Judicial safeguards for ecosystem carbon sinks in national parks under the "dual carbon" goals: challenges and solutions

The ecosystems within national parks have significant value and potential for carbon sequestration, and the protection and restoration of their "carbon reservoirs" functions are regarded as the most effective ways to achieve the"dual carbon" goals. The need for judicial safeguards for ecosystem carbon sinks in national parks stems from the judicial system′s legal and social functions.The specialized construction of environmental judiciary constitutes the foundational support for these safeguards. The current practice of judicial safeguards forecosystem carbon sinks in national parks is mainly characterized by the introduction of "purchasing carbon sinks" as a way of assuming responsibility, the exploration of the establishment of a judicial collaboration mechanism for the protection of carbon sinks in national parks, and the exploration of the establishment of a model for the centralization of jurisdiction over environmental resource cases in national parks.Through systematic review of the practice of judicial safeguards for ecosystem carbon sinks in national parks, it can be found: The basic system of carbon sink subscription is not complete, which is manifested in the inadequacy of the basis for judiciary application of carbon sink subscription, and the identification of loss of ecosystem carbon sinks in national parks needs to be regulated; The public participation in judicial collaboration needs to be optimized, as shown that the existing collaboration model mainly focuses on coordination and cooperation between public power subjects, while there is less cooperation and interaction between public power subjects and private power subjects; The application of restorative measures for carbon sinks is insufficient, as shown in some cases of loss of carbon sinks, where the carbon sequestration function has not been adequately remedied. Therefore, it is recommended to improve the following three aspects in order to provide a specialized judicial protection mechanism for the ecosystem carbonsinks in national parks: To optimize the basic system for the application of subscribed carbon sinks, including the improvement of legislative support for the application of subsidized carbon sinks, and the improvement of the norms for the identification of the loss of ecosystem carbon sinks in national parks; Building an institutionalized model of public participation, including the need to focus on building mechanisms for judicial participation by the public in and around the parks, establishing appropriate incentives; Promoting the effective application of carbon sink restoration measures, including improving the application rate of carbon sink restoration measures, improving the monitoring mechanism for the implementation of carbon sink restoration measures.