Guizhou establishes first forest carbon sink management bureau

The Chishui forest carbon sink management bureau in Zunyi, Southwest China's Guizhou province, was officially established on Sept 19, becoming the first of its kind in the province.

A forest carbon sink refers to the process of forests absorbing carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and fixing it in vegetation or soil so as to reduce the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

Forests are the largest carbon sink in the Earth's terrestrial ecosystem, and play a unique role in reducing the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and mitigating global warming.

Chishui has 2.24 million mu (149,333 hectares) of forests, with a forest coverage rate of 82.51 percent, making it the county with the highest forest coverage rate in the province.

It has abundant carbon sink reserves, and is also a pilot area for the realization of ecological product value. Chishui's rich forest resources have helped commercialize ecological products.

The bureau will research and make plans for the medium and long-term development of forest carbon sinks and be responsible for the development of forest carbon sink projects.

It will plan, coordinate, supervise and manage the forest carbon sinks in the county, implement policies and technical standards related to forest carbon sinks, and tackle climate change.

It will also improve the carbon sink capacity of forest ecosystems.

Chishui started working to make full use of forests in 2021, and developed carbon sinks in 440,000 mu of forests. In 2022, it started to develop carbon sinks in 100,000 mu of Moso bamboo, with each mu sequestrating 2 metric tons of carbon per year.

The bureau is expected to issue its first carbon sink ticket at the end of September.