Many people know that green plants fix carbon dioxide through photosynthesis, which is also called "green carbon".

But do you know what "blue carbon" is?

The earth is called the blue planet, and most of its surface is covered by oceans. Hu Xuedong, secretary of the Party Committee of the Ocean Affairs Office of the State Oceanic Administration, said that blue carbon is a process, activity and mechanism that uses marine activities and marine organisms to absorb carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and fix and store it in the ocean.

Not long ago, the State Oceanic Administration held the 217 Blue Carbon International Forum, and many internationally renowned blue carbon experts, scholars and institutions fully discussed the current situation and prospects of China's blue carbon development. What is the role of blue carbon in ecological environment protection? How will blue carbon develop in the future?

The natural conditions for the development of blue carbon in China are unique

People have always been more familiar with "green carbon". In fact, the ocean is also a great treasure house for fixing and storing carbon. Seaweed beds, mangroves and salt marshes are considered as three important coastal blue carbon ecosystems. Studies have shown that macroalgae, shellfish and even micro-organisms can also efficiently fix and store carbon.

In p>29, the United Nations issued relevant reports, which confirmed the important role of oceans in the process of global climate change and carbon cycle. As a new term, "blue carbon" has been gradually recognized and valued.

how powerful is blue carbon?

The ocean stores about 93% of the carbon dioxide on the earth, which is estimated to be 4 trillion tons. It is the largest carbon sink on the earth, and removes more than 3% of the carbon dioxide discharged into the atmosphere every year. Although the biomass of coastal plants is only .5% of that of land plants, the annual carbon sequestration is equivalent to that of land plants.

Hu Xuedong said that on the time scale, compared with carbon stored in terrestrial ecosystems for decades, organic carbon buried in coastal wetland soil and inert inorganic carbon dissolved in seawater can be stored for thousands of years.

China has unique natural conditions for the development of blue carbon.

Hu Xuedong introduced that China has about 3 million square kilometers of claimed sea area and 18, kilometers of continental coastline, which is one of the few countries in the world with three blue carbon ecosystems: seagrass beds, mangroves and salt marshes. The 6.7 million hectares of coastal wetlands also provide a broad space for the development of blue carbon. The output of mariculture in China ranks first in the world all the year round, and the output of shellfish and macroalgae accounts for about 85% of the total output. It not only absorbs a lot of carbon dioxide, but also eliminates nitrogen and phosphorus, purifies seawater and contributes high-quality food and industrial raw materials.

Developing blue carbon is beneficial to protecting marine ecological environment and coping with climate change

At present, the research on blue carbon in China has been at the forefront of the world.

According to incomplete statistics, in the past 1 years, the Ministry of Science and Technology, the Ministry of Environmental Protection, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Natural Science Foundation of China and the State Oceanic Administration have successively arranged more than 3 scientific research projects involving blue carbon, which has spawned a number of high-level scientific research achievements. "The implementation of national projects such as" South Red Willow "and" Blue Bay "has accumulated experience in promoting the development of blue carbon." Zhang Zhanhai, director of the Strategic Planning and Economics Department of the State Oceanic Administration, said.

"China's vast sea area, rich biodiversity, solid industrial base and solid scientific research conditions have laid a solid foundation for the development of blue carbon, which has great development potential." Zhang Zhanhai said that the development of blue carbon will promote the health and stability of these ecosystems, help protect the marine ecological environment and improve the level of marine ecological conservation; In the future, by introducing market mechanism and changing the existing protection pattern, developing blue carbon can also improve the enthusiasm of local governments, enterprises and society for ecological protection.

Some experts believe that developing blue carbon is an important way to deal with climate change. Blue carbon will help to share and alleviate the pressure of carbon emission, and it is another feasible path besides "emission reduction".

"The development of blue carbon will also promote the healthy development of China's marine economy, help to build a new economic model and industrial chain with the sustainable development of marine resources and environment as the core, promote the development of new formats such as marine ecological engineering, eco-tourism and carbon trading, and create more employment opportunities." Zhang Zhanhai said.

Experts suggest that the blue carbon exchange enhancement project should be promoted and the blue carbon standard system should be improved.

At present, the development of blue carbon is facing great opportunities. The "Opinions of the Central Committee of the State Council on Accelerating the Construction of Ecological Civilization" clearly pointed out that "increasing forests, grasslands, wetlands, marine carbon sinks and other means to effectively control greenhouse gas emissions such as carbon dioxide, methane, hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons and sulfur hexafluoride"; The "Thirteenth Five-Year Plan" for controlling greenhouse gas emissions puts forward the requirement of "exploring the pilot project of carbon sequestration in marine and other ecosystems"; "Several Opinions on Improving the Strategy and System of Main Functional Zones" puts forward "exploring the establishment of blue carbon standard system and trading mechanism".

According to reports, in the next step, in addition to vigorously promoting the blue carbon sequestration project, we will improve the carbon sequestration capacity of China's marine ecosystems by repairing seagrass beds, mangroves and salt marshes, and we will continue to improve the blue carbon standard system and promote the pilot work of carbon sequestration in marine ecosystems.

experts suggest that the development of blue carbon is an important way to support the sustainable development of coastal areas, strengthen the protection and restoration of blue carbon ecosystem, rebuild the natural landscape of coastal areas, cultivate new blue economic formats such as marine ecological engineering, eco-tourism, eco-farming, blue carbon technical services and carbon trading, and transform the ecological advantages of coastal areas into assets and economic advantages.

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