Journal of Integrative Plant Biology 2010, 52 (1): 112121

Invited Expert Review

Marginal Land-based Biomass Energy Production in China

Ya Tang1,2 , Jia-Sui Xie1 and Shu Geng2,3
of Environment, College of Architecture and Environment, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610065, China of Environment and Energy, Peking University Shenzhen Graduate School, Shenzhen 518055, China 3 University of California, Davis, California 95616, USA Corresponding author Tel: +86 28 8541 5108; Fax: +86 28 8541 5108 or +86 28 8540 5613; E-mail: tangya@scu.edu.cn Available online on 6 January 2010 at www.jipb.net and www.interscience.wiley.com/journal/jipb doi: 10.1111/j.1744-7909.2010.00903.x
2 School 1 Department

Abstract
Fast economic development in China has resulted in a signicant increase in energy demand. Coal accounts for 70% of Chinas primary energy consumption and its combustion has caused many environmental and health problems. Energy security and environmental protection requirements are the main drivers for renewable energy development in China. Small farmland and food security make bioenergy derived from corn or sugarcane unacceptable to China: the focus should be on generating bioenergy from lignocellulosic feedstock sources. As China cannot afford biomass energy production from its croplands, marginal lands may play an important role in biomass energy production. Although on a small scale, marginal land has already been used for various purposes. Ya Tang It is estimated that some 45 million hm2 of marginal land could (Corresponding author) be brought into high potential biomass energy production. For the success of such an initiative, it will likely be necessary to develop multipurpose plants. A case study, carried out on marginal land in Ningnan County, Sichuan Province with per capita cropland of 0.07 ha, indicated that some 380 000 tons of dry biomass could be produced each year from annual pruning of mulberry trees. This study supports the feasibility of producing large quantities of biomass from marginal land sources.

Tang Y, Xie JS, Geng S (2010) Marginal land-based biomass energy production in China. J. Integr. Plant Biol. 52(1), 112121.

Introduction
Energy is the engine of world economy and energy consumption increases have paralleled economic development. In the past four decades, the primary energy consumption of the world increased from 4 983 million tons oil equivalent (M toe) in 1970 to 11 099 M toe in 2007 (BP 2009), most of which is in the form of fossil energy. This trend for increasing energy consumption will likely continue in the future. In contrast to the increasing energy demand, fossil energy reserves are being 2010 Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences

quickly depleted. In addition, use of fossil energy has also caused many environmental and health problems. It has been the major contributor to greenhouse gas emission and global warming. Therefore, energy security and mitigating climate change are the two main drivers that have pushed renewable energy production to the top of global agendas (Karp and Shield 2008). Since the Chinese economic reform started in 1978, economic development has made China the second consumer of energy, worldwide. Primary energy consumption in China

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increased rapidly from 410 M toe in 1978 to 1 863 M toe in 2007, an almost ve-fold increase. Similarly, Chinas share of the world energy consumption increased substantially: rising from 3.7% in 1965 to 16.8% in 2007 (BP 2009). With increasing energy demand, China became a net importer of petroleum oil and oil products in 1993 and a net importer of crude oil in 1996. Ever since, import demand for crude oil has continued to increase (Li and Oberheitmann 2009). Given that economic production and per capita income will increase in China, energy demand will continue to rise in the coming decades. It is projected that China would need 3 billion tons stand coal equivalent (T sce) in 2 020 and 3.6 billion T sce in 2 030 (IEA 2004; Li and Oberheitmann 2009). While many types of fossil energy are found in China, the country is short of energy, petroleum and natural gas, in particular. Since 2007 over 50% of Chinas petroleum consumption was imported. Coal is the most important energy source in China. With increasing use of petroleum and natural gas, the share of coal in the total primary energy consumption has dropped from over 85% prior to 1970 to approximately 75% during the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s, and post 2000, it declined further to around 70%. The quantity of coal consumed, however, has greatly increased, from 296 M toe in 1978 to 1 311 M toe in 2007: that is, a three- to fourfold increase in 30 years (BP 2009). Rising coal consumption has caused an increase in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and China became the biggest producer of sulfur dioxide and carbon dioxide in 2005 and 2008, respectively. Challenges to reducing GHG emissions are great. From the energy security and mitigating climate change points of view, development and use of renewable energy in China is urgently needed. Development of alternate energy sources, including hydroelectricity, solar energy, wind energy and bioenergy has become a high priority during the past decade. As possibly the most important renewable energy, bioenergy has attracted great attention worldwide. The global demand for liquid biofuels more than tripled between 2000 and 2007 (IEA/OECD 2008). Though the rst-generation bioenergy derived from overstored grains is available in limited quantity, the fact that its development competes with food production, feed and ber makes it impractical for China. Second-generation bioenergy, made from ligno-cellulosic biomass feedstock, has become the focus for bioenergy development. However, if the bioenergy industry is to succeed, supply of biomass feedstock should be available at a low cost and on a very large scale (Antizar-Ladislao and Turrion-Gomez 2008). There is a growing interest in the use of agricultural lands to produce energy feedstocks and a study indicates that bioenergy crops show the greatest potential among all of the agricultural options to remove CO 2 from the atmosphere (Smith et al. 2000). However, it is widely recognized that the availability of land to grow

