China News Agency, Haikou, June 14th: How does blue carbon explore new ways for global "carbon neutrality"?
——Interview with Xing Qiao, head of Hainan International Blue Carbon Research Center
China News Agency reporter Wang Ziqian
In recent years, the impact of global climate change has become increasingly apparent, and "carbon peaking" and "carbon neutrality" have gradually become a global consensus.
As the largest "carbon reservoir" on Earth, the ocean plays a fundamental role in global climate governance.
In the context of China's vigorous promotion of the ocean strategy and the "dual carbon" goal, the role and significance of ocean carbon sinks (blue carbon) have become increasingly prominent.
Last year, Zhanjiang, Guangdong completed China's first mangrove blue carbon trading project, marking the launch of the blue carbon trading market.
Fujian and Hainan also completed the first bivalve mollusk carbon sink trading project and the first blue carbon ecological product value contract in May this year, and achieved phased results in exploring the practice of blue carbon trading.
How big is China's blue carbon sink potential?
How to better realize the value conversion of blue carbon products?
Hainan has jurisdiction over a sea area of about 2 million square kilometers. How to seize the commanding heights of blue carbon international?
Xing Qiao, president of the Hainan Institute of Environmental Sciences and head of the Hainan International Blue Carbon Research Center, recently accepted an exclusive interview with China News Agency "East-West Question".
The following is a summary of the interview transcript:
China News Service reporter: Compared with green carbon, blue carbon has only entered the public eye in the past two years. What is blue carbon? Why is blue carbon an important path to realize the "dual carbon" strategy?
Qiao Xing:
In 2009, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO (UNESCO-IOC) jointly released the "Blue Carbon Sink: An Assessment Report on Carbon Sequestration in Healthy Oceans" , proposed for the first time the concept of blue carbon, the carbon captured by marine organisms.
Since then, the definition of blue carbon has been continuously developed and extended.
In a broad sense, blue carbon refers to the processes, activities and mechanisms that use marine organisms to absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and fix it in the ocean.
Compared with other carbon sinks such as green carbon sinks, blue carbon has the characteristics of large carbon sequestration, high efficiency and long storage time.
Forests, grasslands and other terrestrial ecosystems have a carbon sink storage period of only a few decades at longest, while blue carbon sinks can last for hundreds or even thousands of years, and the carbon sink effect is remarkable.
Therefore, blue carbon can effectively slow down greenhouse gas emissions and help achieve the goal of carbon neutrality, and has become a frontier field of global climate governance.
The development of blue carbon is an important starting point for China to participate in global climate governance and actively respond to climate change, which can further enrich the content of the country's independent contribution to climate change.
China News Agency reporter: How big is China's blue carbon sink potential? As the province with the largest sea area under China's jurisdiction, what contribution can Hainan's blue carbon make to China's "double carbon"?
Xing Qiao:
China has about 3 million square kilometers of claimed jurisdictional sea area, 18,000 kilometers of continental coastline and 6.7 million hectares of coastal wetlands, providing a broad space for blue carbon development.
Three internationally recognized coastal blue carbon ecosystems, such as mangroves, seagrass beds, and salt marshes, are widely distributed in China, and have a large carbon sequestration potential per unit area.
Egret perches on the mangroves of Guangdong Zhenhaiwan Mangrove National Wetland Park.
Photo by China News Agency reporter Chen Jimin
As a major marine province, Hainan has a vast sea area, rich ecosystems and high species diversity. For example, the distribution area of coral reefs and seagrass beds accounts for about 98% and 64% of the country's total area, and the mangrove area accounts for about 14% of the country's total. The community structure Save more complete.
Hainan's marine ecosystems have strong carbon storage capacity and great potential for increasing sinks.
Hainan Province has jurisdiction over a sea area of nearly 2 million square kilometers, and the carbon sink potential of fisheries and the total amount of carbon sequestration by marine microorganisms are very considerable.
The development of blue carbon in Hainan can not only fully tap the advantages of marine resources and promote high-level protection of the marine ecological environment, but also combine with the opening policy of the free trade port to cultivate new growth drivers for the blue economy, lead the international carbon sink trading market, and seize blue carbon International commanding heights.
China News Service reporter: At present, China's blue carbon research is becoming more and more in-depth, and blue carbon trading is gradually being carried out. What are the focus and difficulties of blue carbon research? What new contents are involved in blue carbon from scientific research to trading?
Xing Qiao:
At present, mangroves, seagrass beds, and salt marshes are internationally recognized blue carbon ecosystems, and related theories and methodologies are relatively mature.
The focus of blue carbon research is on the important role of fisheries carbon sinks, microbial carbon pumps, and coral reefs in carbon sequestration, and how to promote their international recognition.
Among them, the concepts of fishery carbon sink and microbial carbon pump were first proposed by Chinese scientists, and a series of important achievements have been made in basic theoretical research. China completed the first fishery carbon sink transaction in Lianjiang, Fujian this year.
Although there is some understanding of the role of coral reefs in carbon sequestration, the related theories still need further research.
Therefore, continuously deepening the theory of microbial carbon sink, fishery carbon sink and coral reef carbon sink is the next important work to promote the incorporation of China's advantageous resource carbon sink into the climate change governance system.
In August 2018, more than 100 specialists in related fields from 13 countries around the world who participated in the 2018 "Blue Carbon Initiative" International Conference in Weihai City, Shandong Province visited the seaweed house and Dongchudao Village, Ningjin Street, Shidao Management District, Rongcheng City. The state of marine life recovery.
