Forest Carbon Sinks and Biodiversity Conservation from China's Perspective
| Autor | Mingde Cao - Ying Chen |
| Cargo | Professor, Dr., China University of Political Science and Law (Beijing PRC) - Doctoral student, Southwest University of Political Science and Law (Chongqing PRC) |
| Páginas | 1-21 |
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Global climate change has captured world wide attention and governments of every
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country are seeking effective approaches to mitigate it. Forest carbon sinks have great potential in combating climate change and offsetting industrial carbon emissions although they may harm local ecological systems and biodiversity if they are not properly regulated. The continued loss of biodiversity will undermine efforts to adapt to a changing climate.1 The issue of how to achieve a harmonious balance between forest carbon sinks and biodiversity conservation requires in-depth consideration in the field of environmental law.
UNFCCC defines ‘sink’ as any process, activity or mechanism for scavenging greenhouse gases, aerosols or greenhouse gas precursors from the atmosphere.2 A carbon sink is the process, activity or mechanism for scavenging carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Forest carbon sinks are the process, activity or mechanism for absorbing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and combining it with carbon sink trading by means of afforestation, reforestation, forest management, reduction of deforestation and so on.3The concept of forest carbon sink went through the following process of development. The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) is the first international convention seeking international cooperation on global warming and overall control of emission of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. The idea of a ‘sink’ was first put forward during this convention. In December 1997, during the third conference of parties (COP3) to UNFCCC the Kyoto Protocol (KP) was adopted and required that in the first commitment period (from 2008 to 2012)
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greenhouse gas emission in 41 developed countries be reduced at least by 5.2% in comparison with 1990. Three mechanisms were described to achieve this aim in developed countries, of which the only one relevant to developing countries was the clean development mechanism. In the subsequent Bonn Agreement and Marrakesh Accords, the carbon sink project was considered as a clean development mechanism project, but limited to afforestation and reforestation. In December 2003, at the ninth conference of parties (COP9) of UNFCCC held in Milan, the contracting parties agreed on afforestation and reforestation in carbon sink projects and formulated the new operating rules which made it advantageous. Because deforestation is ‘the second single greenhouse gas source behind energy production, being responsible for about 20% of human GHG emissions’4, reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD) is essential if climate change is to be mitigated. REDD first took part in international climate change discussions at COP 11 (UNFCCC, 2005). At COP 13 in Bali, REDD was given a key role to play in the Bali Roadmap,5 a crucial issue at COP 15 (UNFCCC, 2009), which was held in Copenhagen and which further confirmed that it is necessary to improve the clearance of greenhouse gas by forests. REDD has been reflected in the Copenhagen Accord. According to article 6 of the Copenhagen Accord, the contracting parties ‘recognize the crucial role of reducing emission from deforestation and forest degradation and the need to enhance removals of greenhouse gas emission by forests and agree on the need to provide positive incentives to such actions through the immediate establishment of a mechanism including REDD-plus, to enable the mobilization of financial resources from developed countries’.61.2. Definition of biodiversity
In the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), ‘biological diversity’ is defined as
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the variability among living organisms from all sources including, inter alia, terrestrial, marine and other aquatic ecosystems and the ecological complexes of which they are part; this includes diversity within species, between species and of ecosystems.7 As the basis of the survival and development of all kinds of creatures on the earth, biodiversity plays an important role in balancing the ecosystem.8
Biodiversity may enhance not only ecosystem productivity,9 but also ecosystem stability.10 In recent years, however, the overexploitation of the natural system has aggravated biodiversity loss, so biodiversity conservation has become an issue of major concern to the international community.112. Impact of forest carbon sinks on biodiversity conservation
During the process of global warming, many ecosystems have been disrupted and even verged on collapse. Recently, there has been some evidence to show that biodiversity is reacting to global warming. As the main approach to mitigating greenhouse gas, the role of forest carbon sinks in recovering biodiversity has been increasingly acknowledged. However, if not properly regulated, forest carbon sinks may have some negative impact on biodiversity.12 For example, land use changes that aim for the fast accrual of biomass and soil organic matter can have adverse impacts
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on biodiversity and may even accelerate land degradation.13 The effects on biodiversity mentioned above are caused by human behaviour.142.1. Afforestation and reforestation
For maximum effect, afforestation in forest carbon sinks project tends to choose fast-growing transgenic tree species. Forest land with these fast-growing tree species may have the following features: firstly, a single tree species will not be a proper habitat environment for most animals, which may lead to a scarcity of animal species. Secondly, transgenic tree species have high prolificacy, which may pollute the genes of local plants, and reduce the diversity of biological genes. Thirdly, fast-growing tree species need more nutrition and water than general species, so they consume more soil nutrition and underground water and deprive adjacent plants. Fourthly, the trees in this type of forest are all nearly of the same age, height and density, which is not conducive to the growth of bushes in the middle or surface vegetation. This leads to a lack of layers and has a negative impact on biodiversity conservation.
The choice of which land to afforest and reforest for carbon sink projects may also affect biodiversity. For instance, some of the land used for carbon sinks such as wetland, original grassland and other land in ecological protection areas, is not suitable for this purpose: it will destroy the balanced ecosystem and prevent biodiversity conservation.
Land management activities can also be designed to contribute to biodiversity conservation.15 Traditional cutting patterns in forest operation include clear cutting,
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selective cutting, intermediate cutting and so on.16 The type and extent of forest operation will cause different degrees of interference in the forest ecosystem and biodiversity. Interference can be either natural or artificial. Natural interference means that an event is caused by nature or biology and destroys nature (e.g. earthquakes, spontaneous fires and floods). Artificial interference refers to intentional or unintentional human interference in nature, such as cutting, pollution and the introduction of alien genes. Forestry management is a major mode of artificial interference. In many countries and areas, clear cutting has been common for some time. It consists of cutting the trees of a whole forest, burning dead twigs and fallen leaves, and regenerating artificially. This process will badly destroy a forest ecosystem.17 Economically, the reduction of emissions from deforestation is among the least expensive mitigation options.18
‘Conservation of biodiversity probably presents greater regulatory challenges to international law than any other environmental issue’.19 In 1992, the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development was held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. At this conference, in addition to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), another important convention on environment protection was signed: the Convention on Biological Diversity. The ultimate objective of the UNFCCC is to achieve the ‘stabilization of greenhouse gas concentration in the atmosphere...
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