Examining the efficacy of revegetation practices in ecosystem restoration programs: insights from a hotspot of sandstorm in northern China

Retrospectively evaluating the efficacy of revegetation practices is helpful in planning and implementing future ecosystem restoration programs (ERP). Having a good understanding of how human activities can affect vegetation cover, both before and after ERP, is particularly important in sandstorm hotspot areas. The Beijing-Tianjin Sandstorm Source Region (BTSSR) is one such area. We conducted an investigation into vegetation dynamics within the BTSSR. This was done using remote sensing data in conjunction with climate data sets and land use data spanning the 1982-2014 period. The relationships between climatic factors (such as precipitation and temperature), and vegetative change were modeled using a neural network method. By a process of residual analysis, the proportions of human-induced vegetative change both before and after the ERP were established. Our results show that: 1) before the ERP (1982-2000), 40.96% of the study area exhibited significantly progressive vegetation changes ( p