The capacity of land carbon sinks in poverty-stricken areas in China continues to increase in the process of eradicating extreme poverty: evidence from a study of poverty-stricken counties on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau

The poverty-stricken counties on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau are characterized by ecological vulnerability and ecological degradation, which are vulnerable to economic development and human activities, thereby leading to frequent alterations of Land carbon sink changes. Therefore, it is of great significance to study the changes of land carbon sink capacity during the process of eradication of extreme poverty in poverty-stricken counties. Using remote sensing images and socio-economic data, this paper constructed land transfer matrix and land carbon sink model to analyze the changes of land carbon sink capacity in poverty-stricken counties and identified the relevant impact factors through geographic detectors. The results show significant changes in carbon sink-type land and a continuous decrease in the snow area, resulting in an obvious trend of grassland area decrease and barren area increase. Land carbon sink capacity of poverty-stricken counties during the eradication of extreme poverty is higher with an added value of 2.74 times than that before this period. Using the geographic detector to analyze the related factors, strong explanatory power was found in cash crops per capita, share of secondary industry, population density and per capita savings on the changes of carbon sink capacity in poverty-stricken counties.

Automated summary

Using remote sensing images and socio-economic data, this study analyzed changes in land carbon sink capacity in poverty-stricken counties and identified relevant impact factors through geographic detectors. The results showed significant changes in carbon sink-type land and a continuous decrease in the snow area, resulting in a decrease in grassland area and an increase in barren area. The land carbon sink capacity in poverty-stricken counties during the eradication of extreme poverty was 2.74 times higher than before this period. The geographic detector analysis found strong explanatory power in cash crops per capita, share of secondary industry, population density, and per capita savings on the changes in carbon sink capacity in poverty-stricken counties.