Village in SE China turns green mountains into 'invaluable assets'

Photo shows a sample of the forest carbon credit stamp received by Changkou village in Sanming city, southeast China's Fujian Province. (People's Daily Online/Ouyang Yijia)

Changkou village in Sanming city, southeast China's Fujian Province, the country's first village to obtain a forest carbon credit stamp, numbered 0000001, has blazed a path of turning lush mountains and lucid waters into invaluable assets.

In 2022, the village distributed 140,000 yuan (about $19,318.07) it earned from its forest carbon credits in 2021, with each resident receiving 150 yuan in cash.

Forest carbon credit stamps serve as certificates for the right to benefit from the carbon emissions reduction from forest lands and trees, and are like "ID cards" that allow the carbon sequestration function of forests to be traded as an asset.

Residents of Changkou village in Sanming city, southeast China's Fujian Province, pose for a photo with the first cash dividend from the village's forest carbon credits. (Photo courtesy of the interviewees)

Changkou village's path can be traced back to 1997 when Chinese President Xi Jinping, then deputy secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Fujian Provincial Committee, emphasized during an inspection tour in Sanming that to protect the ecological environment is to protect productive forces, and to improve the ecological environment is to develop productive forces.

"Green mountains and clear waters are priceless treasure," Xi said to village officials during his visit to Changkou village on April 11, 1997, urging them to earnestly promote mountain land development and make good use of mountains, waters, and farmlands.

A stone tablet in Changkou village, Sanming city, southeast China's Fujian Province, is inscribed with the words "Green mountains and clear waters are priceless treasure." The words were from Chinese President Xi Jinping, who made the remarks during his visit to the village in 1997, when he was the deputy secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Fujian Provincial Committee. (Sanming Daily/Lin Wenbin)

Pointing out that ecological forestry represents the future of the forestry industry, Xi stressed the importance of the integrated development of the forestry industry and forest ecosystems.

If conservation of soil and water is not given high priority, people will be left with barren hills in the future, he warned.

Keeping Xi's words firmly in mind, residents of Changkou village are determined to find more paths to carbon reduction and prosperity.