Abstract
China has been experiencing rapid urbanization in parallel with its economic boom over the past three decades. To date, the organic carbon storage in China's urban areas has not been quantified. Here, using data compiled from literature review and statistical yearbooks, we estimated that total carbon storage in China's urban areas was 577±60 Tg C (1 Tg = 1012 g) in 2006. Soil was the largest contributor to total carbon storage (56%), followed by buildings (36%), and vegetation (7%), while carbon storage in humans was relatively small (1%). The carbon density in China's urban areas was 17.1±1.8 kg C m−2, about two times the national average of all lands. The most sensitive variable in estimating urban carbon storage was urban area. Examining urban carbon storages over a wide range of spatial extents in China and in the United States, we found a strong linear relationship between total urban carbon storage and total urban area, with a specific urban carbon storage of 16 Tg C for every 1,000 km2 urban area. This value might be useful for estimating urban carbon storage at regional to global scales. Our results also showed that the fraction of carbon storage in urban green spaces was still much lower in China relative to western countries, suggesting a great potential to mitigate climate change through urban greening and green spaces management in China.
Highlights
Urbanization is accelerating worldwide because of rapid population growth and demographic shift from rural to urbanized areas
Cities in the East and Central-south regions stored the largest amount of organic carbon, with an estimate of 181624 Tg C and 147632 Tg C, accounting for 31.4% and 25.5% of total national urban carbon storage, respectively
In most provinces (23 of 31), the carbon storage was below 25 Tg, whereas Guangdong accounted for 10.5% of total carbon storage in China’s urban areas
Summary
Urbanization is accelerating worldwide because of rapid population growth and demographic shift from rural to urbanized areas. The proportion of the global population in urban areas rose from 29.4% to 52.1% between 1950 and 2011, and it is expected to increase to 67.2% by 2050 [1]. Urban areas cover less than 3% of the land surface globally at present [2,3], their impacts are diverse and extended far beyond city boundaries [4,5]. The urbanization has caused serious ecological consequences such as the alteration of local to global biogeochemical cycles [6,7,8]. Urban areas account for more than 75% of global anthropogenic carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions [8,9]
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
