Socioeconomic and Natural Divergent Factors of Carbon Storage in the Yellow Sea and Bohai Sea Region

The carbon storage in coastal zones plays a crucial role in mitigating future climate change impacts but faces intense pressures from human activities, particularly in economically developed areas. Therefore, disentangling the complex natural and socioeconomic factors of carbon storage is essential for effective management. We used an economically developed coastal zone, the Yellow Sea and Bohai Sea region in China, to assess the relative influence of natural and socioeconomic factors on carbon storage. Our results showed a substantial net loss of 67.74 Tg (13.07%) of terrestrial carbon over the 40-year period, primarily associated with rapid urbanization and aquaculture expansion at the expense of high-carbon-density farm land and forest land. The variations in nonsoil carbon pools (aboveground, belowground, and dead organic carbon) were primarily explained by natural variables, such as elevation and temperature. In contrast, the variance in the soil organic carbon pool was predominantly explained by socioeconomic variables, such as population density and per capita cultivated land area. These findings highlight the need for a dual management approach: (a) prioritizing the strict conservation of existing upland forests to secure biomass carbon and (b) integrating soil conservation directly into urban and agricultural policies (e.g., spatial planning and economic incentives) to protect the highly vulnerable soil organic carbon pool in human-dominated and economically developed coastal zones.