Low Carbon Development Study In Fujian Province, China Based On Forest Carbon Sinks Information

Low carbon development is the vital strategy to adapt and mitigate globalclimate change, and promote sustainable development of human being society.The forest, as the most important carbon sink, plays an important role in theglobal carbon cycle, and becomes the cost-effective solution to absorb CO2from atmosphere presently. It is valuable to obtain the low carbon developmentinformation before decision-making in regional sustainable development. Then,the forest carbon sink simulation, and low carbon development analysis andassessment in Fujian Province, China were accomplished, under the guidance oflow carbon development concept.Firstly, forest net primary productivity (NPP) was simulated by borealecosystem productivity simulator (BEPS) integrated with remote sensinginformation. A novel topography-adjusted vegetation index (TAVI) wasproposed in this study to eliminate the topographic effect in remote sensingimage from rugged terrain, and improve forest NPP simulation accuracy byBEPS. The final simulated result from both BEPS and TAVI showed that theannual average forest NPP of Fujian Province, China was587.13gC/m2.a, andthe annual total forest NPP reaches46.77×106tC. And the spatial analysisindicated the forest NPP is highly correlated with elevation.Secondly, scatter plot analysis between economy development and carbonbudget was studied. The analysis results showed that there is “U” curverelationship between per capita carbon balance amount and per capita GDP, butnot environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) relationship. And about45%countiesor cities in Fujian Province belong to “carbon sink development cell”. Moreover,the “U curve drift hypothesis” was put forward, which means the “U” curve maymove to the “0carbon balance amount-high GDP” zone, and the incomedifference between regions may minimize with the progress of regional lowcarbon development.Thirdly, the low carbon development assessment index framework wasconstructed according to “economy development, carbon budget and social harmony”3dimensions. Then the low carbon development index (LCDI) ofFujian Province, China was computed with the entropy-fuzzy analytic hierarchyprocess (FAHP) method, and the effect of assessment indices was analyzed also.Assessment results demonstrated that the LCDI was principally determined bythese3indices: percentage of tertiary industry, per capita forest NPP and percapita energy consumption carbon releases; and Wuyishan city get the highestLCDI score.Finally, several countermeasures to increase forest carbon sinks in FujianProvince, China were suggested, which includes forest carbon sinks eco-compensation, development of low carbon forest industry and rational treatmentthe forest carbon trade under “clean development mechanism (CDM)”.