Ecosystem valuation can serve as a basis of scientific support for decision-making. So far, the most popular methods for ecosystem valuation are ecosystem service valuation (ESV), which is based on the utility of ecosystem to human beings rather than on the objective value of the ecosystem. After more than 10 years' application, it has been found that all losses of ESV were about 10% of the benefits of human activities. In this paper, the ecosystem intrinsic value (EIV) is defined. EIV is an objective value that emerges from the existence, structures, functions and processes of ecosystem, but independent with man, man's will and preferences. The valuating approach and methods used for EIV were developed by using energy approach and the methods of emergy analysis and eco-exergy analysis. The EIV calculated by emergy from the substance, energy and information of ecosystem and by eco-exergy from the structure and function of ecosystem represents the existent value and the externally working capacity of ecosystem, respectively. The approach and methods of EIV evaluation were applied to Xiamen Bay, China. The results showed that the marine EIV in Xiamen Bay was 209 billion RMB, including 116 billion RMB of emergy and 92.4 billion RMB of eco-exergy in 2010, nearly 30 times of ESV and 8.5 times of the GDP of Xiamen marine industry in 2010. The EIV in unit area of Xiamen Bay is more than 10 times higher than the average global ESV in estuaries. It implied a potential undervaluation to ecosystem value by ESV calculation, which may mislead decisions-making processes.

An ecological safety pattern is the basic guarantee for pollution control, ecological environmental protection, economic construction, and sustainable social development, and is an important means of integrated and coordinated development, protection, and governance. This study proposes a research method to identify ecological source sites based on the evaluation of the importance of ecosystem services and ecological sensitivity, and to identify ecological corridors using the minimum cumulative resistance model. The empirical analysis was carried out in Yangxin County, Hubei Province, as an example. The results show that the study area has 16 key corridors and 29 potential corridors, a total of 45 ecological corridors, with a total length of 452 km. In addition, these ecological corridors present a network-like intertwined distribution, connecting various ecological source sites and ensuring the connectivity between ecological source sites, while the well-developed water source sites in the study area provide excellent ecosystem service functions such as water containment for the area.