bioenergy crops will become a limiting factor in bioenergy development. Biomass energy in China is not only needed as a substitute for fossil energy but also is required as the main energy source in rural areas. In 2007, over 55% of the population lived in rural areas (NBSC 2008). Apart from crop residues used as fuel, 181264 million tons of wood fuel alone was consumed, per annum, during the period from 20002006 (Wang 2007, 2008). Unlike many other countries, China has a large population but limited arable land resources. The area of land available to grow energy crops without affecting food security and the rural economy is limited and, hence, China cannot afford to produce bioenergy from its cropland. It is essential that the development of a bioenergy industry does not compete for land with food, feed and ber production. In addition, China will not be able to produce bioenergy from its limited forest resources. Therefore, Chinas bioenergy production will have to seek other alternatives: marginal lands will play an important role in this regard. In the present review, we examine the feasibility and potential of using marginal land in biomass energy production.

Marginal Land Resources

Concept of marginal land
Marginal land has various meanings in different disciplines (Table 1) and the coverage of marginal land differs. Generally, marginal land is evaluated in terms of a cost/benet analysis and is economically marginal. However, in China, the Ministry of Agriculture denes marginal land that may be used for growing energy crops as wasteland and paddy land fallowed in winter. Wasteland includes natural grassland, sparse forestland, scrubland and unused land that may be used to grow energy crops. Winter-fallowed paddy land refers to the paddy land fallowed during winter in south China that may be used to grow an energy crop, such as rapeseed, but will not affect transplanting of rice in the spring (DSE 2007; Kou et al. 2008). Yan and colleagues (2008) include wasteland, grassland, saline land, bareland, marshland, reed swamp, tidal at and unused land as cultivable potential land sources, most of which, except for marshland and wetland, is considered to be potential marginal land suitable for biomass energy production (Yan et al. 2008). The coverage of marginal land of the above two studies differs and neither of them has taken land risers, land boundaries and land along highways/roads into consideration. Compared with wasteland listed in the above two studies, these areas usually have satisfactory fertility and productivity and previous studies have established their high potential in fruit and biomass production (Tang et al. 2003; Lu et al. 2009). It should be noted that, provided an appropriate energy crop is

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Table 1. Denition of marginal land Denition Denition 1 Denition 2 Denition 3 Land, such as upland, or desert border, which is difcult to cultivate, and which yields little prot Land of poor quality with regard to agricultural use and unsuitable for housing and other uses Land, which is of little value because of some deciency, such as poor access, lack of adequate rainfall, or steep terrain Denition 4 Land whose value has been diminished due to some internal physical defect, or negative external condition. In most cases, the cost to correct the aw or condition is as much or more than the expected return from the property Denition 5 Denition 6 Denition 7 Low quality land the value of whose production barely covers its cultivation costs Marginal land is winter-followed paddy land and waste land that may be used to cultivate energy crops Marginal land refers to land currently not in use, with poor natural condition but able grow plants. It is not used in agricultural production but can grow certain plants Anonymous, 2008 European Environmental Agency (EEA) www.eionet.europa. eu/gemet/concept?ns=1&cp=5023 MoA (Ministry of Agriculture, the Peoples Republic of China) www.evaluation-associates.com/ glossary.htm Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) stats.oecd.org/glossary/detail.asp?ID=1591 www.getsoldon.com/real-estate-glossary-m Answers.com Reference

used, large quantities of biomass energy can be generated. Therefore, in our analysis, we will include those areas listed by Yan et al. (2008) as well as land that is marginally located and not usually in use for food crops due to the smallness of size, or unclear ownership. Marginal land will, therefore, include wasteland, land riser/boundary, road side land, stream side land, house surroundings, land along highways/roads, etc. Sparse forestland, scrubland, and winter-fallowed paddy land are not regarded as marginal land in our analysis. As pointed out already, these lands are not necessarily economically marginal but are usually protable.

