# Dynamic Changes in and Driving Factors of Soil Organic Carbon in China from 2001 to 2020
## 5 Conclusions  
Our study analyzed SOCS in China over the past 20 years, and the results showed that SOCS in southern, eastern, southwestern, northern, and northwestern China have maintained a stable increasing trend, while in northeastern China, there has been a decreasing trend over the past 10 years. The SOC changes, on the other hand, showed strong regional variability due to different degrees of influence from temperature, precipitation, and land use disturbances. Overall, the effect of temperature on SOCD showed north-south differences, and the effect of precipitation on SOC mainly showed east-west differences. In addition to this, our study demonstrated the positive effect of anthropogenic activities on SOC accumulation. Although temperature and precipitation limited SOC accumulation in northwest, north, and southwest regions, anthropogenic activities, especially afforestation, grass planting, and vegetation restoration and protection in desert areas, played a significant positive role. This study also emphasized that although land use change will directly cause the loss of organic carbon, this loss is often transient, and the long-term sustained carbon input from surface plants will promote the accumulation of SOC. This implies that a series of land management policies implemented in China over the past 20 years not only led to the continuous expansion of the plant carbon pool but also played a significant positive role in the accumulation of SOC. The results of this study can be used as a reference for the development of soil management strategies and for coping with future climate change.  
Conceptualization, C.X. and F.Z.; methodology, M.Y. and F.Z.; software, M.Y. and F.Z.; investigation, X.X., C.Z., and Z.W.; writing--original draft preparation, F.Z. and C.X.; writing--review and editing, F.Z. and C.X.; visualization, F.Z.; supervision, J.Y. and G.C.; project administration, L.Z. and K.S.; funding acquisition, L.Z. and G.C. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.  
This research was funded by the China Geological Survey Project, the Ministry of Natural Resources (grant Nos. DD20220877(ZD20220133)), the Guangxi Science and Technology Base and Talent Project (grant Nos. AD20297090), the China Geological Survey Project, the Ministry of Natural Resources (grant Nos. DD20220879), and the Science and Technology Innovation Project of Kunming General Survey of Natural Resources Center China Geological Survey (grant Nos. [2023]10-2302-05).  
The original survey data are not publicly available due to the privacy and continuity of this research.  
We thank the comprehensive investigation and potential evaluation of natural resource carbon sinks in typical regions group of the Kunming General Survey of Natural Resources Center for providing the carbon data. We are also grateful to the data support from the \"National Earth System Science Data Center ([[https://www.geodata.cn](https://www.geodata.cn)]([https://www.geodata.cn](https://www.geodata.cn)), accessed on 20 October 2024)\".  
The authors declare no conflicts of interest.