Contributions of climate change to eco-compensation identification in the Yangtze River economic Belt, China

Abstract

Climate change may substantially affect the validity of identifying eco-compensation demand. Exploring the temporal-spatial variation in eco-compensation demands and assessing the contribution of climate change are essential for improving the justice and effectiveness. Since 2000, Chinese government implemented ambitious ecological and economic policies at Yangtze River Economic Belt (YREB) to balance the relationship between environment protection and socio-economic development. We selected YREB to explore the driving factors of temporal-spatial variation in eco-compensation demands for two major ecosystem services, i.e. carbon storage and oxygen release. The results (1) spatially, the eco-compensation demand became aggregated in the eastern and western areas of the Yangtze River Economic Belt (YREB) from 2003 to 2015; (2) the climate has become more suitable for vegetation growth in the changed eastern area (CE) from 2003 to 2015, while the changed central area (CC) presents a drier trend from 2003 to 2011; (3) during the study period, the climate change became the main factors among the environment metrics to affect identifying the eco-compensation demand, specifically, compared to the period 2003–2005, the contribution of climate change on eco-compensation demands in changed central area (CC) and changed eastern area (CE), during 2006–2015, increased from 16.90% to 18.43% and from 2.72% to 11.89%, respectively. This study could help policymakers addressing reliable compensation policies for regional sustainable development and may guide researchers in providing more practical and comprehensive eco-compensation approaches in the future.