Open AccessHow to Balance Green and Grain in Marginal Mountainous Areas?
Author(s) -
Zeng Yi,
Ran Lishan,
Fang Nufang,
Wang Zhen,
Xu Zhenci,
Lu Xixi,
Yu Qiang,
Wang Ling,
Yu Shuxia,
Shi Zhihua
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
earth's future
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.641
H-Index - 39
ISSN - 2328-4277
DOI - 10.1029/2021ef002552
Subject(s) - threatened species , vegetation (pathology) , china , economic shortage , restoration ecology , geography , population , sustainable development , agroforestry , natural resource economics , environmental science , ecology , economics , medicine , linguistics , philosophy , demography , archaeology , pathology , government (linguistics) , habitat , sociology , biology
China has implemented the world's largest‐ever vegetation restoration program in marginal mountainous areas to sustain life on land. However, land competition between the demand for grain and the need for green has threatened sustainable vegetation restoration. Here, focusing on China's marginal mountainous areas with the highest density of slope cropland, we explore the optimal solution in the trade‐offs between green and grain. We find that current vegetation restoration strategies are not sufficiently optimized, which may threaten the survival and development of local farmers and in turn destroy existing vegetation restoration achievements. Through adjusting vegetation restoration objectives carefully tailored to local conditions, the population experiencing grain shortages can be greatly reduced by 51–66% (from 18.26 million to 6.29–8.90 million) compared with the current scheme. The optimal design will alleviate the conflict between grain and green, thereby promoting sustainable ecological restoration in China. Our research provides an important reference for the world's mountainous areas to achieve a win‐win situation between green and grain.