Photo by Yang Zhili issued by China News Agency
Blue carbon is a relatively cutting-edge systematic project, involving basic research, carbon pool investigation, carbon sink accounting, methodological development, trading rules, value transformation, etc., such as coral reef carbon sink mechanism, mangrove carbon sink methodology, blue carbon Trading system, blue carbon investment and financing standards, etc.
China News Service reporter: Hainan proposed to seize the international commanding heights of blue carbon, and to innovate in theoretical research, carbon sink development, trading rules construction and value transformation. How to establish a blue carbon methodology applicable to Hainan? How to better realize the value conversion of blue carbon products?
Xing Qiao:
An internationally recognized blue carbon ecosystem, Hainan mainly distributes mangroves and seagrass beds.
At present, various parameters involved in carbon storage calculation come from the research results of international experts and scholars, and are mainly concentrated in the Americas, Southeast Asia and other regions, while Hainan is located in tropical and subtropical regions, and plant growth conditions are different from these places. There will be some errors in the carbon storage estimated by parameters.
Therefore, it is necessary to carry out basic investigations and related experiments for specific species and their habitats in Hainan, improve relevant theories, and form characteristic parameters that conform to the actual situation in Hainan. The parameters of the biomass measurement equation, for the seagrass bed ecosystem, the carbon content of seagrass plants, etc.
Hainan Qionghai Shamei Village Wetland Park has beautiful scenery.
The park is a wetland ecological area mainly protected by mangroves.
Photo by China News Agency Meng Zhongde
Hainan has superior blue carbon resource endowments, and realizing the ecological value conversion of blue carbon products is of great significance to the construction of the national ecological civilization pilot zone.
At present, Hainan is actively promoting the Lingshui mangrove carbon sink project, which has been registered on the International Voluntary Carbon Reduction Standards (VCS) platform.
Next, Hainan will actively explore the development of carbon sink projects under different mechanisms (such as the domestic voluntary emission reduction trading mechanism CCER, the international voluntary carbon emission reduction standard VCS and the gold standard GS mechanism), promote blue carbon trading, and realize its ecological product value.
On the other hand, it will actively explore trading mechanisms such as carbon inclusiveness and voluntary carbon neutrality, continuously enrich carbon sink trading methods, form institutional innovation results, and strive to gradually expand the blue carbon trading system into an international market system, and promote the ecological value of blue carbon products. accomplish.
China News Agency reporter: To achieve the blue carbon goal, the quality and stability of the blue carbon ecosystem are crucial. Next, how to increase the protection of blue carbon resources and enhance the capacity of ocean carbon sink?
Xing Qiao:
It is necessary to enhance its ecological function and exert greater ecological value by strengthening the protection of blue carbon ecosystems and other measures.
First, strengthen the protection of marine ecological environment.
First, by strengthening the protection of existing mangroves, seagrass beds and other ecosystems, improve their habitat quality and enhance their carbon sink capacity.
The second is to carry out projects such as returning ponds to forests, restoring wetlands, and ecological restoration of seagrass beds to expand the area of coastal blue carbon ecosystems.
The third is to improve the quality of the marine ecological environment and the ability of the ocean to sequester carbon through the implementation of projects such as pollution prevention and control in coastal waters.
In April 2021, in the Shidao Management Area of Rongcheng City, Shandong Province, fishermen are transplanting eelgrass seedlings to the waters near Dongchu Island.
The seagrass bed ecosystem constructed by eelgrass plays an important role in increasing marine biodiversity and promoting the restoration of shallow sea ecosystems.
Photo by Yang Zhili issued by China News Agency
Second, actively carry out blue carbon basic surveys.
By improving the investigation of typical marine ecosystems such as mangroves and seagrass beds, we can find out the current status of coastal blue carbon and the potential for increasing sinks.
Third, actively carry out basic theoretical research on blue carbon.
By carrying out research on fishery sink increase mechanism and expansion potential, marine negative emission technology research, etc., actively carry out sink increase technology research to enhance marine carbon sink capacity.
China News Service reporter: Hainan is building a free trade port with Chinese characteristics. Can the special policies of the free trade port provide a driving force for Hainan to develop blue carbon?
Xing Qiao:
The construction of Hainan Free Trade Port will provide blue carbon development with talent, technology, capital, platform and other support. With the help of national support and international cooperation, it will further enrich the theory and practice of the National Ecological Civilization Pilot Zone.
For example, using the talent policy and environmental advantages of the free trade port to attract domestic and foreign experts and scholars of blue carbon research to carry out research in blue carbon related fields in Hainan; The offline exchange and discussion of the platform provides great convenience and helps to build a blue carbon international exchange platform.
(Finish)
Interviewee Profile:
Xing Qiao, President of Hainan Academy of Environmental Sciences, Director and Researcher of Hainan International Blue Carbon Research Center, Standing Committee Member of the Sixth Committee of Hainan Association for Science and Technology, Standing Committee Member of the Third Committee of Environmental Planning Professional Committee of Chinese Society of Environmental Sciences.
He has been engaged in environmental protection research for a long time, and has achieved fruitful research results in the fields of ecological civilization theory and application, environmental planning and environmental policy, and addressing climate change. More than 50 key environmental scientific research projects, such as the Planning Outline, Hainan Biodiversity Conservation Strategy and Action Plan, and Hainan Province's 14th Five-Year Plan for Climate Change, have organized and completed the value realization of the blue carbon ecological products of Sanjiang Farm. The construction of a world-class free trade port in the ecological environment and the construction of a national ecological civilization pilot zone provides strong technical support.