"More than 20 years ago, this place was still a desert. But now, it's lush and lush, and it's all turned into a forest!"
A few days ago, the movie "An Oasis" was released, aiming the camera at Yulin, a land once plagued by desertification.
Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, Yulin has solidly promoted the ecological protection and high-quality development strategy of the Yellow River Basin, continued to promote the city's land to move towards green, and achieved a fundamental transformation from "sand entering and retreating" to "green advancing and sand retreating". In Yuyang District, located on the southern edge of the Mu Us Sandy Land, the forest coverage rate has increased from 1.8% at the time of the founding of New China to 45.8%. The forest preservation area has reached 323,000 hectares, and the forest and green area ranks first in Yulin City... The "green family" is becoming more and more solid.
In recent years, Yuyang District has not only planted greenery on the land, but also sought ecological benefits. The district seized the opportunity of Yulin City being approved to build a national energy revolution innovation demonstration zone and the country's first batch of carbon peak pilot cities, and launched a series of explorations and practices around the "double carbon" goal--
In 2021, Yuyang District will establish the first carbon sink financial service center in Shaanxi Province and issue the first batch of three forestry carbon coupons; in 2022, a new 10,000-acre carbon sink forest will be planted; in 2024, it will plan to launch a carbon sink monitoring and trading system... Continue to pursue, solidify and use green, and the local area will find a new path to "generate gold" in the forest.
From "selling wood" to "selling air"
In midsummer, the 100,000-acre Pinus sylvestris base of Xiaoji Khan in Yuyang District is full of vitality.
It is hard to imagine that 20 years ago, there were more than 1000 sand dunes scattered here, which were eroded by sandstorms.
On June 26, looking at the good growth of the "baby" trees, Luo Xiangjun, director of Xiaojihan Forest Farm, introduced the "green family" to reporters: "There are about 2.4 million Pinus sylvestris trees in this 109,000-acre forest farm."
In 2021, Yuyang District will try to "sell air" in forest farms and issue 3 forestry carbon coupons.
What is a forestry carbon ticket?
A carbon ticket is a certificate of forestry's right to benefit from carbon emission reduction, and an "ID card" that uses the forest's carbon fixation and oxygen release function as an asset for trading, pledging and cashing.
"I used to 'sell wood', but now I' sell air'! Forests that prevent wind and sand fixation have become ecological products for carbon sink trading. We sold it for 144,000 yuan in one go. The three forestry carbon coupons reduced carbon emissions by a total of 5747 tons, which were snapped up by three companies." Luo Xiangjun said.
In order to strengthen scientific assessment of carbon sequestration capabilities, Xiaojihan Forest Farm cooperated with the scientific research team of Shaanxi Normal University and deployed more than 10 testing instruments in the forest area. Luo Xiangjun said: "These instruments can test carbon sequestration capabilities, moisture factors, etc., and can optimize carbon sequestration varieties based on evaluation data and improve the quality of the base's 'carbon bank'."
Yuyang District is densely populated with minerals and rich in coal resources. It is one of the areas where Yulin's coal mining resources are concentrated. For many years, high energy consumption and high-carbon emissions have plagued the local area.
Shaanxi Future Energy Chemical Co., Ltd. is one of the first companies to purchase forestry carbon coupons. In order to accelerate the transformation from "dual control" of energy consumption to "dual control" of carbon emissions, in recent years, the company has continuously optimized its process and significantly reduced various energy consumption by carrying out cascade utilization of energy efficiency and comprehensive utilization of waste heat and pressure.
"Energy conservation and carbon reduction are detailed accounts. Carbon sinks are one of the important ways to reduce a company's carbon emissions. We will continue to strengthen the integrated utilization of resources, develop green electricity, green hydrogen and new energy coupling technologies, and minimize carbon emissions." said Tian Baiqi, director of the company's technical department.
From "planting trees to increase greenery" to "storing carbon with forests"
Forests are the key to carbon storage and fixation. "After carbon sink monitoring and evaluation, the annual carbon sequestration in Yuyang District is 3206 tons, and the total carbon reserves reach 168,000 tons." Qin Gang, director of the Forestry Bureau of Yuyang District, said.
"We launched the 'Carbon Forest Construction Project' plan to artificially build 60,000 acres of carbon carbon sink forest; built the voluntary carbon sink tree planting base of Yuyang Chamber of Commerce; completed the pilot project of 18,800 acres of 'million-acre green carbon bank', focusing on cultivating new productivity with green and low carbon as distinctive characteristics." Qin Gang said.
The construction of Huaneng Carbon Carbon Sink Forest Base is a positive attempt by Yuyang District to increase the total carbon sink and promote the improvement of carbon storage and carbon fixation capabilities through afforestation.