Quantity of marginal land

Marginal land has not attracted the attention of researchers until recently. Therefore, the quantity of marginal land is unclear although there are a few studies on the estimation of the quantity of marginal land resources within China (Kou et al. 2008; Yan et al. 2008). A nation-wide survey, organized by the Ministry of Agriculture, on marginal land resources that may be used for energy crop production revealed an area of 34 million hm2 of which 7 million hm2 and 27 million hm2 are winterfallowed paddy land and wasteland marginal land, respectively (Kou et al. 2008). According to Yan et al. (2008), marginal land available for biomass production includes 82.3 million hm2 of which 24 million hm2 are cultivable. In consideration of economic operation of transportation, some 7 million hm2 can be considered available for energy crop use. Information relating to the quantity of land riser/boundary is limited and no national study has been conducted to estimate

this resource, except for a few regional studies (Xu et al. 1998; Yang et al. 1999; Liao and Zhang 2000; Zhang et al. 2004; Sun 2005). Based on available information, land riser regions may be comprised of earth or rock: generally, earth risers are wider than rock risers. In estimation of land riser/boundary quantity, a ratio of land riser/boundary to cropland (RRC) is used. The value varies considerably in different regions and with various topographical factors, such as slope gradient and type of riser built (Duan 1995; Yang et al. 1999). RRC varies in different types of land in Gansu Province: values range from 0.159, 0.095 to 0.035 for terraced land, sloping cropland, and at cropland, respectively. The quantity of land risers was estimated for terraced land. In 2003, terraced land covered an area of 1.744 million hm2 and land risers cover an area of 276 600 hm2 . On average, RRC is 0.092 for cropland in this province and, in total, land riser/boundary occupies an area of 464 600 hm2 (Sun 2005). A study conducted in the central hilly region of southwestern Sichuan Province indicated that RRC is lower for paddy land than for rain-fed land: values were 0.159 and 0.235 for paddy land riser and rain-fed land riser, respectively. The mean RRC is on the order of 0.207 3 for the region. The total riser/boundary covers an area of 512 300 hm2 , as much as 25% of cropland of the region (Liao and Zhang 2000). Since this region of Sichuan is characterized by a large proportion of paddy land and land with low slope gradients and the remaining regions have a much higher proportion of slopeland with steep slopes and rain-fed land, the mean RRC would be higher than 0.207, which is the mean RRC for central Sichuan. The cropland area in Sichuan was 5 950 100 hm2 in 2007. Calculated using

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the above RRC value of 0.207, the land riser/boundary would represent some 1 233 450 hectares. Based on 17 studies, a simple mean RRC value can be estimated (Table 2) and this value will be used to estimate the quantity of land riser/boundary of China. Cropland in China is 121.76 million hectares (MoLR 2009) and land riser/boundary would be 16.61 million hectares. Compared with the study in central Sichuan, the quantity of land riser/boundary would be likely to be underestimated. Currently, most land river/boundary regions are not put in use. Conservatively, at least half of the land riser/boundary would be available for bioenergy development.

Use of highway and road side land

Apart from land riser/boundary land, land along highways/roads and road sides can also be used to grow energy crops. Construction of highways/roads is a typical characteristic of infrastructure development in China and each year there are new highways/roads added to the transportation system. Planting of trees along highways/roads is a common practice in China and is usually taken care of by the department of highways/roads. However, due to limited horticultural management practices, many trees do not grow well or survive after planting. In addition, trees planted along highways/roads have not been

