The Hainan tropical rainforest is favored by outdoor enthusiasts.
In the past six months, "carbon peak" and "carbon neutrality" have become hot words in the media, which makes Chen Zongzhu, a researcher at the Hainan Academy of Forestry, excited.
"What is 'carbon peaking' and 'carbon neutrality'? In a word, it is to accelerate the promotion of green and low-carbon development, on the one hand, to reduce carbon sources, on the other hand, to increase carbon sinks." Chen Zongzhu said that the vast Tropical Rainforest in Hainan has a strong forest carbon sink capacity, which means that its role and value in combating climate change will be raised to new heights.
Carbon sinks are not the only ecological products that Hainan tropical rainforests can provide. Pleasant climate, fresh air, clean water, abundant biodiversity... Such high-quality natural resources are the basis for our province to promote the construction of the national ecological civilization pilot zone.
At present, Hainan Tropical Rainforest National Park is building a scientific and reasonable gross ecosystem value (GEP) accounting system, valuing ecological assets such as air, water flow, soil, and forests, and it is expected that the gross ecosystem value of Hainan Tropical Rainforest National Park will be calculated in June this year. In the end, how does GEP open the transformation channel of "green water and green mountains are golden mountains and silver mountains" by measuring the value of landscapes, and promote the construction of Hainan's ecological civilization towards refinement?
During the rainy season, Hainan Tropical Rainforest National Park wuzhi mountain forest area. Photo by reporter Li Tianping
A
Forests are worth much more than carbon sinks
Conserve water, regulate the climate, maintain biodiversity... Tropical rainforests are a rare ecological wealth
Since September last year, China made a target commitment to the international community to "carbon peak by 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2060", to the first time this year's national two sessions were written into the government work report, and then to the ninth meeting of the Central Financial and Economic Committee to state again, the two new concepts of "carbon peak" and "carbon neutrality" can be described as a continuous brush screen.
The so-called "carbon peak", in short, is that carbon dioxide emissions no longer increase, and gradually decrease after reaching the peak; In response to the emission of carbon dioxide, the energy revolution, energy conservation and emission reduction, tree planting and other ways to offset, that is, "carbon neutrality".
Forest carbon sinks will play an important role in achieving this vision.
"The wooden desk in front of you, its main ingredient is carbon. Where does carbon come from? This is the ability of the forest to absorb carbon dioxide in the air through photosynthesis and fix it in the plant, which is called the 'carbon sink'. Chen Zongzhu introduced that compared with the forests in temperate regions, the trees in the Hainan tropical rainforest grow faster, so the carbon sink capacity is stronger.
Even compared with other tropical rainforests, the carbon sink capacity of Hainan tropical rainforests is not inferior.
Taking the data provided by the National Field Scientific Observation and Research Station of Hainan Jianfengling Forest Ecosystem (hereinafter referred to as the Jianfengling Ecological Station) as an example, in recent years, the average annual carbon sequestration of the Jianfengling tropical rainforest has reached 2.38 tons per hectare, which is far stronger than the carbon sink capacity of the Hawaiian rainforest of 0.6 tons per hectare per hectare, the African tropical rainforest of 0.63 tons per hectare and the Malay Peninsula tropical rainforest of 1.24 tons per hectare per year.
"Hainan tropical rainforest can absorb an average of 1 to 2 tons of carbon per hectare per year, and the carbon sink capacity is increasing year by year, with an average annual growth rate of 3% to 4%." Zhou Zhang, associate researcher of the Chinese Academy of Forestry and deputy director of the Jianfengling Ecological Station, said that with the implementation of the strictest protection measures in Hainan Tropical Rainforest National Park, the Hainan tropical rainforest will also have a higher carbon sequestration rate and a large potential for carbon sink growth.
The Ecological Benefits of Hainan Tropical Rainforest National Park, which covers an area of more than 4,400 square kilometers, go far beyond carbon sinks. "For example, we have monitored the tropical rainforest in the Jianfengling area for many years and found that its biological species are extremely rich, and seven new plant species have been discovered since 2011, accounting for about 1/15 of the newly discovered plant species in Hainan in the past 15 years." Zhou Zhang introduced that at the same time, they found that the tropical rainforest in the region has a good regulatory function for typhoons and rainstorms, among which the tropical mountain rainforest also has ecological benefits such as cooling and moisturizing and weakening wind speed.
It can be seen that the tropical rainforest is indeed a rare ecological wealth. But what is the value of this wealth? For years, no one could tell.
