Frantic land reclamation along China’s coastline is harming fragile ecosystems, say Jiang Gaoming, Dou Guanyi and Chen Bosen. Here, they set out a proposal for making shore development work for the environment.

Land reclamation in China has caused a steep decline in coastal plant life and seriously damaged local biodiversity. Here, we argue that natural ecosystems, such as coastal shoals, wetlands and mangrove forests, should be protected in order to boost vegetation levels on coastal and saline land and increase carbon dioxide absorption.

China’s coastal cities are experiencing a land reclamation boom, driven by the vast profits offered by new ground. One mu (around 667 square metres) of reclaimed land can be sold to a developer for one million yuan (US$149,000). With reclamation and construction costs of around 200,000 yuan (US$29,800) per square metre, that’s a 400% mark up.

But too much reclamation has been disastrous for coastal wetland ecologies. The extent of China’s mangrove forests has plummeted from 500 square kilometres 60 years ago to 150 square kilometres today as a result of reclamation and felling, and their fragile ecosystems are at the brink. Many organisms have lost their habitats and breeding grounds, and the coast its important function as a protective barrier. There is therefore an urgent need to regulate land reclamation, ensure responsible use of coastal areas, construct an environmental-compensation system for oceans and protect the ecosystems of coastal shoals, wetlands and mangrove forests.

Currently, 13% to 15% of construction activity in coastal provinces and cities – 3% to 4% of the country’s total – happens on reclaimed land. The State Council, China’s highest administrative authority, has approved plans for Liaoning Coastal Economic Zone, Hebei’s Caofeidian New Area, Tianjin Binhai New Area, Jiangsu Coastal Zone, Guangdong Pearl River delta area, Fujian Straits West Coast Economic Zone and Guangxi’s North Bay Economic Zone. Plans for the Shandong Peninsula Blue Economic Zone and Zhejiang Coastal Economic Zone are also being drawn up. Large swaths of these zones will be built on reclaimed land, presenting a huge challenge to the protection of coastal wetlands. Measures to increase ecological restoration must be fundamentally integrated into these developments.

Increased levels of vegetation on coastal shoals (sand or silt landforms that extend from the land into the sea) and saline soil would reduce the impact of ecological degradation and act as a carbon sink. Jiangsu alone has 6,873 square kilometres of shoals. These have already seen successful test plantings of over 10 salt-tolerant energy crops – low cost crops used to make biofuels – such as sweet sorghum, Jerusalem artichoke and salicaceae; 30 salt-tolerant vegetable crops, including dwarf saltwort and water celery; and salt-tolerant fodder crops including rye, alfalfa and salicornia europaea, otherwise known as pickleweed. Some fodder crops have a better ability to absorb carbon than forests. Ten thousand square metres of Astragalus sinicus, also called Chinese milkvetch, for example, can store 7.5 tonnes of carbon.

China has almost 347,000 square kilometres of saline soil and, in theory, planting half of this with crops such as salicaceae or alfalfa could lead to absorption of 100 million tonnes of carbon dioxide, and carbon-trading profits of 10 billion yuan. China’s reserved land includes almost 107,000 square kilometres of saline soil. If 40,000 square kilometres of this was planted with sweet sorghum or Jerusalem artichoke, 86 billion yuan of investment would be needed – but it would produce 20 million tonnes of biofuel, worth 100 billion yuan, not to mention 10 million jobs in agriculture and 130,000 more in processing.

Since 2002, the State Council and local governments have given the go-ahead for 740 square kilometres of land to be reclaimed. If we assume an environmental-compensation rate of 1.4 billion yuan per square kilometre, one trillion yuan of funds would have been raised under our proposed system. If for every mu (667 square metres) of land reclaimed, there was an obligation to restore 300 square metres of mangrove forest, plant 130,000 square metres of salt-tolerant energy forest and fodder or 40,000 square metres of salt-tolerant energy crops, the percentage of China’s energy drawn from non-fossil sources would greatly increase, much more carbon would be captured and many jobs created. As well as protecting the environment, such a system would also provide a new energy industry for local land-reclamation projects. We therefore propose:

First, the formation of an Oceanic Environmental Compensation Consultation Committee. At the end of 2009, the National Development and Reform Commission and the State Oceanic Administration announced that management of land reclamation would be strengthened and started a programme to revise the zoning of coastal areas. In tandem with this, the authorities and experts should form a committee to investigate and plan compensation and carbon-trading mechanisms, in line with the aims of the 12th Five-Year Plan.