Table 2. Ratio of land risers to cropland (%) in different regions of China Region Longnan, Gansu Weinan, Shaanxi Kulun, Inner Mongolia Keshan, Heilongjiang Baiquan, Heilongjiang Huating, Gansu Gansu Central Sichuan basin Pingliang, Gansu Lishi, Shanxi Xinzhou, Shanxi Western Henan Liaoning (paddy land) Longdong, Gansu Tianshui, Gansu Qiaojia, Yunnan Guyuan, Ningxia Average 0.246 0.092 0.129 0.07 0.070.12 0.120.18 0.092 0.207 0.0620.288 (mean 0.191) 0.120 0.102 0.100.16 0.11 0.120.18 0.20 0.13 0.15 0.136 Xu et al. (1998) Zhang et al. (2004) Zhou (1994) Qu and Chu (1994) Wu et al. (2001) Cao (2002); Wu et al. (2002) Xiao (1995) Mao (2008) RRC Reference Zhang (2004) Zhu (1999) Wu (1999) Ren et al. (2002) Zhang et al. (2002) Sun and Li (2005) Sun (2005) Liao and Zhang (2000) Duan (1995)

considered or managed for economic purposes. Realizing the potential of this land resource for biomass energy production, a company has contracted 50 km of highway in the Mianyang Municipality of Sichuan Province. The company planted poplar and black locust along both sides of the highway: these trees grow rapidly (Figure 1) and can be harvested in ve years (Bin Xu, pers. comm. 2009). This provides another type of marginal land to produce biomass energy. Given the rapid economic development that is currently occurring in China, many places have now become accessible by highway and many roads have also been upgraded in the past two decades. According to the Ministry of Transport, over 99% of townships and 93% of administrative villages are now accessible by highway or road. While many new highways are under construction or planned to be built, at the end of 2008, the total length of highways/roads in China was 3.730 2 million kilometers; 155 500 km of national highways, 263 200 km of provincial highways, 512 300 km of county highways, 101 110 km of township highways/roads, 672 000 km of special highways and 1 721 000 km of village roads (MoT 2009). Based on Highway/Road Management Regulations, no less than 1 m wide land from the constructed structure on each side of the highway/road is under the management of the road department, which means that at least 0.75 million hm2 may be available for biomass production. No information about river/stream bank and rural house surrounding land areas is available but our simple survey in Chengdu plain and Ningnan of Sichuan indicates that the land would be around at least half the land riser/boundary. In addition, there are also some 3 million hm2 of mining land that may also be used for this purpose (Huang et al. 2009). Based on the above estimates, the quantity of marginal land that could be used in biofuel production is in the order of 110 million hm2 , of which around 45 million hm2 are of economical operation.

Current use of marginal land

China is the most populous country in the world with over 20% of the worlds population. Due to physical constraints, many areas of China are not habitable and only around 13% of the land can be placed under cultivation. In 2008, arable land and the population was 121.716 million hm2 (MoLR 2009) and 1.32 billion (NBSC 2008), respectively; thus, each person has only about 900 m2 of cropland. In addition, cropland is being lost every year to urbanization, infrastructure construction (highways, railways, hydroelectricity, etc.), new factories, land conversion and natural hazards. In 2008 alone, 248 930 hm2 of cropland were lost to construction (191 600 ha), natural hazard (24 800 ha), land conversion (76 000 ha) and agricultural restructure (24 930 ha) (MoLR 2009). As a result of increasing population and declining cropland, the per capita cropland has decreased from 0.1 hectare in 2001

RRC, ratio of land riser/boundary to cropland.

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Figure 1. Poplar, a rapidly growing tree, is often planted along highways (courtesy of Bin Xu). (A) and (B) 3-year-old poplar trees; harvesting for biomass will occur in the fth year after planting.

