Peddling air to fight poverty

For thousands of impoverished households in Southwest China's Guizhou province, air -- the most unlikely source of money, has brought them solid incomes.

A total of 2,649 households from 60 villages are expected to get an extra 960 yuan (about $136) annually per household from the forest carbon sink trading project, according to the provincial ecology and environment department.

Li Xiaosheng in Lengfeng Village under the city of Panzhou makes 1,350 yuan out of his 450 cryptomeria trees every year, after he registered his plants into the carbon sink trading platform.

Li, 52, has a wife who is disabled and a son who is in college. The poor family depends on government subsidies and farming for a living.

"Good air sells for a good price. I will take good care of my trees," Li said.

Guizhou, one of the national ecological civilization pilot zones, launched plant carbon sink trading in December of 2017. Trees planted by registered impoverished households are given identities, with the storage amount of carbon emissions calculated based on each plant's variety, age and size.

Once the photos and information are uploaded to the platform, each plant will generate a steady stream of income for six years before being resold, said Wang Jiaqi with the department.

Wang said individuals, enterprises and organizations dedicated to low carbon growth can claim the trees on the platform, and all the money will be wired directly to the personal bank accounts of the tree owners.

By the end of April, 1,735 individuals had claimed 186,000 trees from 854 households via WeChat, which generated 558,000 yuan for about 1,860 tonnes of carbon emissions.

At a poverty alleviation activity on April 24, 29 firms claimed 500,000 trees from 556 households with a total funding of 1.5 million yuan, which will neutralize about 5,000 tonnes of carbon emissions.

As incentives, certificates will be issued to the contributors, and their actions will also be recorded on a national credit information sharing platform for public viewing, Wang said.

Other provinces including Jiangxi and Fujian in east China have also made similar attempts to fight at the front lines of both climate change and poverty, marking a green path for China's poverty eradication efforts.