On June 25, the reporter saw in the Wilisha Area of Balasu Forest Farm in Yuyang District that on one side was the vibrant city-level Sabina vulgare nature reserve, and on the other side was the newly planted 60,000 acres of Huaneng carbon sink forest. The patches of Pinus sylvestris can't be seen at a glance.
"We regard the development of new energy industries as the key to low-carbon transformation. We have invested 120 million yuan to build carbon sink forests and strive to create 150,000 acres of carbon sink forests within five years." He Zihan, project manager of Huaneng Shaanxi New Energy Company, said that the project can achieve the dual goals of sand management and carbon storage and fixation.
Feng Guangping, deputy director of Balasu Forest Farm, said that the plots for building a carbon sink forest base should be concentrated and contiguous to facilitate large-scale construction and overall advancement; tree species selection should be suitable for trees, and irrigation should be suitable for irrigation.
From ranger to director, Feng Guangping witnessed the transformation of sand in the past to greenery today, and also experienced the transformation of sand trees into carbon sink forests.
"Once upon a time, in addition to sporadic natural smelly Berlin, 98% of the area here was buried in desert sand. Today, it has become a demonstration area for comprehensive control of desertification prevention and control. We must protect the hard-won green like we protect children." Feng Guangping is very much looking forward to turning into a "carbon" seller as soon as possible.
In order to continue to store and fix carbon, Yuyang District has vigorously implemented "six major projects" such as forest land restoration and quality improvement and Kuangqu ecological restoration, effectively improving forest stock volume, growth and carbon sink volume in Yuyang District.
"We plan to complete 300,000 acres of forest construction and 100 kilometers of ecological corridors every year, steadily promote greening and exchange, and strive to build Yuyang District into a national-level forestry carbon sink demonstration zone." Qin Gang said.
From "yellow sand barren mountains" to "mountains of gold and silver"
During this period, the Forestry Bureau of Yuyang District is actively carrying out the construction of CCER (National Certified Voluntary Emission Reduction) components of the forestry carbon sink monitoring and trading system and a forestry carbon sink smart platform.
What are the advantages of CCER?
"Through the CCER trading platform, we can promote Yuyang's 'green carbon' to the whole country, better offset the settlement of carbon emission quotas in the national carbon emissions trading market and local carbon emissions trading market, carbon neutrality in large-scale activities, and corporate greenhouse Gas emissions." Zhang Shengsheng, deputy director of the Forestry Bureau of Yuyang District, explained,"In the future, we can also use smart platforms to accurately understand the 'carbon sink bottom'and realize that forestry carbon sinks are measurable, tradable and realizable."
On May 31, 2023, Yuyang District and CNOOC Power Investment Co., Ltd. signed a cooperation agreement on forestry carbon sink volume increase trading, trading 200,000 tons of forestry carbon sinks, with a pre-sale transaction volume of 10 million yuan.
The two sides cooperate in product development of forest and grass carbon sink projects and the establishment of voluntary carbon emission reduction markets, strive to build a forestry carbon sink industry alliance and open up a full-chain cooperation process from carbon supply to carbon consumption.
"Preliminary estimates indicate that the current forest conservation area in Yuyang District is 4.822 million acres, and carbon emission reduction can be achieved by about 700,000 tons per year. Among them, 1.3 million acres of arbor forest will generate carbon sinks of 5.332 million tons and economic benefits of about 530 million yuan during the first crediting period." Zhang Shengsheng said.
In order to continue to seek benefits from green waters and green mountains, Yuyang District follows the principles of "government-led, corporate investment, carbon sink reserve, and market transactions" to build a "forestry investment-forestry growth-carbon sink increase-carbon sink trading-forestry investment" Sustainable recycling carbon sink forestry development system, and formulated the "Yuyang District Forestry Carbon Ticket Management Measures (Trial)". In addition, the district took the lead in establishing a carbon sink financial service center in the province to provide carbon ticket financial services such as carbon ticket trading, settlement, and management to enterprises and carbon ticket holders. At present, the three carbon coupons issued have been deposited in the carbon sink special account of the carbon sink Financial Service Center.
Taking the development of forestry carbon sinks as an opportunity, Yuyang District strives to promote industrial transformation and development.
In order to get rid of the dependence on a single industry in the energy and chemical industry with high energy consumption and high pollution, in recent years, a large number of projects with high "green content" and "new content" have been implemented in Yuyang District, and low-carbon transformation industries such as navigation and hydrogen energy have been deployed. Effective transformation of carbon sink value.
"The results of ecological construction give us the confidence to seek benefits from green waters and green mountains. The exploration and practice of forestry carbon sequestration work has proved that the green and low-carbon transformation path we have embarked on is in the right direction, the strategy is scientific, and the measures are effective." Li Zhonghong, Secretary of the Yuyang District Party Committee, said that Yuyang District will further explore and improve the development model of forestry carbon sinks and ecological benefits to the people, and transform more "green beauty" into ecological value.