Stronger Protection Significantly Enhances Forest Carbon Storage in China’s Protected Areas
12 Feb 2026
As climate change intensifies, forests remain one of the most important carbon sinks in terrestrial ecosystems, playing a critical role in safeguarding ecological security. Protected areas cover approximately 20% of China's land territory and serve as key spatial units for maintaining forest structural integrity and enhancing ecosystem carbon sequestration. However, due to historical planning and administrative arrangements, China's protected area system still faces challenges such as spatial fragmentation, overlapping designations, and uneven management effectiveness. As China accelerates the establishment of a new protected area system centered on national parks, a systematic assessment is urgently needed to clarify how different protection levels and management regimes influence forest carbon storage, both at present and under future climate change.
Researchers from the Aerospace Information Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (AIRCAS), in collaboration with the International Research Center of Big Data for Sustainable Development Goals and Aarhus University in Denmark, published a study in Nature Communications on 10 February, 2026. By integrating spaceborne Global Ecosystem Dynamics Investigation (GEDI) lidar observations with simulations from the dynamic vegetation model LPJ-GUESS, the team conducted the first nationwide assessment of the contributions of different categories of protected areas to aboveground forest carbon density. The study further projected future carbon gain potential under different climate scenarios and varying protection intensities.
The results show that China's protected areas have significantly enhanced forest carbon storage overall, although substantial differences exist across protection levels and management types. National parks and well-managed naturally regenerating forests exhibit the strongest carbon gains. In general, higher levels of protection are associated with greater carbon sequestration potential. Under a high-emissions scenario (SSP5–8.5), implementing stricter protection measures could result in an additional ~ 600 teragrams (Tg) of forest carbon storage by 2100. This increase is equivalent to about 19% of China's fossil fuel and industrial carbon emissions in 2023 and is comparable to the carbon gains achieved through afforestation expansion over the past three decades (637.2 Tg C).
The research team emphasizes that fully unlocking the climate mitigation potential of protected areas requires optimizing both spatial planning and management strategies. Expanding protection to regions with high carbon stocks and high biodiversity, prioritizing the inclusion of unprotected intact forests, and improving management effectiveness in underperforming reserves are identified as key priorities. At the same time, efforts to increase forest carbon storage should be balanced with maintaining ecosystem resilience. Restoring faunal communities, allowing natural disturbance processes, and fostering structurally diverse and functionally rich forests can generate synergistic benefits for both biodiversity conservation and climate mitigation.
Aboveground carbon sequestration potential of forests in protected areas under different climate change scenarios and protection levels. (Image by AIRCAS)
Research News
Stronger Protection Significantly Enhances Forest Carbon Storage in China’s Protected Areas
As climate change intensifies, forests remain one of the most important carbon sinks in terrestrial ecosystems, playing a critical role in safeguarding ecological security. Protected areas cover approximately 20% of China's land territory and serve as key spatial units for maintaining forest structural integrity and enhancing ecosystem carbon sequestration. However, due to historical planning and administrative arrangements, China's protected area system still faces challenges such as spatial fragmentation, overlapping designations, and uneven management effectiveness. As China accelerates the establishment of a new protected area system centered on national parks, a systematic assessment is urgently needed to clarify how different protection levels and management regimes influence forest carbon storage, both at present and under future climate change.
Researchers from the Aerospace Information Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (AIRCAS), in collaboration with the International Research Center of Big Data for Sustainable Development Goals and Aarhus University in Denmark, published a study in Nature Communications on 10 February, 2026. By integrating spaceborne Global Ecosystem Dynamics Investigation (GEDI) lidar observations with simulations from the dynamic vegetation model LPJ-GUESS, the team conducted the first nationwide assessment of the contributions of different categories of protected areas to aboveground forest carbon density. The study further projected future carbon gain potential under different climate scenarios and varying protection intensities.
The results show that China's protected areas have significantly enhanced forest carbon storage overall, although substantial differences exist across protection levels and management types. National parks and well-managed naturally regenerating forests exhibit the strongest carbon gains. In general, higher levels of protection are associated with greater carbon sequestration potential. Under a high-emissions scenario (SSP5–8.5), implementing stricter protection measures could result in an additional ~ 600 teragrams (Tg) of forest carbon storage by 2100. This increase is equivalent to about 19% of China's fossil fuel and industrial carbon emissions in 2023 and is comparable to the carbon gains achieved through afforestation expansion over the past three decades (637.2 Tg C).
The research team emphasizes that fully unlocking the climate mitigation potential of protected areas requires optimizing both spatial planning and management strategies. Expanding protection to regions with high carbon stocks and high biodiversity, prioritizing the inclusion of unprotected intact forests, and improving management effectiveness in underperforming reserves are identified as key priorities. At the same time, efforts to increase forest carbon storage should be balanced with maintaining ecosystem resilience. Restoring faunal communities, allowing natural disturbance processes, and fostering structurally diverse and functionally rich forests can generate synergistic benefits for both biodiversity conservation and climate mitigation.
Aboveground carbon sequestration potential of forests in protected areas under different climate change scenarios and protection levels. (Image by AIRCAS)