An accounting model for forest carbon sinks in China

In order to better understand forest carbon sinks and promote the development of carbon sinks market in China,we collected data on forest stock,growth,decline and harvest from 1990 to 2007,and established an accounting model for forest carbon sinks,based on economic cybernetics using a forest stock-converted method.The results show that forest carbon sinks in adjacent years was highly linearly correlated(R2 = 0.998,P 0.001).Using a minimum value method,we found the optimal price of forest carbon sinks in China to be S| 10.11-15.17 per ton of carbon,which is slightly higher than the international carbon price at present.The maximum volume of forest harvesting due to consumption of carbon reserves was 426 million m3 per year,suggesting a high requirement for the management of forest resources.Finally,we discussed some issues in the carbon sink accounting,and the necessity of including shadow prices in the model.The impact of social and economic development on carbon sinks should be considered to promote the sustainable development of carbon sinks market in China.