Forest carbon sequestration in China and its benefits

Carbon sequestration is important in studying global carbon cycle and budget. Here, we used the National Forest Resource Inventory data for China collected from 2004 to 2008 and forest biomass and soil carbon storage data obtained from direct field measurements to estimate carbon (C) sequestration rate and benefit keeping C out of the atmosphere in forest ecosystems and their spatial distributions. Between 2004 and 2008, forests sequestered on average 0.36 Pg C yr(-1) (1 Pg = 10(15)g), with 0.30 Pg C yr(-1) in vegetation and 0.06 Pg C yr(-1) in 0-1 meter soil. Under the different forest categories, total C sequestration rate ranged from 0.02 in bamboo forest to 0.11 Pg C yr(-1) in broadleaf forest. The southwest region had highest C sequestration rate, 30% of total C sequestration, followed by the northeast and south central regions. The C sequestration in the forest ecosystem could offset about 21% of the annual C emissions in China over the same period, especially in provinces of Tibet, Guangxi, and Yunnan, and the benefit was similar to most Annex I countries. These results show that forests play an important role in reducing the increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide in China, and forest C sequestration are closely related to forest area, tree species composition, and site conditions.