Advancing Wetland Policies Using Ecosystem Services – China’s Way Out

Abstract

China's wetlands provide valuable services to society, which are necessary for sustainable development. The Chinese government considers wetland protection a national priority, and is making progress on the ambitious goal of protecting more than 90 % of its natural wetlands by 2030. Despite the rapid growth in conservation actions, wetlands remain threatened because government, industry, and the public are using wetlands unsustainably, and there exists weak enforcement of wetland protection laws. Chinese policymakers in part are trying to use the ecosystem services approach to incentivize conservation to reduce wetland losses across spatial scales (local, regional, and national). However China currently lacks a systematic, scientific process for monitoring wetland ecosystem services, so scientists and managers can establish and refine ecological compensation schemes. In this paper we present a scientific framework on monitoring wetland ecosystem services aimed at improving national wetland policies in China. First we review the current status of China's wetlands and its wetland policies. In particular we present the growing popularity of ecological compensation in China, which is driving the demand for ways to measure and value ecosystem services in China. Next we outline the major challenges threatening wetland protection and the science policy needs on wetland ecosystem services. Lastly we present a scientific framework on monitoring wetland ecosystem services aimed at helping meet China's growing policy demands on ecosystem services.

Lake and wetland ecosystem services measuring water storage and local climate regulation

“…In this study, we evaluated two ecosystem services from artificial lakes and wetlands in an urban environment with a known trade‐off, however, we are testing our approach on monitoring ecosystem services from natural lakes and wetlands across China. A team of scientists is testing the approach at fourteen lake and marshland sites to advise the State Forestry Administration (SFA) on a national monitoring program for wetland ecosystem services [ Jiang et al ., ]. Two important ecosystem services of concern for the SFA are water storage regulation and local climate regulation, which we explored in this study.…”

“…We describe the first application of the approach using designed lakes and wetlands in an urban environment, however, we offer concluding thoughts on how the approach is being tested and modified for natural lakes and wetlands (described in Jiang et al . []). We present an example of how to assess two ecosystem services with a known biophysical trade‐off to (1) help managers design lakes and wetlands as green infrastructure in urban environments and (2) advance interdisciplinary methods to establish EPFs for measuring and evaluating ecosystem services from lakes and wetlands.…”

The Main Drivers of Wetland Changes in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Region

“…For example, the massive declines in lake area along the Yangtze River in the late 1980s due to land reclamation has contributed to severe flooding, which has led to the loss of thousands of human lives and property damage costing approximately $36 billion USD [7]. The Chinese government is making substantial investments in wetland conservation [8]. Despite these government efforts, anthropogenic drivers continue to perpetuate wetland losses.…”

Changing landscapes by damming: the Three Gorges Dam causes downstream lake shrinkage and severe droughts

“…Our estimated water loss from lakes may serve as an important basis for designing ecological compensation measures. More importantly, the cause-and-effect chain between the TGD operation and downstream lake change offers a critical clue to optimize the dynamic pattern of wetlands for sustainable ecosystem services (Jiang et al 2015), yet it remains as a grand challenge for landscape ecology (Wu and Hobbs 2002;Wu 2013). In addition, inter-annual, decadal, and long-term variations in hydrologic conditions, as well as influences of climate change (Milly et al 2008), should be taken into consideration in designing and implementing a scientifically sound water regulation plan for TGD.…”