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Abstract
This paper examines and predicts the effects of climate change and climate extremes
on China’s land use conversion and soil carbon sequestration under two alternative
climate change scenarios. It intends to investigate the following three questions. 1)
How did climate factors affect land-use conversion in China from 1988 to 2000 and
what was the relative importance of these factors? 2) How would the predicted future
climate change pattern affect land-use choice under alternative climate change
scenarios? 3) How would the predicted future climate pattern change the spatial
distribution of soil organic carbon in China? The study makes two contributions to the literature. First, it integrates climate change, land use conversion, and soil carbon
sequestration into a whole model, which facilitates a comprehensive, systematic
analysis. Second, it employs a unique dataset, consisting of high-quality Geographic Information System (GIS) data on climate, land use, and soil properties. To the best of our knowledge, no one has used such detailed Chinese data for economic research.