Welcome to visit Scientia Silvae Sinicae,Today is

Scientia Silvae Sinicae ›› 2026, Vol. 62 ›› Issue (10): 208-220.doi: 10.11707/j.1001-7488.LYKX20260032

• Research papers • Previous Articles    

Mechanism for Preventing Default Risk in Forestry Carbon Sequestration Project Construction Based on Evolutionary Game Theory

Kang Gao,Ziyu Guo,Xu Zhao*()   

  1. School of Economics and Management, China Three Gorges University Yichang 443002
  • Received:2026-01-18 Online:2026-10-10 Published:2026-10-16
  • Contact: Xu Zhao E-mail:zhaoxu@ctgu.edu.cn

Abstract:

Objective: This study aims to reveal the evolutionary game dynamics of participants in forestry carbon sequestration projects, identify the key parameters influencing their decision-making, and explore optimal policy combinations by comparing the marginal effects of different policy measures, thereby providing a theoretical basis and policy references for mitigating default risks in forestry carbon sequestration projects. Method: A four-party evolutionary game model involving enterprises, forest landowners, verification institutions, and the government was constructed to analyze the behavioral decisions and evolutionary paths of the participants at different stages of project development. Based on this model, published data on forestry carbon sequestration projects were incorporated with typical cases, and MATLAB R2021a was used to conduct numerical simulations. Result: The game system converges to different stable equilibria at different stages of project development. In the initial stage, enterprises may engage in the default behavior of land hoarding and subcontracting due to risk aversion or speculative motives, while forest landowners may choose to prematurely harvest carbon sink forests because of insufficient technical guidance and other factors. In the development stage, verification institutions may only review the completeness of submitted applications due to cost constraints. In the mature stage, with the gradual improvement of carbon sequestration methodology and the continuous strengthening of the regulatory system, enterprises and forest landowners would ultimately tend toward long-term voluntary cooperation, thereby ensuring the authenticity and sustainability of emission reductions from forestry carbon sequestration projects. Simulation results indicate that: 1) inequitable income distribution is a major driver for default by the participants, and policy interventions that alleviate information asymmetry between enterprises and forest landowners can significantly promote compliance; 2) compared with increasing the amount of fines, appropriately increasing the amount of default compensation is more effective in promoting enterprise compliance, while government subsidies can effectively improve the quality of verification by verification institutions; and 3) incentive policies such as government subsidies can effectively prevent project quality degradation resulting from lax government supervision. Conclusion: The national voluntary emission reduction trading information platform should be improved to alleviate information asymmetry. A market-oriented regulatory mechanism centered on “default-compensation” and supplemented by government rewards and penalties should be established, and government guidance should be strengthened to continuously advance research on carbon sequestration methodologies and the formulation of relevant standards. These measures can help mitigate default risks in forestry carbon sequestration projects and promote the sustainable development of the forestry carbon sequestration market.

Key words: forestry carbon sink, risk prevention, evolutionary game, numerical simulation

CLC Number: