp 109516- (2024)
Druh dokumentu: article
ISSN: 2589-0042
DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2024.109516
Popis: Summary: The recent surge in dam construction has sparked debates regarding their contribution to carbon neutrality and food security, focusing on trade-offs between production benefits and ecological drawbacks. However, how dams affect carbon emissions and land cover changes, including their spatial differentiations, remains unclear. We quantified spatiotemporal variations in carbon emissions and storage of 137 large dams in China from 1992 to 2020, resulting from land cover change in potentially affected areas. We observed a lesser increase in carbon emissions and a more pronounced increase in carbon storage driven by forest conservation and regeneration within dam-affected areas compared to unaffected areas. Additionally, we noticed an increased grain yield in nearby areas potentially due to increased water availability. Our findings highlight the importance of considering land cover change when assessing carbon neutrality or grain yield at regional and national scales. This study provides useful insights into optimizing dam locations to mitigate future carbon emissions effectively.
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