A view of the lush landscape at Wuyi Forest Farm. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Following the environmental development concept of "lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets," a forest farm in North China's Inner Mongolia autonomous region is turning its resources into commercial gain without tree felling.

As early as 2010, the Chaoer Forest Industry Co, affiliated to China Inner Mongolia Forest Industry Group, took the initiative to reduce its commercial logging of natural forests and retained 11,010 hectares of forest at Wuyi Forest Farm.

An employee measures the size of a tree in Wuyi Forest Farm. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Based on this forest, Chaoer Forest Industry Co has developed a forestry carbon sink project. A carbon sink is anything that absorbs more carbon dioxide from the atmosphere than it releases. Forests are offering a net carbon sink as they take in more carbon than they emit -- and this has a commercial value.

Carbon trading is the process of buying and selling permits and credits for manufacturers and other concerns to emit CO₂ and the company completed three carbon sink transactions in 2017, 2018 and 2021 -- generating total revenue of 4.19 million yuan ($628,657).

To top it off, the forest is expected to have more than one million metric tons of carbon emission reductions available for sale in the future.

Forest workers patrol the Wuyi Forest Farm. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]