Photo shows the official stamp of COP21 jointly issued by La Poste, France and the United Nations Postal Administration (UNPA) to commemorate the 21st United Nations Climate Change Conference. [Photo: unstamps.org]

China's forests and wider ecosystem store around 100 billion tonnes of carbon that would otherwise contribute to climate change talks, according to new official research.

The Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) has been putting together a "carbon inventory" that it can provide important data for China to support its stance in international negotiations on climate change. Carbon sequestration, the long-term storage of carbon dioxide through natural or artificial means, is seen as one of the best ways to mitigate global warming.

China can store another 3 billion tonnes of carbon through development of major projects covering 21 percent of its landmass, said CAS scientist Lyu Daren.

Around 40 percent of the current 100 billion tonnes are held in China's subtropical forests, while farmland accounts for more than 14 percent.

Lyu said soil protection techniques have increased the quantity of carbon stored in farmland.