Accounting for the cost of ecological degradation in Fuzhou City, China.

Abstract

Ecological degradation accounting is a critical content of building green GDP and gross economic-ecological product (GEEP) accounting systems. With ecosystems in Fuzhou City as a research object, we built an accounting framework for the cost of ecological degradation according to the unreasonable human activity. Following the accounting framework, we calculated the ecological degradation cost in Fuzhou City of 2015 and 2018. The results showed that the ecological degradation cost in Fuzhou City of 2015 was 9.08 billion yuan, accounting for 1.6% of local GDP. For different ecosystem types, marine ecological degradation cost was the largest, about 6.311 billion yuan, accounting for 69.5% of the total loss, followed by wetland ecosystem, accounting for 28.7%, and then arable land, contributing only 1.8%. In term of functions, the cost of provisioning degradation was the largest, about 6.313 billion yuan, accounting for 69.5% of the total loss, followed by regulation loss, accounting for 27.5%, mainly from the loss of climate regulation and hydrological regulation. In the regional distribution, the ecological degradation cost was mainly concentrated in Lianjiang County, Luoyuan County, Fuqing City, and Minqing County, up to 8.092 billion yuan in total, accounting for 89.7% of total loss. Compared with 2015, the ecological degradation cost in 2018 decreased by 2.608 billion yuan, showing an obvious downward trend, with a decrease rate of 28.7%. The reductions were major in Lianjiang County (86.4%), Luoyuan County (14.8%), Fuqing City (19.9%), and Minqing County (12.6%), and mainly concentrated in marine and wetland ecosystems. Such a result indicated that people's awareness of ecological protection in Fuzhou City was increasing, and that the ecological damage due to human activity in marine and wetland system was obviously decreased. This study provided data support for promoting regional sustainable development and ecological civilization construction.