Abstract
In past decades, ecological services and functions of alpine grassland in the Three-River Headwater Region (TRHR), Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau, have been severely degraded due to overgrazing and overuse of yak dung as a fuel. Therefore, the eco-migration project has been implemented by the national government for improving eco-environmental quality in this region. This paper examines the carbon cycle change from clean energy use of households and assesses its influence on the local grassland ecosystem. Based on the data of household fuels from questionnaire surveys and local statistical yearbooks, we have calculated carbon emission and the ecological benefits by using clean energies. The results showed that total carbon in the process from Net Primary Productivity (NPP) of the ecosystem to dung fuel decreases sharply, and carbon emission from dung is approximate 6% of ecosystem NPP. Reducing the use of yak dung as a fuel has no significant influence on carbon emission, but improves the ecological benefits of the grassland ecosystem, because it is a very important part of the ecosystem carbon cycle. With the most abundant solar energy resources in China, the region should make full use of its advantage for improving ecosystem service values of alpine grassland by making more dung returns to grassland. In conclusion, a clean energy policy (CEP) can effectively improve the ecological services and functions of alpine grassland in the TRHR.
Highlights
Due to the disturbance of human activities, global environments and ecosystems have rapidly changed in the past several decades, and the tendency has been continually worsening [1]
We aim to reveal the influence of clean energy policy (CEP) for households in resettlement regions on the carbon cycle and the values of ecosystem services in alpine grassland in Three-River Headwater Region (TRHR), and we hope the conclusions will provide some reference for making or improving the CEP in alpine grassland regions
We have found that yak dung is still the paramount fuel in resettlement regions, but solar energy and fossil energy are being used widely by households
Summary
Due to the disturbance of human activities, global environments and ecosystems have rapidly changed in the past several decades, and the tendency has been continually worsening [1]. On account of overgrazing and the overuse of yak dung as a fuel in the last few decades, the Three-River Headwater Region (TRHR) in the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau has been severely degraded, and its service functions, such as water storage, climate regulation, soil and biodiversity conservation, have sharply been decreased [10]. This has led to climate abnormalities, for example, anomalous changes of the heating field intensity and the occurrence of sand storms in China, as well as runoff reduction of relevant rivers in Asia [11,12]. In order to improve this critical situation, since 2003, the Chinese government has implemented the eco-migration project of TRHR
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