Watershed Eco-Compensation Mechanism in China: Policies, Practices and Recommendations

Cheng, Xina; Lan, Fang; Mu, Lan; Li, Jun; Heng, Wang

doi:10.3390/w14050777

Cited by 9 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 47 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…It is precisely because of this externality that the phenomenon of "free-riding" prevails, and the interests of all parties are difficult to coordinate. Eco-compensation can internalize the external cost of the ecological environment by economic means [38]. The current study builds a theoretical framework based on the externality theory, as shown in Figure 1.…”

Section: Theoretical Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

An Assessment of the Rational Range of Eco-Compensation Standards: A Case Study in the Nujiang Prefecture, Southwestern China

Xiao

et al. 2022

Land

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Eco-compensation is an effective means of coordinating ecological protection and economic development, and the assessment of its standards is core content in the study of eco-compensation projects. To improve the operability of eco-compensation standards, taking Nujiang Prefecture as the study area, we combine the equivalent factor method and water footprint method to evaluate the ecosystem-service-value (ESV) spillover and use the market comparison method to calculate the opportunity cost. The final eco-compensation upper and lower limits model is constructed on the basis of the ESV spillover and opportunity cost. The results show the following: (1) the ecological protection of Nujiang Prefecture has been effective, based on the stabilization of its ESV after an initial increase. The main types of ecosystem services provided are regulation and provision services. Gongshan County makes the most significant contribution to the total ESV. (2) The ratio of the ESV self-consumption in Nujiang Prefecture shows a trend of first rising and then falling. This is mainly explained through the reduction in the use of industrial and agricultural water. After deducting self-consumption through the water footprint method, it can be observed that there is ecological spillover in Nujiang Prefecture. (3) The opportunity cost in Nujiang Prefecture increases yearly from 2005 to 2020 owing to ecological protection policies. Combined with the ESV spillover, it is determined that the rational range of the eco-compensation standard is between CNY 6.17 × 102 million and 120.01 × 102 million in 2005, between CNY 10.02 × 102 million and 128.25 × 102 million in 2010, between CNY 30.34 × 102 million and 197.12 × 102 million in 2015, and between CNY 41.97 × 102 million and 227.52 × 102 million in 2020. The current study can offer decision makers a more flexible eco-compensation standard while coordinating the contradiction between regional ecological protection and economic development.

show abstract

Section: Theoretical Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

An Assessment of the Rational Range of Eco-Compensation Standards: A Case Study in the Nujiang Prefecture, Southwestern China

Xiao

et al. 2022

Land

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Referring to relevant definitions and research frameworks, the current theoretical research on eco-compensation mainly includes five aspects: compensation goals, compensation main bodies, compensation standards, compensation methods, and compensation systems [34,[42][43][44]. Therefore, this study will sort the research based on these five aspects.…”

Section: Research Progress Of Grassland Eco-compensation Theory In Chinamentioning

confidence: 99%

Research Progress on the Theory and Practice of Grassland Eco-Compensation in China

Liu

2022

Agriculture

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In order to curb the phenomenon of grassland degradation caused by human activity, China has begun the exploration of grassland eco-compensation, setting an example for the ecological protection of grasslands and sustainable use of resources around the world. At this stage, China has invested more than 170 billion yuan in grassland eco-compensation, benefiting 12 million farmer and herder households. The related research involves various perspectives, scopes, and methods, but lacks systematic reviewing. This study reviews the relevant theoretical and practical research and explores the connotations and effects of grassland eco-compensation in China. In general, the current grassland eco-compensation in China is a large-scale ecological-economic institutional arrangement with the following five characteristics: (1) the goals are to maintain the grassland ecosystem services and increase the income of herder households; (2) the main bodies are governments and herder households; (3) the main method is financial transfer payments; (4) the compensation standards are based on the opportunity costs of the herder households’ responses as the lower limits and the grassland ecosystem service values as the upper limits; and (5) it is a comprehensive compensation system that requires legal, regulatory, technological support and long-term mechanisms. Since 2011, driven by the grassland eco-compensation policy, the income levels of herder households in each pilot area have generally increased, and the overall ecology of grasslands has slightly improved. However, there are still some areas where overload is common. Additionally, there are regional differences in the satisfaction degree of herder households, which is mainly affected by factors such as family income, compensation cognition and family holding grassland scale. Our analysis shows that the shortcomings of current theoretical research are mainly reflected in the low precision of scientific compensation standards, the lack of a basis for differentiated standards, and the single compensation method. The shortcoming of practical research is that most effect evaluations cannot reflect the role of eco-compensation in it. This study suggests that future work should focus on the response mechanism of herder households and the improvement of the compensation measures. At the same time, the scope of research should be expanded, and we should learn from advanced compensation experience in other fields.

show abstract

Study of the allocation strategy of water pollutant emission permits under a bidirectional ecological compensation mechanism

Feng,

Li,

Chen

et al. 2023

Ecological Indicators

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Watershed Eco-Compensation Mechanism in China: Policies, Practices and Recommendations

Cited by 9 publications

References 47 publications

An Assessment of the Rational Range of Eco-Compensation Standards: A Case Study in the Nujiang Prefecture, Southwestern China

An Assessment of the Rational Range of Eco-Compensation Standards: A Case Study in the Nujiang Prefecture, Southwestern China

Research Progress on the Theory and Practice of Grassland Eco-Compensation in China

Study of the allocation strategy of water pollutant emission permits under a bidirectional ecological compensation mechanism

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About