Research On The Legal System Of Coastal Blue Carbon Development In China

The concept of blue carbon was first used to refer to carbon captured by Marine organisms in the 2009 report Blue Carbon: An Assessment of the Sequestration of Carbon in Healthy Oceans.Then in September 2019,the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change(IPCC)of the United Nations,in its Special Report on the Oceans and Cryosphere in Climate Change,clearly defined "blue carbon" as all easily managed biodriven carbon fluxes and carbon stores in Marine ecosystems.The Blue Carbon of mangroves,Coastal salt marshes and seagrass beds in three typical coastal wetlands is collectively referred to as Coastal Blue Carbon in the academic circle due to its commonness in carbon sequestration mechanisms and objective carriers.The theoretical basis of the legal system of coastal blue carbon development includes: environmental equity and justice theory,climate responsibility theory,incentive theory and ecosystem service payment theory.After searching in the law database of Peking University,it is found that the legal protection of coastal blue carbon in China is very limited and scattered among various laws in the Marine legal system.The development guidelines for coastal blue carbon are more reflected in various policy documents related to the "two-carbon" goal.A small number of local laws and regulations deal specifically with the protection of mangroves in coastal blue carbon.By summarizing the policy documents and analyzing the local practice,it is concluded that the legal system of coastal blue carbon development currently has the following problems: the legal protection system of coastal blue carbon is not perfect,on the one hand,there is a lack of systematic legal protection of blue carbon,on the other hand,there is no special protection for the most representative of blue carbon in the coastal blue carbon;The standard legal system of coastal blue carbon is not perfect.Compared with the new international standard,the project construction standard of coastal blue carbon is single at present,and the legal validity level of both the measurement standard and the project construction standard is low.The legal system for the trading of coastal blue carbon is not perfect,and the legal attribute of blue carbon rights is not clear.Although there are local blue carbon trading practices,there are no corresponding legal rules for trading,and blue carbon including coastal blue carbon has not been included in the regulation scope of the relevant legal system of the national carbon emission rights trading market.The legal system of compensation and incentive for coastal blue carbon is not perfect,which firstly reflects that the Marine ecological compensation system is not perfect and cannot be applied to the protection of coastal blue carbon.In addition,there are also problems such as the lack of national blue carbon special fund to guarantee the development of blue carbon and the lack of legal incentive mechanism for the research of blue carbon related technologies in comparison with forestry carbon sinks.By combining the analysis of specific problems and the reference of domestic and foreign relevant experience,this paper puts forward some suggestions to improve the legal system of coastal blue carbon development: First of all,we need to improve the legal protection system of coastal blue carbon.On the one hand,we need to promote our legislation on climate change with a "comprehensive legislative model",so as to adopt the legal framework of climate change to build a systematic protection of blue carbon.On the other hand,we need to learn from the experience of the United States on comprehensive coastal zone management,and coordinate the existing laws and policies.Promote the construction of our coastal zone blue carbon special protection;To improve the standard legal system of coastal zone blue carbon,fully draw on foreign experience in developing blue carbon methodology,broaden the scope of regulation of coastal zone blue carbon project construction standards,and improve the legal effect level of value measurement standards and project construction standards;To construct and improve the legal system for the trading of coastal blue carbon,firstly clarify the legal attribute of the right of blue carbon,then establish the legal rules of local blue carbon market with full reference to the experience of Chinese forestry carbon sinks,and finally promote blue carbon to enter the national certification voluntary emission reduction mechanism by adjusting relevant laws and regulations to improve the efficiency and scale of the blue carbon market.By establishing and improving ecological compensation system for coastal blue carbon,constructing national blue carbon fund and broadening blue carbon financing channels,and establishing legal incentive mechanism for related technologies,we will improve the legal system of compensation and incentive for coastal blue carbon.