to 0.092 hectare in 2008 (MoLR 2003, 2009). Food security has been the rst priority of both government and farmers. Farmers have tried various ways to enhance land productivity and to increase benets. Usually only a very small portion of arable land is in fallow; that is, cropland is intensively managed. Cropland is mainly used to produce food, feed or ber, while marginal land is for commodity production. Based on our experience, in the areas with good rural economy, usually local farmers manage their cropland for food but land risers for cash income, a so-called model of food from cropland and money from land risers. Well managed land risers can yield high incomes. For example, pears and mulberry trees planted on land risers can bring over 50% of household income (Tang et al. 2003; Lu et al. 2009). Small per capita cropland has made farmers seek alternative land resources for agricultural purposes and land riser/boundary regions are usually given rst consideration. However, few studies have been carried out on the status of marginal land usage. Sun (2005) studied the use of land risers in Gansu Province and found that only 25% of this resource was being used in some areas, with the value falling to as low as 2% in other areas. On average, 15% of land risers were in use in this province. In Ningnan county of Sichuan, most land risers below 1 600 m are used to grow mulberry (Lu et al. 2009). Growing soybean, sweet potatoes and vegetables on risers of paddy land is common in many regions of the country. As China covers a wide range of geographical zones, from tropical in the south to cold temperate in the north, from humid subtropics in the east to desert in the northwest, from sea level to the roof of the world, people in different regions have various ways of using marginal lands. Based on the literature (Zhou 1994; Liao et al. 2001; Tang et al. 2003; Zhang et al. 2003, 2005; Jiang et al.

2004; Wang 2005) and our unpublished data, a wide range of plants are grown on land riser/boundary regions. Fruit trees include pear, papaya, apples, Chinese date, apricot and grapes. Fodder species include Lespedeza bicolor Turcz., Amorpha fruticosa Linn., alfalfa (Medicago sativa Linn.), Caragana korshinskii Kom, Astragalus adsurgens Pall., barbaru wolfberry (Lycium barbarum), ryegrass (Lolium perenne Linn.), common orchardgrass (Dactylis glomerata Linn.), and mulberry (Morus alba Linn.). Vegetables include tomatoes, small yellow daylily (Hemerocallis minor Mill) and capsicum; huajiao (Zangthoxyllum bungeanum Maxim. and Z. schinifolium Sieb. & Zucc.) is the aromatic plant widely planted in southwestern China, southern Shaanxi and southern Gansu. Timber trees include paulownia (Paulownia spp), poplar, cypress (Cupressus funebris Endl.), alder (Alnus cremastogyne Burkill and A. nepalensis D. Don), and Chinese r (Cunninghamia lanceolata (Lamb.) Hook.). Medicinal plants cultivated on land risers are eucommia (Eucommia ulmoides Oliver), corktree (Phellodendron amurense Rupr.), barbary wolfberry and Japanese honeysuckle (Lonicera japonica Thunb.). Other plants include Tamarix ramossissima Ledeb., Salix integra Thunb., etc. Tea is also planted in some areas. Apart from the above-mentioned plants grown mainly for economic purpose, some other plants, especially nitrogen xing plants, like Leucaena leucocephala (Lam.) deWit., Flemingia macrophylla Willd., Tephrosia candida DC, Caragana korshinskii, Lespedeza bicolor, Coriaria nepalensis Wall., etc., are planted on land risers to reduce soil erosion (Tang et al. 2001; Jiang et al. 2004). Finally, most of the abovementioned plantations are on household or small to medium scale and are of only local or regional signicance. Only mulberry plantation occurs on a large scale that is of national signicance.

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Potential of Marginal Land in Biomass Energy Production

Ligno-cellulosic materials and non-food feedstock such as cassava, sweet potato and sweet sorghum are likely to be the only candidates for bioenergy production in China. The MoA survey revealed an area of 34 million hm2 of marginal land available for growing energy crops, of which 27 million hm2 are wasteland marginal lands. These wastelands may produce 45 million metric tons of liquid biofuel if 60% of this area is devoted to growing energy crops (Kou et al. 2008). Focused on non-food starch or sugar feedstock (cassava, sweet potato and sweet sorghum), Yan et al. (2008) estimated that the 24 million hm2 of marginal land would have the potential to generate 74 million metric tons annually of bioethanol (Yan et al. 2008). If land riser/boundary, road/highway, and mining areas are considered, another 33 million metric tons would be produced per annum.

