How does the "blue carbon economy" promote the realization of the value of marine ecological products?

In 2009, the United Nations Environment Program, Food and Agriculture Organization and the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO jointly released "Blue Carbon: Carbon Fixation in Healthy Oceans-Rapid Response Assessment Report", in which the concept of "blue carbon" was proposed for the first time-more than half (55%) of the biocarbon captured in the world is captured by marine life, and this carbon is called "blue carbon". Our country has vast sea areas and diverse coastal ecosystems, such as mangroves, salt marshes, seaweed beds, etc., which are all important blue carbon ecosystems. As the name suggests, the blue carbon economy is an emerging economic form that takes blue carbon as the core and achieves economic benefits by protecting and restoring marine ecosystems, improving their carbon sink functions, reducing the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, and providing ecological products and services. Therefore, in the context of my country's vigorous promotion of the marine strategy and the "double carbon" goal, in order to better develop the blue carbon economy and promote the realization of the value of marine ecological products, we can focus on the following seven aspects.

Build a solid foundation for blue carbon economic development.From 2009, when relevant United Nations departments and organizations officially proposed the concept of "blue carbon", to in recent years, my country has successively issued the "Opinions on Establishing and Improving the Value Realization Mechanism of Ecological Products","Marine Carbon Sink Accounting Methods","Blue Carbon Series Technical Regulations","The Belt and Road" Blue Cooperation Initiative and other policy documents have continued to deepen their incentive effect on the blue carbon economy, and blue carbon development has entered a new stage of standardization and systematization. It can be seen that blue carbon macro policies and their rules and systems can provide goal orientation for the development of blue carbon economy and are the basic prerequisite for realizing the value of blue carbon ecological products. It should be noted that in the new journey in the future, it is still necessary to continue to improve special policies and regulations in blue carbon-related fields, gradually establish an internationally recognized series of standards and certification systems such as blue carbon investigation, monitoring, and evaluation, and continue to promote carbon reduction, increase sinks, and blue carbon ecological products. Innovation and practical work such as mechanism innovation and practice work.

Establish a diversified blue carbon trading system。Carbon sink trading integrates blue carbon sink functions with carbon emission reduction and promotes emission reduction demanders to efficiently replace carbon sink indicators. It is the main way to realize the value of blue carbon ecological products. Data shows that as of the end of 2023, the cumulative transaction volume of my country's carbon emissions trading market is approximately 440 million tons, with a transaction volume of approximately 24.9 billion yuan. The carbon emissions trading market has shown a good momentum of development. To this end, on the one hand, we will continue to deepen the market demand for carbon sink trading, explore carbon credit or carbon quota trading, incorporate marine carbon sinks into the national carbon trading market, and gradually transform the ecological dividends of blue carbon products into carbon sink economic benefits. On the other hand, we will continue to establish and improve a blue carbon product trading platform, with the government, the market, and society co-governing, improving the regulatory mechanism for blue carbon ecological products, establishing standard rules for carbon sink accounting and performance evaluation mechanisms, and unifying product information collection, certification and disclosure, etc., standardize trading behavior and stabilize market order.

Improve the blue carbon ecological compensation mechanism.Doing a good job in ecological protection and restoration and exploring diversified blue carbon ecological compensation paths can inject impetus into promoting the development of blue carbon economy and realizing the value of ecological products. On the one hand, it will attract carbon emitters and social capital to participate in blue carbon ecosystem protection and restoration activities, and expand the coverage of ecological compensation funds. On the other hand, expand funding channels for blue carbon ecosystem compensation and restoration, improve blue carbon ecological compensation mechanisms, compensation methods, vertical transfer payments and supplies, etc., and stabilize marine ecosystem services. At the same time, we should give full play to the synergy between government and market compensation and build a multi-dimensional, multi-level and diversified ecological compensation structure to improve the risk sharing mechanism of ecological compensation funds and thereby improve the efficiency of ecological compensation.

Build a blue carbon economy entire industrial chain.Promoting the transformation and upgrading of the blue carbon economic structure and building a full industrial chain of the marine carbon sink economy are powerful drivers for promoting the development and value realization of marine ecological products. On the one hand, optimize the industrial layout, give full play to the benefits of agglomeration, and cultivate, develop and expand blue carbon industries such as marine eco-tourism, leisure fisheries, and carbon sink technical services with "emission reduction and exchange increase" as the core. For example, coastal wetlands, mangroves, marine microbial sinks, etc., accelerate the development of blue carbon biological resources and ecosystem-related industries, and increase the added value of specialty products. On the other hand, tap the development potential of new marine energy, promote the development of new green industries such as offshore wind power, photovoltaics, and hydrogen energy, and accelerate the formation of a green and coordinated blue carbon industry development pattern. In coastal areas, residents can make use of local abundant blue carbon resources, explore new development models of the marine economy, and vigorously develop the ecological marine aquaculture industry, which not only promotes rural revitalization, but also helps achieve the "double carbon" goal.

Optimize the development environment of the blue carbon industry.Improving the blue carbon investment and financing mechanism and researching and integrating green financial policies with the development of blue carbon economic industries will help better realize the value conversion of blue carbon ecological products. On the one hand, we will continue to strengthen green financial support, learn from the "ecological asset rights pledge + project loan" model, and explore various financing methods such as using ecological restoration funds as "leverage" and "blue carbon ecological products + green funds" to smooth investment and financing channels. At the same time, strengthen innovation in green financial products, encourage banks, fund companies and insurance institutions to increase the development of carbon sink projects, develop blue carbon financial products and their derivatives, activate ecological assets, and increase the supply rate of ecological resources. On the other hand, build a green financial service system, create professional and characteristic green financial service brands such as blue carbon development funds and blue carbon insurance, accelerate the capitalization process of blue carbon resources, and realize the payment of blue carbon ecological services.

Technology drives the value transformation of blue carbon products.Improving blue carbon technological innovation and transformation capabilities of scientific and technological achievements is the driving factor and fundamental path for the realization of the value of blue carbon ecological products. On the one hand, we encourage and support technological innovation, develop new technologies and methods, and carry out scientific and technological research on blue carbon economic industries and ecological product value accounting. At the same time, we will build a blue carbon science and technology development system, establish a blue carbon science and technology innovation special fund, strengthen collaborative innovation among domestic and foreign scientific research cooperation institutions in blue carbon basic research, applied research, etc., and jointly build a scientific and technological innovation platform and blue carbon cooperation demonstration zone. On the other hand, strengthen talent training, innovate talent recruitment models, establish a cross-border talent flow mechanism, encourage relevant companies to introduce expert think tanks, build a blue carbon talent development and evaluation system, and promote the comprehensive integration of talent resources.

Establish regional linkage and cross-border cooperation mechanisms.Coordinated development is the basic orientation for the sustainable operation of the blue carbon economy and is of great significance to opening up cooperation channels and channels for realizing the value of blue carbon ecological products. On the one hand, a cross-departmental coordination and governance mechanism should be established, with the participation of governments, scientific research institutions, enterprises and non-governmental organizations to unify blue carbon development, utilization and protection management rules. At the same time, interdisciplinary research is encouraged, dialogue and cooperation among different stakeholders are promoted, and knowledge and skills in different fields are integrated. On the other hand, we will continuously improve and improve the regional blue carbon management mechanism, actively promote cooperation among provinces and regions in the development of the blue carbon economy, promote the flow of cooperation elements such as funds, talents, and markets within the region, form information linkage and centralized management, and jointly create a blue carbon ecosystem. The value of products will achieve a highland, jointly promote the healthy and stable development of the blue carbon economy, and then contribute to the construction of marine ecological civilization.