"Human society and the ecological environment on which it depends for development constitute an 'economic-social-natural' composite ecosystem, in which economic indicators have GDP, social indicators have the Human Development Index (HDI) issued by the United Nations, and natural ecosystems actually have corresponding measurement indicators, that is, GEP." Tang Yanfei, executive director of the Hainan National Park Research Institute, explained that GEP refers to the value of all ecological products provided by the natural ecosystem of a specific regional unit, "In other words, it is to use a clear number to tell people how much 'green water and green mountains' are worth 'golden mountains and silver mountains'." ”
At the end of last year, the Hainan Tropical Rainforest National Park Gross Ecosystem Product (GEP) accounting system was officially launched, which means that in the future, this ecological treasure land will have its own "value".
B
Inventory of the "Green Home Base"
Three primary indicators and 19 secondary indicators account for the GEP of Hainan Tropical Rainforest National Park
Ecosystems have always been a relatively broad concept, which ecological products can be included in the GEP accounting system?
According to the "Technical Guidelines for Accounting for the Gross Product of Terrestrial Ecosystems" (hereinafter referred to as the "Guidelines") jointly compiled by the Institute of Environmental Planning of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment and the Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the GEP accounting system has three first-level indicators of material products, regulation services and cultural services, of which material products include agriculture, forestry, fishery, animal husbandry products and ecological energy, etc., regulation services include water conservation, soil conservation, carbon sequestration and oxygen release, etc., and cultural services include leisure tourism and landscape value.
"But the Guide is only a reference, after all, there are differences in the structure and function of different ecosystems, and the products and services that can be provided are also different, such as the Hainan Tropical Rainforest National Park cannot provide coastal protection supply." Chen Zongzhu revealed that combined with the characteristics of the tropical rainforest itself, the final "Hainan Tropical Rainforest National Park Ecosystem Gross Ecosystem Product (GEP) Accounting Technical Plan" (hereinafter referred to as the "Technical Plan") set 3 first-level indicators and 19 second-level indicators, focusing on water conservation, biodiversity, scientific research and education and other service functions.
It is clear that the accounting object is clear, and it is necessary to find out the "family bottom".
"Over the decades, we have accumulated massive background data through resource surveys, positioning monitoring, remote sensing monitoring, etc., and at the same time used computers to conduct model simulations to obtain the exact values of carbon sequestration and oxygen release, water conservation and other indicators." Chen Zongzhu introduced that based on these preliminary work, they will divide the Hainan Tropical Rainforest National Park into several relatively independent and homogeneous assessment and measurement units according to the different administrative divisions, ecosystem types and vegetation types, realize spatial calculations, and finally summarize the statistics to draw conclusions.
Quantifying intangible ecological assets also requires accounting for tangible value: how much are the ecological products and services provided by a river worth? What is the value of a forest's carbon sequestration and oxygen release capacity? The attributes of ecological resources vary widely, and how to value them has become the biggest problem.
Open the Technical Solution, and almost every indicator has a complex formula for calculation. The relevant data can be inserted and the total value of the corresponding indicator can finally be calculated according to the formula.
"Specifically, we mainly use the market value method, the substitution cost method, the payment willingness method and other methods." Chen Zongzhu gave a few examples, for example, the role of forest conservation water is similar to that of reservoirs, when measuring the monetary value of this service function, they will use the alternative cost method to price it with reference to the cost of the reservoir, "and when valuing service functions such as leisure tourism and landscape value, they will adopt the method of willingness to pay, and understand the public's willingness to pay by issuing questionnaires and other forms, and then provide a basis for value accounting." ”
When these ecological resources are given monetary value, the "green home base" of Hainan Tropical Rainforest National Park is also clear.
"At present, we have completed the preparation and demonstration of work plans, technical solutions, and the drawing of ecosystem basemaps of national parks, and data collection and inventory of ecosystem products and services are being carried out in an orderly manner." The relevant person in charge of the Provincial Forestry Bureau told the Hainan Daily reporter that they will speed up the construction of the GEP assessment database platform and carry out the accounting of the physical quantity and value of ecosystem products and services, and it is expected that the gross ecosystem product of Hainan Tropical Rainforest National Park will be calculated in June this year.
A fine prickly water frog in the rainforest of Five Finger Mountain.
C
Feed back the green water and green mountains
Let GEP become a "green yardstick" for ecological assessment quantification and ecological compensation
Just as the speed of economic growth affects GDP, the quality of the ecology will also put GEP in a state of constant floating.
