China, Dec. 10 -- The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved a CNY1.068 billion ($150 million equivalent) loan to pilot its first nature credit mechanism in Gulin County, Sichuan Province, in the People's Republic of China (PRC). The financing will support biodiversity conservation and green development in the county, which is located in the Chishui River Basin-a key freshwater biodiversity hotspot.The Chishui River Basin Ecological Protection and Green Development Project will introduce a results-based eco-compensation mechanism and a nature credit system-supported by digital monitoring and blockchain technologies-to promote biodiversity conservation, forest and wetlands restoration, soil conservation, rural-urban environmental infrastr...