However, methane's market value for the carbon trade is still new to many Chinese.

"When Zhongshui company came to us to discuss the CDM project in March, we had never heard of it and thought they were swindlers," said Liu Gaoxiang, deputy director general of Kaiyang's Agriculture Bureau.

China has quickly become an active player in the global CDM market.

According to the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), as of October, 663 Chinese CDM programs had been successfully registered with the UN CDM Executive Board with an anticipated quota of carbon dioxide emissions reductions of 190 million tonnes per year.

Chinese programs account for 58 percent of the world's total registered CDM projects.

Experts believe both the developed and developing countries could benefit from the carbon trade.

Particularly, the developing countries could acquire funds and technologies for further greenhouse gas emissions reductions.

He Junyuan says China's mid-west rural areas have great potential for reducing greenhouse gas emissions by developing small renewable energy programs, such as hydro-electricity, wind power and methane, in which farmers frequently encounter difficulties in money and technologies.

The carbon trade is a good mechanism, He says, but the problem is when and how much the developed countries would buy the emission reduction quota.

Some methane programs of Kaiyang are being voluntarily listed at the Chicago Climate Exchange, He said. However, "due to some political and economic reasons before the Copenhagen conference, the carbon trade price at the exchange has sharply dropped from 6 dollars per tonne to about US$0.1, and trading in recent months has almost ceased."

The fate of the CDM is on the agenda of leaders and representatives from 192 countries and regions at the Copenhagen conference.

People like Ai Xinglong and He Junyuan are eager to know how the developed countries will provide funds and technologies to help developing nations to adjust to and mitigate climate change after the Kyoto Protocol expires in 2012.

Ai Xinglong wants his voice to be heard: "We contribute to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions so we deserve some compensation."

(Xinhua News Agency December 8, 2009)