Second, the establishment of a National Laboratory for Oceanic Environmental Compensation and Energy Crop Carbon Sequestration. China’s salty marshland covers an area equivalent to one third of its total arable land, and there are 420 types of salt-tolerant plants besides mangrove forests – energy crops such as sweet sorghum, Jerusalem artichoke and salicaceae. We propose a national laboratory to research the use of low-cost crops in shoals and salt marshes, coordinate practical aspects of the overall plan and strive towards environmental as well as economic success.

Third, establish a Coastal Shoals Carbon Trading Association and an Ecological Compensation Energy Farm Association. The first of these would, either under a cap-and-trade system or with financial and technical support for ocean projects, use a portion of income from land reclamation to subsidise the planting of economic crops on shoals. The second would explore possibilities for an oceanic environmental compensation system responsible for restoring mangrove forests, shoals and wetlands and establishing farms for energy crops. Ultimately, these would bring the carbon-trading strengths of coastal energy crops into play, reducing greenhouse-gas emissions and benefitting the coastal economy.

（譯文如有出入請(qǐng)聯(lián)系本會(huì)，來(lái)源于chinadialogue）

譯　　文：

增加濱海能源植物以吸收碳排放

中國(guó)的圍海造田讓濱海植物銳減，破壞生態(tài)系統(tǒng)。蔣高明，竇觀一和陳伯森在此建議，保護(hù)沿海灘涂、濕地和紅樹林等天然生態(tài)系統(tǒng)，增加沿海灘涂或鹽堿地上的植被，以吸收碳排放。

　　由于商業(yè)利益巨大，“圍海造田”在中國(guó)沿海城市愈演愈烈。每平方米“圍海造田”的成本為220元到520元之間，建筑開發(fā)成本為每平方米1000元，如果將每畝20萬(wàn)元成本圍海造出來(lái)的“土地”賣給開發(fā)商，造地一畝就能得到5倍以上的利潤(rùn)，即達(dá)100萬(wàn)，真是“一本萬(wàn)利”。

　　然而，無(wú)序的“圍海造田”對(duì)近海濕地生態(tài)系統(tǒng)卻是災(zāi)難。由于圍海造田和過(guò)度砍伐，中國(guó)天然紅樹林面積己由60年前的5萬(wàn)公頃下降到目前的1.5萬(wàn)公頃。紅樹林大面積消失，使中國(guó)紅樹林生態(tài)系統(tǒng)處于瀕危狀態(tài)，許多生物失去棲息場(chǎng)所和繁殖地，海岸帶也失去了重要的生態(tài)防護(hù)屏障。因此，規(guī)范圍填用海行為，確保海域空間資源的有序開發(fā)利用，建立海洋生態(tài)補(bǔ)償機(jī)制，保護(hù)沿海灘涂、濕地和紅樹林等天然生態(tài)系統(tǒng)，已迫在眉睫。

　　目前，圍填海每年新增的建設(shè)用地約占中國(guó)每年新增建設(shè)用地總面積的3～4%，占沿海省(區(qū)、市)每年新增建設(shè)用地面積的13～15%。國(guó)務(wù)院批準(zhǔn)了遼寧沿海經(jīng)濟(jì)帶、河北曹妃甸循環(huán)經(jīng)濟(jì)示范區(qū)、天津?yàn)I海新區(qū)、江蘇沿海地區(qū)、福建海峽西岸經(jīng)濟(jì)區(qū)、廣東珠江三角洲地區(qū)、廣西北部灣經(jīng)濟(jì)區(qū)等區(qū)域規(guī)劃，正在制定山東藍(lán)色半島經(jīng)濟(jì)區(qū)、浙江沿海經(jīng)濟(jì)帶等區(qū)域規(guī)劃。這些規(guī)劃中的用地，很大程度上要依賴“圍海造田”，對(duì)瀕海濕地保護(hù)造成了很大壓力，必須采取有效措施從源頭增加生態(tài)恢復(fù)動(dòng)力。