For example, through afforestation and ecological restoration, the carbon sink capacity of Hainan Tropical Rainforest National Park has been effectively improved, and the value of the indicator of "carbon sequestration and oxygen release" has been correspondingly improved. This means that GEP accounting is not only a mathematical problem, but also a "green ruler". Whether the ecology is good or not, the value is not high, and it is known in one quantity.
"GDP reflects the economic development strength of a region, while GEP reflects the level of ecological civilization of a region." In the view of the relevant person in charge of the Provincial Forestry Bureau, the implementation of GEP accounting can make people more intuitive and clearer to understand the value of ecological resources, and also provide an empirical basis for firmly establishing a correct view of political performance, "In the future, we will take GEP accounting as the starting point for ecological assessment and quantification, which will be applied to the evaluation of the effectiveness of national park construction and the audit of the departure of leading cadres, and the change of its specific indicators can also provide a decision-making basis for natural resource protection and ecological environment governance." ”
The quantification of the value of ecological resources has forced the construction of ecological civilization, and at the same time, green water and green mountains can truly become "golden mountains and silver mountains".
"When carrying out ecological compensation work, we can scientifically calculate the value of water conservation, soil conservation and other regulatory services between upstream and downstream, and use the increment of GEP as the basis and standard to enable the beneficiary areas and protection areas, upstream and downstream of river basins to carry out horizontal ecological compensation through various forms such as financial compensation and industrial support." Tang Yanfei said that this practice not only makes ecological payment valuable, but also reflects ecological fairness.
The government is not the only player in the process of ecological compensation. The "Fourteenth Five-Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development of the People's Republic of China and the Outline of Long-term Goals for 2035" proposes to establish a mechanism for realizing the value of ecological products, improve market-oriented diversified ecological compensation, and encourage all kinds of social capital to participate in ecological protection and restoration.
How does social capital participate? Relevant experts believe that first of all, we must establish and improve a set of ecological product market trading mechanism based on GEP accounting, and open up the transformation channel of "resources-assets-capital-capital".
"The premise of ecological market transactions is that property rights are clear and legal." Wang Liya, a professor at the School of Economics of Hainan University, said frankly that due to the incomplete property rights system of natural resources, in the promotion of the marketization of ecological products, it often encounters problems such as unclear definition of ecological resource property rights, legal mortgages and trading rights of ownership, use rights, and lease rights of some resources, "Some enterprises sign contracts with county, township governments or village collectives, and the investment is done well, but the farmers who actually own property rights regret and take back, in order to avoid such risks, enterprises and social capital can only give up investment and development." ”
In this regard, there has been some exploration in some parts of the country. Quzhou, Zhejiang Province, explores the establishment of an "ecological points" trading mechanism, and the implementation of ecological protection and restoration projects can obtain "ecological points", which balance protection and development with points, so that local ecological functions can be kept in a balanced state; Zhejiang Lishui introduced enterprises to operate ecological assets, and realized ecological incremental payment based on GEP; Fujian Nanping draws on the model of "decentralized input and centralized output" of commercial banks to capitalize the rights and interests of ecological resource owners in the jurisdiction... All of these practices can provide a useful mirror for our province.
"For example, Fujian Nanping found in practice that most of the back-end transactions failed to conduct sufficient bidding, basically a buyer's market, the circulation price was dominated by market players, and the performance of open procedures was not in place, and the price did not fully reflect the externalities and external premiums of the ecological environment." Wang Liya said bluntly that in order to scientifically and effectively promote the marketization of ecological products, the issue of standardized pricing needs further study.
Of course, as a new exploration of the construction of ecological civilization, GEP accounting involves a wide range of aspects and cannot be achieved overnight. The relevant person in charge of the Provincial Forestry Bureau said that they will continue to listen to and carefully absorb the opinions and suggestions of relevant departments, experts and scholars and the public, build a GEP accounting system for Hainan Tropical Rainforest National Park, improve the refinement of ecological civilization construction, better protect and continuously feed back the green waters and green mountains, and achieve harmonious coexistence between man and nature.
The padless bees in the five-fingered mountain rainforest sleep with their jaws biting the branches of the plant.
Explanation of terms
GEP: refers to the sum of the ecological products and service values in the ecosystem, including the value of material products, the value of regulatory services and the value of cultural services, which can reflect the level of ecological civilization of a region.