Abstract:Climate change is a serious challenge for the survival and development of human beings, which is highly concerned by the people and governments across the world. Sequestrating carbon in terrestrial ecosystems is considered as one of the most economical and environmentally friendly way to reduce atmospheric CO₂ concentration. Therefore, how to increase carbon storage and enhance carbon sequestration capacity of terrestrial ecosystems has been a hot issue for global change research. In 2011, Chinese Academy of Sciences launched the Strategic Priority Research Programme "Climate Change:Carbon Budget and Relevant Issues", which aimed to address the key scientific issues urgently needed in China's participance in the international negotiation on climate change and the reduction of net greenhouse gases(GHGs)emissions, and the selection of the optimal route of the national sustainable development. As a major part of this programme, ecosystem carbon sequestration group has systematically conducted field surveys in more than 16,000 plots in forest, shrubland, grassland, and farmland ecosystems across the country, investigated the carbon sequestration effects of China's six key ecological stewardship projects, and comprehensively studied the mechanism and technical system of intervened carbon sink increment within four major regions in China. Based on a large amount of measured data, our group has accurately evaluated the carbon storages, sequestration rates and potential capacity of forest, shrubland, grassland, and farmland ecosystems on the national scale, scientifically assessed the carbon sequestration effect of China's six key ecological stewardship projects, and furthermore, developed the new models of balancing the social economy development and carbon sequestration effect within these regions. In addition, our group has firstly established the scientifical, measurable and verifiable carbon inventory database of China's terrestrial ecosystems on the national scale, which can not only provide the important basic data for the international negotiations on global climate change, but also play an important role in China's ecological civilization Construction in future.