3 years is too short for Snow Ridge Spruce| Interview with Yu Xinwen, an expert from the Chinese Academy of Forestry

The development of forest carbon sinks not only helps protect biodiversity, but also promotes the prosperity of the under-forest economy and forest tourism. It is an effective means to transform green waters and green mountains into mountains of gold and silver. In recent years, Gongliu County, Yili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture, Xinjiang, has taken the goal of improving forest management levels and reducing carbon and increasing sinks, actively promoted pilot construction and comprehensively improved forest quality and carbon sink capacity.

What are the advantages of carrying out sustainable forest management pilots and forest carbon sink pilots in artificial forests in Gongliu Branch of the Western State-owned Forest Administration Bureau of Tianshan Mountains, Xinjiang? What experience can forest carbon sink pilots accumulate and what role can they play? In this regard, the reporter interviewed Yu Xinwen, chief expert of the Institute of Resource Information, Chinese Academy of Forestry.

Artificial forest in western Tianshan state-owned forest farm

China Environment News: What are the specific significance and value of the forest carbon sink pilot project in state-owned forest farms?

Yu Xinwen:State-owned forest farms are the basic organization of my country's forest areas. Their main tasks are to expand forest resources, improve forest quality, give full play to the production potential of state-owned forest land, and improve ecological, social and economic benefits. Increasing forest and grass carbon sinks is my country's strategic choice to deal with climate change, and improving forest and grass carbon sink capabilities is a key task to achieve the "double carbon" goal.

Forests are the most important carbon absorber. For every 1 cubic meter of forest storage, it can absorb 1.83 tons of carbon dioxide and release 1.62 tons of oxygen; replacing the same amount of concrete with 1 cubic meter of wood can reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 0.8 tons. Carrying out forest carbon sink pilots is an important measure to find out the carbon base of forest ecosystems, scientifically assess carbon sink potential, develop key technologies for carbon sequestration and increasing sinks, consolidate and improve the carbon sink capacity of forest and grass ecosystems, and give full play to the role of forest "carbon pool".

China Environment News: What are the reasons, characteristics and advantages of the Gongliu Branch of the State-owned Forest Administration Bureau of Western Tianshan, Xinjiang, as a pilot project?

Yu Xinwen:Gongliu Branch is rich in forest resources and the quality of forest resources is excellent. The Xueling Spruce natural forest has high productivity, and the hectare stock volume exceeds 300m³, far exceeding the national average. This also shows that the Xueling Spruce forest ecosystem has a high carbon sequestration capacity.

The Xueling spruce natural forest in Gongliu Branch is basically a forest, and its growth rate is slow. It is difficult to see the results of the three-year carbon sink pilot. Most of the artificial forests are young forests and are in a period of vigorous growth. They can be used as a very good experimental object to observe the impact of different management measures on forest growth.

China Environment News: What experience can the forest carbon sink pilot accumulate and what is its role?

Yu Xinwen:Through the construction of carbon sink pilot forest farms, we can find out the carbon reserves of Gongliu Branch, summarize a set of business models and management measures that are conducive to carbon sequestration and increased sinks, and further promote the overall management of artificial forest carbon sequestration and increased sinks. Relevant technical standards can also be formulated to promote carbon sequestration and sink enhancement models and related technologies throughout Xinjiang.

lush snow ridge spruce

China Environment News: In addition to the pilot carbon sink pilot project, how should we carry out related work such as monitoring and evaluation of the effectiveness of natural forest protection, protection and restoration of natural forests?

Yu Xinwen:The testing and evaluation of the effectiveness of natural forest protection can be carried out in a point-to-point manner. The so-called point refers to ground sample plot survey and monitoring, combined with historical data for comparison. Traditional manual survey methods can be adopted for ground sample plot surveys, but more advanced digital sample plot survey technology is encouraged to use Internet of Things technology to realize automatic and continuous collection and transmission of sample plot data, greatly improving the timeliness and accuracy of monitoring data. The so-called area means using satellite remote sensing technology and drone remote sensing technology to conduct large-area and large-scale monitoring. Through remote sensing images in different periods, we can judge changes in natural forests and monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of natural forest protection. The protection and restoration of natural forests must be implemented in strict accordance with the "Natural Forest Protection and Restoration System Plan", and relevant natural forest protection and restoration plans and plans must be formulated based on the actual situation of the natural forest protection work of Gongliu Branch, and implemented in accordance with the plans and plans.

China Environment News: How to carry out carbon sink pilot work? What are the work priorities and processes included in the carbon baseline survey of planted forest plots

Yu Xinwen:The basic idea is to carry out a baseline survey of carbon reserves, which can find out the carbon reserves of Gongliu Branch. By adopting different management measures for artificial forests and setting up controls for continuous monitoring, we can understand the impact of different management measures on forest growth, and then summarize a set of business models and management measures that are conducive to carbon sequestration and increase sinks.

China Environment News: How do you think state-owned forest farms should promote forest carbon sequestration pilot work and carry out forest management pilots to help achieve the "double carbon" goal?

Yu Xinwen:The pilot construction time is 3 years, which is too short for the Xueling Spruce forest. Long-term development is needed to truly form a carbon sequestration and sink enhancement model and improve the carbon sequestration and sink enhancement capabilities of Xueling Spruce. Carbon sink pilots and sustainable management pilots should be combined. Sustainable management aims to improve forest quality and establish a stable, healthy, high-quality and efficient forest ecosystem. Improving forest quality itself is improving carbon sink capabilities.