　　如果增加沿海灘涂或鹽堿地上的植被，不但可以降低對(duì)生態(tài)破壞的影響，還可以吸引碳排放。中國(guó)僅江蘇沿海就有1031萬(wàn)畝灘涂。目前，灘涂上已經(jīng)成功試種甜高粱、菊芋、竹柳等10多種耐鹽能源經(jīng)濟(jì)作物，海蓬子、海英菜、海水芹等30多種耐鹽蔬菜，黑麥草、紫花苜蓿、鹽角草等多種耐鹽牧草。一些牧草還具有大于森林的固碳能力。如每公頃紫云英可固碳7.5噸。中國(guó)有鹽堿土壤5.2億畝，如果利用其一半種植竹柳等能源林或紫花苜蓿等耐鹽牧草，理論上可以固定1億噸二氧化碳，獲碳交易收益100億元。在中國(guó)可利用的后備土地中，鹽堿地就有1.6億畝。如利用其中的6000萬(wàn)畝種植甜高粱或菊芋等，投資約需860億元，可具有2000萬(wàn)噸生物燃料的生產(chǎn)能力，燃料總產(chǎn)值可達(dá)1000億元。并可提供1000萬(wàn)個(gè)原料生產(chǎn)崗位，13萬(wàn)個(gè)加工生產(chǎn)崗位和160億元的原料加工收入。

　　2002年以來(lái)，國(guó)務(wù)院和地方各級(jí)政府共批準(zhǔn)實(shí)施的填海面積為111萬(wàn)畝。如果以每畝100萬(wàn)元購(gòu)買生態(tài)補(bǔ)償配額計(jì)算，資金可達(dá)1萬(wàn)億元。假如按照每填海1畝必須承擔(dān)恢復(fù)0.5畝紅樹林、開發(fā)200畝耐鹽能源林及牧草或60畝耐鹽能源經(jīng)濟(jì)作物的生態(tài)補(bǔ)償任務(wù)，不但可以大幅提高中國(guó)非化石能源的比利，并且能夠大量增加森林碳匯，提供大量就業(yè)崗位。在保護(hù)生態(tài)的同時(shí)，也給地方的圍填海帶來(lái)“新能源產(chǎn)業(yè)”等多重好處。為此我們建議：

　　第一、成立“海洋生態(tài)補(bǔ)償咨詢委員會(huì)”。2009年底，國(guó)家發(fā)展改革委、國(guó)家海洋局聯(lián)合印發(fā)了《關(guān)于加強(qiáng)圍填海規(guī)劃計(jì)劃管理的通知》，啟動(dòng)了全國(guó)海洋功能區(qū)劃的修編工作。在修編工作的同時(shí)，應(yīng)組織有關(guān)部門和專家成立“海洋生態(tài)補(bǔ)償咨詢委員會(huì)”，結(jié)合“十二五”規(guī)劃，圍繞海洋生態(tài)碳匯交易平臺(tái)構(gòu)建及運(yùn)行機(jī)制、碳匯核算評(píng)價(jià)體系、植物減排增匯技術(shù)等議題，組織開展海洋生態(tài)補(bǔ)償與碳交易機(jī)制規(guī)劃和專題調(diào)研，切實(shí)保證瀕海開發(fā)與環(huán)境保護(hù)并舉。

　　第二、組建“海洋生態(tài)補(bǔ)償與能源植物碳匯國(guó)家實(shí)驗(yàn)室”。中國(guó)鹽漬土面積相當(dāng)于耕地的三分之一，沿海灘涂除紅樹林外，還有420多種鹽生植物，可種甜高粱、菊芋、竹柳等制造生物燃料的耐鹽能源植物。建議組建“海洋生態(tài)補(bǔ)償與能源植物碳匯國(guó)家實(shí)驗(yàn)室”，并負(fù)責(zé)海灘和鹽漬土經(jīng)濟(jì)作物的利用研究，統(tǒng)籌協(xié)調(diào)有關(guān)實(shí)際問(wèn)題，實(shí)現(xiàn)生態(tài)環(huán)境與經(jīng)濟(jì)收益的雙豐收。

　　第三、建立“沿海灘涂碳交易協(xié)會(huì)”和“生態(tài)補(bǔ)償能源農(nóng)場(chǎng)”。前者可在總量控制配額交易制度下或海洋項(xiàng)目資金、技術(shù)支持下，將圍海造田的部分收益補(bǔ)償海灘能源經(jīng)濟(jì)植物的種植；后者則以實(shí)際行動(dòng)，探索建立符合實(shí)踐需求的海洋生態(tài)補(bǔ)償系統(tǒng)，承擔(dān)恢復(fù)紅樹林、灘涂濕地和建設(shè)“能源農(nóng)場(chǎng)”的生態(tài)補(bǔ)償任務(wù)，盤活碳資源。最終發(fā)揮瀕海能源植物碳貿(mào)易優(yōu)勢(shì)，讓其發(fā)出的“熱量”為減排“溫室氣體”和濱海經(jīng)濟(jì)發(fā)展增加動(dòng)力。