The issue of forest carbon sinks has garnered significant attention in recent years. In the National Development Council's 2050 Net Zero Pathway, carbon emissions, which remain difficult to reduce through various means, will be offset by carbon sinks, with forest carbon sinks being one option. The importance of carbon sinks has also highlighted the opportunities for forest conservation. But what exactly are carbon sinks? At the end of last month, the Earth Citizen Foundation held a lecture titled "How Much Can Tree Planting Increase Forest Carbon Sinks in Taiwan?" Professor Zhang Shijie of the College of Environment at National Dong Hwa University used the analogy of household income and expenditure: "Carbon sinks are the net income a household earns in a year."
Can forest carbon sequestration be permanent? How can carbon sequestration be converted into carbon credits and operated in the offset market? How can the problem of "cutting down large trees and planting small ones" be avoided? Scholars gathered to discuss the future development of forest carbon credits in Taiwan.
Stable growth is not guaranteed! Study: Amazon rainforest carbon sink capacity could reach zero by 2035
Does calculating a forest's carbon sequestration capacity mean it will never change? Zhang Shijie also cautions that the carbon sequestration capacity of mature forests decreases, and "our forests ultimately have only a certain carbon sequestration capacity."
Zhang Shijie took the Amazon rainforest as an example. A study measured the carbon stock of plants in the Amazon rainforest in 1985, 2000 and 2015. Even though the overall carbon stock was still on an upward trend, a comparison of the increase in plant carbon stock in the two 15-year intervals found that the annual increase in carbon stock had begun to decline.
In other words, the Amazon rainforest's carbon storage capacity is declining year by year. The study even speculates that the Amazon rainforest's carbon sequestration capacity may return to zero by 2035.
Can forest carbon sinks be converted into "carbon credits"? Only "young" plantations under 22 years old in Taiwan are eligible.
According to statistics, Taiwan's forests add about 20 million tons of carbon sinks each year. However, carbon sinks are not directly equal to carbon rights. They must go through a carbon offset mechanism (Carbon Offsets) inspection procedure before they can be converted into carbon rights.
The Kyoto Protocol, adopted in 1997, became the first protocol to "carbonize" forest carbon sinks, authorizing carbon absorption generated by forest management such as reforestation or reduced deforestation as a method of emission reduction.
In Taiwan, in order for forest carbon sinks to be converted into carbon rights, they must not only be "artificial forests" that are managed by humans, but also "young forests" that are under 22 years old.
Liu Wanyu, Distinguished Professor of Forestry at National Chung Hsing University, explained that the principle of carbon offsetting is that carbon sinks and carbon emissions are "equally represented." Therefore, anthropogenic carbon emissions generated by businesses or industries must be offset by "planted forests"—those created by human intervention in forest management—rather than "natural forests" or "primeval forests." Furthermore, the forests used for offsetting must meet the "increase" requirement, meaning the trees within the forest must be "continuously growing."
Source: Environmental Information Center (https://e-info.org.tw/node/234731)
