Spatially varying patterns of afforestation/reforestation and socio-economic factors in China: a geographically weighted regression approach

Abstract

Afforestation and reforestation play an important role in reducing global greenhouse gas emissions, and they are a component of the Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation-plus program. Within a theoretical analysis framework, we identified the key factors of afforestation and reforestation using a global regression model. Spatial non-stationarity of the key factors required the use of a geographically-weighted regression approach. Results indicated that afforestation and reforestation were affected by five main factors in China: population density, the gross output value of forestry, forest area, sown area of crops, and burned area due to forest fires. The gross output value o..