The overall ecological quality of vegetation in China is relatively good. Vegetation | Region | China
The Loess Plateau is a key area for soil erosion control in China in recent years. On the 4th, the China Meteorological Administration released the "2022 National Ecological Meteorological Bulletin" in Beijing, which showed that the overall ecological quality of vegetation in China was good. From 2000 to 2022, 91.9% of the regional vegetation ecological quality index showed an upward trend, especially in the Yellow River Basin. Among them, 79.1% of the regions had an average annual increase of more than 2.5 grams of carbon per square meter in net primary productivity of vegetation, and the area with an increasing trend of vegetation coverage in the basin reached 96.4% of the total basin area, indicating significant improvement in vegetation ecology. In 2022, the national vegetation ecological quality index was 68.3, an increase of 6.2% compared to usual, and the third highest since 2000.
"Specifically, the improvement of vegetation ecological quality in the Yellow River Basin has enhanced soil and water conservation capacity, with 87.6% of regional water conservation and 98.7% of regional soil conservation showing an increasing trend. Due to the improvement of vegetation ecology, the function of wind and sand fixation has been enhanced, and sand and dust weather has significantly decreased. From a meteorological perspective, since 2000, the precipitation in the Yellow River Basin has shown an overall increasing trend, with an average annual increase of 4.2 millimeters in precipitation and a temperature increase of 0.03 ℃. Water and thermal conditions are more favorable for the growth of vegetation in the basin. Among them, the average annual increase in precipitation in the Yellow River Delta from 2000 to 2022 was 13 millimeters, and the temperature increased by 0.05 ℃. Monitoring results show that vegetation coverage along the Yellow River main and tributaries and its surrounding areas has significantly increased, and the ecological environment has significantly improved." Qian Shuan, a senior engineer at the research level, pointed out that there are two main reasons for the overall improvement of vegetation ecological quality in the Yellow River Basin and other parts of the country. Firstly, the country attaches great importance to ecological civilization construction and has implemented a series of ecological protection and repair projects; The second is the combination of favorable meteorological conditions, which together promote the improvement of national vegetation ecological quality.
Qian Shuan introduced that, considering the impact of climate change on glaciers, the bulletin has added an impact assessment of typical glaciers in the Three Rivers Source - the Animaqing Snow Mountain Glacier and the Geladan Winter Glacier. The results show that since 2000, the glacier area of Animaqing Snow Mountain has decreased by an average of 0.67 square kilometers per year, and the ice storage has decreased by an average of 0.06 cubic kilometers per year; The winter glacier area and ice storage in various Ladan regions are also showing a decreasing trend, with an average annual decrease of 2.73 square kilometers in glacier area and 0.32 cubic kilometers in ice storage. This indicates that since 2000, the temperature and precipitation in the Three River Source region have increased, which is beneficial for vegetation growth and lake water storage. However, the temperature increase has promoted the melting of ice and snow and glacier shrinkage.