China's first comprehensive monitoring application scenario for all-factor carbon flux in south subtropical plantations was completed

China News Service, Nanning, October 11 (Wei Jiaxiu) The Market Supervision and Administration Bureau of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region introduced on the 10th that recently, the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region Institute of Metrology and Inspection, in conjunction with the China Institute of Metrology and the Guangxi Academy of Sciences, and relying on the Tropical Forestry Experimental Center of the Chinese Academy of Forestry Sciences, built China's first "sky-air-tower-ground" all-factor carbon flux comprehensive monitoring application scenario for south subtropical artificial forests in Pingxiang City.

This breakthrough achievement marks a pioneering step taken by Guangxi in the direction of accurate, three-dimensional and long-term forestry carbon measurement, and will provide key technical support for the implementation of China's "dual carbon" strategy and ASEAN ecological cooperation.

Pictured is the monitoring station. Photo courtesy of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region Market Supervision and Administration Bureau

Specifically, the most powerful "magic weapon" of this monitoring station is a greenhouse gas analyzer with an accuracy of one part per billion, which is equivalent to equipping the forest with an ultra-sensitive "nose" - even if there is one extra carbon dioxide per billion gas molecules in the air, the instrument can accurately capture it. Under the 24-hour continuous monitoring of this "super nose", how much carbon and oxygen the forest "inhales" every second and how much carbon sequestration capacity changes after changes in temperature and precipitation can all be recorded in real time. Even the carbon dioxide released by microbial respiration in the soil can be clearly calculated, which is equivalent to live broadcasting the entire "metabolism" process of the forest.

Guangxi is the province with the largest artificial forest area in China, with an area of ​​approximately 150 million acres (approximately 10 million hectares), ranking first in China. With this precise monitoring system, buyers and sellers have verifiable data support when trading forestry carbon sequestration projects. How much carbon the trees planted by farmers absorb and how much money can be exchanged can be clearly settled by showing the monitoring data.

The precise data produced by this monitoring system can be used for more than just calculating carbon accounts: in the future, if you want to know how to plant trees with the highest carbon sequestration efficiency and where different tree species are suitable for planting, you can find answers from the monitoring data. It can also provide the most practical basis for Guangxi to set carbon neutrality goals and introduce ecological subsidy policies.

Guangxi's south subtropical plantations are similar to forest types in many ASEAN countries. This monitoring method can be extended to ASEAN countries in the future, providing Chinese experience for cross-border ecological protection and global tropical forest carbon sink assessment, allowing Guangxi's forestry technology to go abroad and contribute Guangxi's strength to global climate change governance. (over)