Assessment of the impact of wetland changes on carbon storage in coastal urban agglomerations from 1990 to 2035 in support of SDG15.1

Abstract

The quantitative assessment and spatial representation of wetland carbon storage, which play a critical role in the global carbon cycle and human production, can provide useful data and knowledge for decision-making in achieving sustainable development goals (SDGs). Currently, human activities and climate change impacts pose a challenge for the assessment of wetland carbon storage in coastal urban clusters. We proposed a “past-present-future” long time series refined wetland carbon storage assessment model using Guangxi Beibu Gulf (GBG) and Guangdong, Hong Kong, Macao and the Greater Bay Area (GBA) as the study area. The CLUE-S and InVEST models were coupled to conduct a comparative analysis of the spatial and temporal changes in wetland carbon storage and the spatial identification of damages from 1990 to 2035 and finally explore the sensitivity of wetland changes to carbon storage and quantitatively assess the SDG15.1 target. The results showed that (1) both urban clusters are characterized by many reservoirs/farming ponds, large river areas and few lakes. 1990–2035 rivers, shallow waters and mudflats have a decreasing trend to be distributed in the middle of their respective regions, mangroves are on an increasing trend, GBG is mainly distributed in the Maowei Sea and GBA is mainly distributed in Shenzhen Bay. (2) Wetland carbon storage of the two urban clusters show an overall fluctuating downward trend, with rivers, lakes and beaches all showing a downward trend. The multiyear average carbon storage of the GBG are 3.2 times higher than those of the GBA. In ecological protection scenario (EPS) policy planning, it is reasonable to help wetland carbon sequestration in coastal urban clusters. (3) The trend of wetland change from 1990 to 2020 was positive for carbon storage. The rate of recovery of wetland carbon stocks is lower in GBA than in GBG under the natural increase scenario (NIS) and the ecological protection scenario (EPS). The economic development scenario (EDS) contributes least to the realisation of SDG15.1 for the coastal urban agglomeration. The ecological protection scenario (EPS) contributes the most to the realisation of SDG15.1 for the coastal urban agglomeration.