A deputy to the 13th National People's Congress suggested exploring to build a forest carbon sink stimulus mechanism to promote coordinated development between building old revolutionary base areas and ecological protection.

Lin Xinglu, a NPC deputy and also secretary of the Communist Party of China Sanming Municipal Committee in southeast China's Fujian Province, said pursuing green development and innovation in ecology industrialization is a major task during the 14th Five-Year Plan period.

When a forest absorbs more carbon than it releases, it is known as a carbon sink.

According to Lin, Sanming City is a typical old revolutionary base area with abundant mountains and forest resources. The forestland occupies 82.7 percent of the city's land area.

Also, forests in the city have a huge carbon fixation capacity of 234 million tonnes, with a newly increased capacity by 11.7 million tonnes per year. In 2011, it built China's first carbon-neutral forest.

In 2020, Sanming was designated by the State Forestry Administration as the national pilot region for comprehensive forest reform, providing an example for other old revolutionary base areas.

Moreover, Sanming has rolled out a series of reform measures, such as providing a tourism program offering "rural life and health maintenance experiences."

The city has the awareness, practical experience and responsibility to operate afforest carbon sink, Lin said, adding that financial support for forestry carbon sequestration projects should be enhanced.

(Original editor: Zhao Jia and Hu Meidong)

(All images via VCG)

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