Carbon sink trading gives farmers their first monetary returns from forest management ecological services
On the morning of the 14th, the Zhejiang Provincial Branch of China Construction Bank purchased in Lin'an the first batch of carbon sink emission reductions generated by the forest management of 42 local farmers. This is the first order of farmer forest management carbon sink trading, and also the first time farmers have obtained monetary returns from forest ecological services since the forest tenure reform, greatly strengthening farmers' confidence in sustainable forest management.
Liu Yuhe, chairman of the China Green Carbon Foundation, said at the press conference on the farmer forest management carbon sink trading system held that day that forestry suffers from a long production cycle and difficulty in generating returns in the short term. The "Lin'an model" of farmer forest management carbon sinks provides a useful reference for consolidating the achievements of the forest tenure reform, improving the national ecological benefit compensation mechanism, and expanding China's forestry carbon sink trading market. This model builds a public welfare platform for enterprises to voluntarily reduce emissions and alleviate poverty while benefiting farmers; while purchasing carbon sinks to achieve carbon neutrality, enterprises also help forest farmers realize the value of ecological services.
It is understood that the current central government compensation standard for public welfare forests is 15 yuan per mu per year, and local subsidy standards vary among provinces and cities. Taking Zhejiang Province as an example, in 2014 the minimum compensation standard for public welfare forests at or above the provincial level in Zhejiang was 27 yuan per mu. Compared with the input in forest management and the benefits produced, the compensation standard for public welfare forests remains low, making it difficult to motivate farmers' enthusiasm for sustainable forest management.
In 2010, the State Forestry Administration approved the establishment of China's first "carbon sink forestry pilot zone" in Lin'an City, Zhejiang Province, and the first group of local farmers obtained "forestry carbon sink certificates." According to Li Nuyun, secretary-general of the China Green Carbon Foundation, the Lin'an farmers participating in this transaction all registered with the China Green Carbon Foundation and obtained "carbon sink certificates"; the emission reductions were measured and monitored by Zhejiang A&F University, a measurement unit approved by the State Forestry Administration, and held in custody by the East China Forestry Property Rights Exchange, a national forestry carbon sink trading pilot platform. Within the 20-year project crediting period, the 42 farmers are expected to generate a total of 2.203 ten thousand tons of carbon sink emission reductions; calculated at the current trading price of 30 yuan per ton, the total transaction amount can reach 66.09 ten thousand yuan.
"With the carbon sink trading certificate, I learned that the moso bamboo forest I manage can, in addition to income from bamboo timber and forest by-products, also obtain economic returns by selling carbon sinks," said farmer representative Zhang Jianrong.
That day, China's first farmer forest management carbon sink trading system, jointly researched and formulated by the China Green Carbon Foundation and relevant units in Lin'an City, was released in Lin'an. This system refers to international rules on forest carbon sinks, combines China's national conditions with the characteristics of farmers' dispersed forest management after the forest tenure reform and the domestic and international policies and practical experience of voluntary carbon sink trading at the current stage, and was formulated using Lin'an farmers' forest management as a pilot; it includes project design, review, registration, issuance, trading, supervision and other content.
The China Green Carbon Foundation was established in 2010 and is China's first national public fundraising foundation aimed at increasing carbon sinks, reducing emissions and addressing climate change. Lin'an City is located in the northwest of Zhejiang Province, with a forest area of 3.91 million mu and a forest coverage rate of 76.55%. Up to now, the city has completed a cumulative total of 15000 mu of carbon sink afforestation and 87000 mu of tending of ecological public welfare forests.