Balancing the Effects of Forest Conservation and Restoration on South China Karst Greening

Abstract Forest conservation and restoration are key components of ecological engineering. Previous studies often focused on the forest restoration impact on vegetation greening, ignoring the importance of forest conservation, and the link between forest conservation and restoration remains unclear. Based on land use data, forest cover loss data, and Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer Leaf Area Index, in this study, we explored the spatial pattern of forest conservation and restoration from 2000 to 2020, and quantitatively calculated the contribution of forest conservation and restoration to vegetation greening. The results showed that the forest conservation area was 821,888 km 2 , and the forest restoration area was 100,266 km 2 in South China karst. The forest conservation and restoration area with vegetation greenness increasing were 358,236 and 54,397 km 2 , respectively, which contributed 39.85% and 6.05% to vegetation greening. Moreover, there was a nonlinear relationship between forest conservation and restoration, and the results showed an inverted U‐shape in most provinces. This study evaluated ecological engineering from the perspective of forest conservation and restoration, which could provide the scientific basis for differentiated ecological engineering planning.