Abstract
As the first pilot provincial water environmental compensation set up at the national level, the Xin’anjiang River Basin plays a very important exemplary and guiding role in the ecological compensation of transboundary basins in China. There is no paper evaluating the environmental performance in watershed scale after getting rid of the natural factor’s effect. Here we issue a new approach to evaluate it, combing the SPAtially Referenced Regression On Watershed attributes (SPARROW) models and data envelopment analysis (DEA) method, based on counterfactual scenarios. After ecological compensation, the results show that the decrease of total nitrogen (TN) non-point source export coefficient was stable (17.16–17.78% in different sources), while that of total phosphorus (TP; 8.51–17.75%) and permanganate index (CODMn; 13.10–21.41%) was not. The projects of fertilizer application’s effects were relatively obvious; on average, the decreases of the export coefficients were 17.16%, 17.75%, and 21.41% in TN, TP, and CODMn models, respectively, showing the importance of eco-compensation regulation, not only in non-point source pollution reduction but also resulting in high levels of eco-compensation efficiencies, especially in scale efficiencies. By assessing parameter and modeling uncertainty with the use of the generalized likelihood uncertainty estimation (GLUE) method, the models’ structure well represents the hydrological behavior. This study also provides policymakers with a new perspective in accurately measuring the impact of environmental performance, to guide the next step of environmental investment optimization.
Highlights
High-quality development will replace fast growth as a fundamental economic development target for China [1]
This article aims to bridge this gap by innovatively using data envelopment analysis (DEA), which uses different kinds of environmental investments as input and counterfactual SPAtially Referenced Regression On Watershed attributes (SPARROW) model results in the watershed as output, to evaluate the environmental investments’ efficiency in different counties in the Xin’anjiang River Basin (XRB)
Given its previous successes in XRB with the junction of Anhui province and Zhejiang province, the experience was used for reference in Jiuzhoujiang River with the junction of Guangxi autonomous region and Guangdong province basin and Hanjiang-Tingjiang River Basin with the junction of Fujian province and Guangdong province as the two ecological compensation pilots in China
Summary
High-quality development will replace fast growth as a fundamental economic development target for China [1]. China was gradually entering the new normal of economic growth [2,3,4], under which the economic structure would be optimized and effects would far exceed those environmental regulations and policies [5]. After decades of rapid economic development, water quality problems have become constraints for green development in China [6]. To address devastating water environmental crises and to improve the quality of economic developments, China has already implemented multiple. 22 ooff 2118 implemented multiple regional and national policies [7,8,9]. Epcroglorgesicsalocfoemnpveirnosnamtioentianl pCrhoitneacthioasni[m13p,r1o4v],emd awkiitnhgththeepdroegfirneistsioonf ecnlovsierotnomtheenntaelwprcootnecteipont o[f13P,a1y4m], menatkfionrgEtchoesdyestfienmitiSoenrvclioceses (toPEthSe) [n1e5w]. Hcoonwceepvtero,ftPhaeypmraecntticfeorofErciovseyrsbteamsinSecrvoilcoegsic(aPlEcSo)m[1p5e]n. sHaotiwonevinerC, thhienaprmacotsitcleyoefxrisivtserwbitahsin tehceoljougricsadlictoimonpoenf soanteiopnrionvCinhcien,aamndosthtley pexraiscttsicweiathcrinostsheprjuorviisndciectsiownitohf monoereprcoovminpcleic, atneddtrheelaptrioanctsicies raacreo.ss provinces with more complicated relations is rare
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