Ecological and socioeconomic effects of China's policies for ecosystem services

Abstract

To address devastating environmental crises and to improve human well-being, China has been implementing a number of national policies on payments for ecosystem services. Two of them, the Natural Forest Conservation Program (NFCP) and the Grain to Green Program (GTGP), are among the biggest programs in the world because of their ambitious goals, massive scales, huge payments, and potentially enormous impacts. The NFCP conserves natural forests through logging bans and afforestation with incentives to forest enterprises, whereas the GTGP converts cropland on steep slopes to forest and grassland by providing farmers with grain and cash subsidies. Overall ecological effects are beneficial, and socioeconomic effects are mostly positive. Whereas there are time lags in ecological effects, socioeconomic effects are more immediate. Both the NFCP and the GTGP also have global implications because they increase vegetative cover, enhance carbon sequestration, and reduce dust to other countries by controlling soil erosion. The future impacts of these programs may be even bigger. Extended payments for the GTGP have recently been approved by the central government for up to 8 years. The NFCP is likely to follow suit and receive renewed payments. To make these programs more effective, we recommend systematic planning, diversified funding, effective compensation, integrated research, and comprehensive monitoring. Effective implementation of these programs can also provide important experiences and lessons for other ecosystem service payment programs in China and many other parts of the world.conservation ͉ environment ͉ forests ͉ grassland ͉ sustainability

Reconnecting to the Biosphere

“…The ability of most of these programs to actually improve natural capital has not been determined, but the diversity of efforts and approaches illustrates the attractiveness of enhancing natural capital. Following severe droughts in 1997 and massive flooding in 1998, China has, over the current decade, started to implement ecosystem service investments through several national forestry and conservation initiatives, exceeding 700 9 10 9 yuan (about US$100 9 10 9 ) (Zhang et al 2000;Liu et al 2008). Over 120 million farmers (in over 30 million households) are directly involved in the programs.…”

“…In addition, ca., 17 million ha of degraded, barren land are to be afforested. Under both programs, payments to villagers are made in the form of cash and grain subsidies and tax breaks, in exchange for specific activities required to transition to natural forest, forest plantation, and grassland (Liu et al 2008).…”

“…Overall, social impacts of the programs are mixed and depend on the details of the financial incentives and property rights (Liu et al 2008;Cao et al 2009). In some places, payment levels and types are leading to improvements in economic measures of wellbeing whereas in others payments were insufficient to compensate for loss of income from shifting livelihoods (Liu et al 2008).…”

Exploring spatiotemporal changes in ecosystem-service values and hotspots in China

“…This rapid development had a significant influence on land use and cover changes (LUCCs) and ESV changes (Liu et al, 2010) and led to an increasingly deteriorating environment in China . Recent literature has documented the negative effects (e.g., environmental pollution, soil erosion, natural disasters) on ecosystems that are associated with this rapid economic development (Diao et al, 2009;He et al, 2014;Liu et al, 2008). To improve human well-being and to change the deterioration of ecology and the environment, the Chinese government has implemented a number of national programs on ecosystem-service conservation, such as the Key Shelterbelt Construction Program (KSCP), the Natural Forest Conservation Program (NFCP), the Grain to Green Program (GTGP), the Beijing-Tianjin Sandstorm Control Program, the Wildlife Conservation and Nature Reserve Development Program, and the Forest EcoCompensation Program .…”

Economic Development, Rural livelihoods, and Ecological Restoration: Evidence from China

“…The first thought forgets the general improvement of rural ecosystems, while second thought neglects the important contributions made by outmigration and improvement of rural economy. To mitigate the degradation of the environment, and to eliminate environment-induced poverty, China has implemented a number of large-scale national conservation programs, including the Natural Forest Conservation Program (NFCP), Grain to Green Program (GTGP), Forest Eco-Compensation Program, as well as numerous local projects (Loucks et al 2001;Xu et al 2006;Liu et al 2008). While the literature on Chinese ecological restoration and rural poverty reduction is extensive, a majority of them overemphasizes the function of ecological projects (Liu et al 2001;Liang et al 2006;Zhang 2006), but neglects the function of economic development and rural livelihood improvement.…”