Use of multipurpose trees in biomass energy production

As we can see from the proceeding sections, cultivation of pure energy crops may not be the right solution for China. As a limited area of land is available for growing energy crops, it is important that such operations do not cause direct or indirect negative impacts on land use. Bioenergy applications should maximize the efciency with which a given land area is used to meet both energy and income generation goals (Campbell et al. 2009). Biomass energy production should be incorporated with development of other sectors. At least in the medium term, selection and use of multipurpose trees to produce biomass energy is crucial for the success of this program, in which biomass energy is an important byproduct of the main agricultural enterprise. Pure energy trees, like poplar, may be considered and planted along highways/roads. But trees that can provide additional benets, like fodder, should also be seriously considered. Mulberry is a good example in this regard. Cultivation of mulberry is the basis of sericulture development. In China mulberry plantations cover an area of 0.85 million hm2 , supporting a cocoon yield of 658 610 tons (Silk-online 2009) in 2008. A number of mulberry plantation models have been used in China. Mulberry was conventionally planted in croplands. However, mulberry planted on marginal land is more advantageous because it does not compete with food and other cash crops. When the price of silk drops, mulberry planted on cropland will be replaced by food crops or other cash crops; however, trees planted on marginal land will not be replaced. The case study in Ningnan county of Sichuan Province provides a good example of how marginal land can be man-

aged to produce sufcient fresh leaf biomass to support an annual cocoon yield of 6 0007 000 tons and over 380 000 tons of dry matter biomass as a byproduct (Lu et al. 2009). Almost all mulberry plants in this region are grown on marginal land (Figure 2), including land risers, land boundaries, waste slopeland, river and stream banks, house surroundings, etc. Cropland in this county was 12 063 hm2 and per capita cropland was only 0.07 hm2 ; the value for areas below 1 600 m above sea level, where silkworm rearing is common to most households is 0.05 hm2 . In such a small area, as much as 6 000 tons of cocoons were produced in 2004. To support such a high cocoon yield, a large quantity of mulberry trees needs to be planted; these trees need to be pruned each year (Figure 3), which yields 380 000 tons dry biomass (Lu et al. 2009). The annual biomass yield of mulberry is comparable to switchgrass (1119 tons/ha) (McLaughlin and Kszos 2005) and miscanthus in Europe (Lewandowski et al. 2000), two energy crops currently being promoted in the USA and Europe. While mulberry growth varies with physiological conditions, the case study in Ningnan supports the notion that mulberry grown on marginal land can produce large quantities of biomass with appropriate management. The key factor driving local farmers to grow mulberry on almost all marginal land available is the income gained from the selling of cocoons and local government policies. In the past, most of the branches pruned were used as wood fuel; this practice has changed due to increased use of electricity, liqueed petroleum gas, biogas and solar energy, and increasing mulberry planting. Most of the branches were in excess of the local needs and no longer used as fuel. Development of ligno-cellulosic ethanol provides an additional option of income generation for local farmers. The biomass produced by mulberry in this small county suggests a bright future for biomass energy from marginal land.

Comparative advantages of biomass energy development on Chinese marginal lands

Development of renewable energy has become one of the most important missions, worldwide. The most common biofuel source is corn in the USA and sugarcane in Brazil. However, use of corn and sugarcane for bioethanol production competes with feed and food demands on grain supplies and this has been blamed for increases in grain price in the international market. The United Nations has stated that production of biofuel from corn has caused shortages in world food supply (FAO 2008). Consequently, expansion of grain-ethanol will eventually be limited (Schmer et al. 2008). Development of a bioenergy industry that does not compete with food, feed and ber production must be promoted; to this end, cellulosic ethanol has gained an international importance. While use of arable cultivated land to grow dedicated energy

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Figure 2. Mulberry grown on marginal lands. (A) Trees grown on land risers. (B) Mulberry cultivated on land risers and along river banks. (C) Mulberry production based on slopeland use. (D) Mulberry planted along road-side boundaries.

crops, like switchgrass and miscanthus in the USA, and miscanthus and willows in Europe, is protable, China will not be able to use cropland for this purpose because of the small per capita cropland. Use of marginal land is the most likely option

for ligno-cellulose bioenergy production in China and would be socio-economically acceptable and viable. Mechanical harvesting of biomass from marginal land, to serve the biofuels industry, will be difcult because of

Figure 3. Biofuels feedstock provided by annual pruning of mulberry trees. (A) One-year-old mulberry branches prior to annual pruning. (B) Mulberry tree stumps (yellow arrows) after annual pruning.

