Regional CO2 Budget and Abatement Countermeasures for Forest Scenic Spots: A Case Study of the Shenyang National Forest Park

Abstract

We used the carbon carrying capacity as an indicator of environmental productivity, clarified the emission reduction thresholds and measures for achieving a carbon neutral tourism destination, and proposed a simple, objective, and universal method for estimating the carbon budget of forest tourism scenic spots with function of both carbon sinks and carbon emissions. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Guidelines for Greenhouse Gas Inventories and the Climate Friendly Parks tool, a carbon emissions list with a clear border and relatively complete content was established to characterize the negative impact of tourism activities on the environment. Forest resource inventory data and the CO2Fix method could be used to accurately calculate the carbon sinks of forest tourism scenic spots. In 2019, the total CO2 emissions in Shenyang National Forest Park were 1841.445 t. The amount of CO2 sequestered by the forest was 1336.787 t, accounting for 72.59% of the total CO2 emissions. Thus, tourism had a net CO2 deficit of 504.658 t. Electricity consumption, garbage disposal, raw coal consumption, infrastructure construction, and land-use changes of forestland were the top five sources of CO2 emissions. The augmentation of the carbon pool could be improved by 65.358% of the total budget through forest management. The reduction aims of 133.41%–150.32% could be easily reached through emissions-cutting measures. Based on these results, we suggest several measures for low-carbon sustainable tourism.