Our province is the first in the country to measure and compensate for the loss of forestry carbon sinks.
Recently, the Provincial Higher People's Court and the Provincial Forestry Bureau jointly issued the "Work Guidelines on the Application of Forestry Carbon Sinks Compensation Mechanism for Ecological Restoration in Ecological and Environmental Criminal Cases (Trial)". The forestry carbon sink loss measurement and compensation mechanism established in this guide is the first of its kind in China.
In criminal cases involving the forest ecological environment, the defendant must not only bear criminal responsibility, but also bear ecological restoration responsibility. past? Replanting greenery? Direct restoration is the mainstream approach, but its limitation is that it is difficult to fully repair the damaged ecology in the first place.
? For example, the carbon sequestration capacity of young forests is not as strong as that of middle-aged forests, and there is a time lag between damage and recovery. ? Wang Jiangling, president of the Ecological Environment Tribunal of the Provincial High Court, said that it is necessary to establish an ecological protection compensation mechanism that reflects the value of forestry carbon sinks and promote the transformation of the restoration of damaged forest ecological resources from traditional direct restoration to a comprehensive restoration model.
2021 Taining County People’s Court issued the No.? Judicial carbon purchase order? The latter purchased 166 tons of Fujian Forestry Certified Emission Reduction (FFCER) through the Strait Resources and Environment Trade Center and wrote it off. In April this year, the Longyan Xinluo District People's Court concluded a deforestation case. The defendant Hua voluntarily paid an ecological restoration performance bond and forestry carbon sink compensation of more than 20,000 yuan, which was lenient.
Since 2018, courts across the province have concluded 8,083 forest-related cases and ordered the defendants to purchase 1,311.84 tons of forest carbon sinks. The Fujian courts’ implementation of alternative restoration methods such as carbon sink subscription was included in this year’s work report of the Supreme People’s Court.
However, in ecological and environmental criminal cases, what does compensation for forest carbon sink losses face? Hard to identify? Is appraisal expensive? Is the appraisal cycle long? Authentication standards are not uniform? Wait for questions. To this end, the Provincial High Court and the Provincial Forestry Bureau issued work guidelines based on multi-party research and demonstration.
The major breakthrough of this guideline is the establishment of a unified, scientific and reasonable forestry carbon sink loss measurement and compensation mechanism.
? Based on the actual situation of Fujian's forestry and with reference to the relevant national forestry carbon sink methodology, the measurement types, measurement methods and related parameters of the main tree species are proposed, comprehensively covering trees (including bamboos), shrubs, herbs, litter, etc. in the forest ecosystem. Carbon pools of dead wood and soil, and combined with different types of criminal acts and criminal facts that damage forest resources, the carbon sink of damaged forestry was calculated. ? Yang Ziqing, deputy director of the Afforestation Department of the Provincial Forestry Bureau, said that this mechanism provides a standardized, process-oriented and standardized accounting method for the measurement of forestry carbon sink losses, ensuring that the accounting of forestry carbon sink losses is scientific, reasonable and simple.
The specific compensation method shall adhere to the principle of voluntariness and flexibility. ? Will we induce the defendant to volunteer? Replanting greenery? On the basis of ecological restoration, further voluntary compensation for the loss of forestry carbon sinks caused by criminal acts will be considered when sentencing as an expression of repentance. ? Wang Jiangling said that the "Guidelines" provide three paths, namely converting carbon sink loss compensation and using it to create carbon sink forests, purchasing and writing off certified forestry carbon sinks, and purchasing and writing off other forestry carbon sinks registered with the Provincial Forestry Bureau. , it is up to the defendant to choose independently. (Reporter Zhang Shunlong)