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topographical and agronomic constraints in China; for example, pruning takes place when the land is already under cultivation with wheat or rapeseeds. Consequently, farming practices will rely on manual labor, as in Ningnan (Lu et al. 2009). China has a large rural population and the biofuels industry has the potential to provide employment and thereby contributes to the improvement of rural economy. In addition, agriculture in China is characterized by small farms; the average farm size is around 0.30.6 ha. Each household has both manpower and time to manage marginal land-based biomass energy production. Planting trees along highways/roads is advantageous over many other options. In the biomass production process, transportation is one important consideration in terms of cost reduction. Trees planted along highways/roads can be harvested and replanted on an approximately 5 year cycle and transportation centralized biofuel production plants will be efcient. In this system, our preliminary observations have indicated that the rst harvest can be made in 5 years and subsequently every 34 years up to 20 years. Importantly, mechanical harvesting can be used for this biomass production system (Bin Xu, pers. comm., 2009; Y Tang et al., unpubl. data, 2009).

is covered by small weed plants that contribute little in terms of mitigating greenhouse gas emission.

Enhancing rural employment and improving rural economy

The Chinese rural economy is underdeveloped and has become a problem of national signicance. Development of a biomass/biofuels industry centered on marginal land would provide options for economic development in rural areas. In particular, when multipurpose trees are planted, the rural economy will be improved in different ways. Increased fodder production would increase livestock rearing. Selling of biomass will increase household income. In our study in a remote county of southwestern Sichuan Province of China, each household will have no less than 10 tons of mulberry biomass in excess of need, which can be sold, bringing additional income (Lu et al. 2009).

Biodiversity conservation
Harvesting wood for fuel is regarded as a major threat to natural forests. Wood for fuel comprises a large portion of wood consumption, with some 40% of the 3.5 billion m3 of wood removed from forests annually being used for fuel (FAO 2005). Production of biomass energy from marginal lands can meet the household energy demands without the need to extract wood from forests. In addition, growing energy crops on these lands will also provide habitats to wildlife, thereby enriching the environment.

Environmental Benets of Biomass Energy Production on Marginal Land

While it is widely accepted that use of biofuels will help mitigate such environmental problems as global warming and air pollution, growing energy crops on marginal land has additional environmental benets. Sloping agricultural land is the main source of sedimentation of rivers in China (Li 1999; Xiong and Liao 1999) and terracing is an operation promoted in China as the main measure to reduce soil erosion of such land. Indeed, large areas of sloping agricultural land have now been terraced. However, collapse and washing out of land risers remains a serious problem in many areas of the country. Growing dense nitrogen xing plants can effectively reduce soil loss by over 95% (Tang et al. 2001), but the constraint is a lack of direct economic benet. Planting of cash crops or economic trees is common in some regions and studies have indicated that trees or crops planted on land risers helps in their stabilization, thereby reducing soil loss (Wang and Li 1998; Wu 1999).

Future Directions
Development of bioenergy in China is an emerging industry and much basic knowledge is lacking. Clearly, whether in China or elsewhere, the development of an efcient, sustainable and commercially viable ligno-cellulosic biofuels industry will take time. As marginal lands will be central to Chinas program, it will be essential that research programs pay close attention to the following topics. Screening and selection of multipurpose energy crop species will be of paramount importance. Studies to optimize pruning timing and frequency, as well as the development of efcient fertilizer regimes for each specic energy crop will be required. Various energy crops will need to be tested within the context of different agroecological regions. Studies should also be carried out on the mechanisms and efcacies of different energy crops in terms of carbon sequestration. Finally, the development of optimal energy crop agronomic systems will likely require the use of modern molecular biology tools to generate plants with elite traits for biofuels production.

Mitigating global warming

Reducing greenhouse gas emissions is one main consideration in bioenergy development as it impacts two processes. First, it replaces fossil energy with a renewable energy source, which has the potential to substantially reduce net greenhouse gas emissions. Second, it sequesters carbon in the course of plant growth. Most marginal land may become a sink of carbon dioxide when it is cultivated with energy crops, which otherwise

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Karp A, Shield I (2008) Bioenergy from plants and the sustainable yield challenge. New Phytol . 179, 1532.

Acknowledgements
This study was supported jointly by the National Key Technologies R & D project Ecological protection and technology demonstration of debris ow and landslide prevention for the large hydropower project area in South-west China (2006BAC10B04) and 111 Project (B08037). We thank Mr Bin Xu from Sichuan Deyang Luyuan Co. Ltd. for sharing his experience in tree plantation along highways.

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Received 30 Sept. 2009

Accepted 1 Nov. 2009

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