Long-Term Impacts of China’s New Commercial Harvest Exclusion Policy on Ecosystem Services and Biodiversity in the Temperate Forests of Northeast China

Kai Liu,Chao Huang,Wen Wang,Jiangtao Xiao,Shengwei Zong,Hong He,Lei Wang,Haibo Du,Yu Liang

doi:10.3390/su10041071

Abstract

Temperate forests in Northeast China have been severely exploited by timber harvesting in the last century. To reverse this trend, China implemented the Classified Forest Management policy in the Natural Forest Conservation Program in 1998 to protect forests from excessive harvesting. However, the policy was unable to meet the 2020 commitment of increasing growing stock (set in the Kyoto Protocol) because of high-intensity harvesting. Accordingly, China banned all commercial harvesting in Northeast China in 2014. In this study, we investigated the long-term impacts of the no commercial harvest (NCH) policy on ecosystem services and biodiversity using a forest landscape model, LANDIS PRO 7.0, in the temperate forests of the Small Khingan Mountains, Northeast China. We designed three management scenarios: The H scenario (the Classified Forest Management policy used in the past), the NCH scenario (the current Commercial Harvest Exclusion policy), and the LT scenario (mitigation management, i.e., light thinning). We compared total aboveground forest biomass, biomass by tree species, abundance of old-growth forests, and diversity of tree species and age class in three scenarios from 2010 to 2100. We found that compared with the H scenario, the NCH scenario increased aboveground forest biomass, abundance of old-growth forests, and biomass of most timber species over time; however, it decreased the biomass of rare and protected tree species and biodiversity. We found that the LT scenario increased the biomass of rare and protected tree species and biodiversity in comparison with the NCH scenario, while it maintained aboveground forest biomass and abundance of old-growth forests at a high level (slightly less than the NCH scenario). We concluded there was trade-off between carbon storage and biodiversity. We also concluded that light thinning treatment was able to regulate the trade-off and alleviate the negative effects associated with the NCH policy. Our results highlighted limitations of the NCH policy and provided new insights into sustainable forest management and the interdependence between human society and the forest ecosystem.

Highlights

Forests provide many ecosystem services that benefit the population, such as carbon storage and timber
We investigated the effects of the no commercial harvest (NCH) policy on ecosystem services and biodiversity over the 21st century on temperate forests of Northeast China
Our results showed that the NCH scenario significantly increased aboveground forest biomass and abundance of old-growth forests by banning harvest over the simulation period compared with the H scenario (Figures 3 and 7)

Summary

Introduction

Forests provide many ecosystem services that benefit the population, such as carbon storage and timber. Forests are managed with multiple objectives, such as carbon storage, timber harvesting, and biodiversity conservation [1,2,3]. These goals are often conflicting [4,5]. Forest management policies brought severe ecological consequences, such as forest degradation, carbon storage loss, and biodiversity loss, which resulted in a decrease in ecosystem services [11]. A recent study showed that landscape-scale conservation management increased the provision of ecosystem services [16]

Methods

Results

Conclusion