Abstract
The ecological benefit of cultivated land is the non-market value or ecological service value created by cultivated land protection. Based on the trinity concept of comprehensive protection of quantity, quality, and ecology of cultivated land, this study calculates the ecological benefits of cultivated land protection in the Yangtze River Economic Belt. Through the theory of ecological supply and demand balance, the study estimated the ecological benefit spillover of cultivated land protection in the basin. The amounts and paths of ecological financial transfers for cultivated land are then examined by balancing the protection responsibilities and financial power of cultivated land. We found that overall the ecological benefits of cultivated land protection in the Yangtze River Economic Belt increased, reaching 773.224 billion RMB in 2017. Therein the upper, middle, and lower reaches compose 20.81%, 53.89%, and 25.30% of the ecological benefits. There are significant differences in the ecological benefits, respectively. There are significant differences in the ecological benefits and their variations of cultivated land within the River Basins. The ecological benefits of cultivated land in the Yangtze River Economic Belt demonstrated spatial spillovers within and between the upper, middle, and lower reaches. The middle reaches of the economic belt are the main ecological surplus areas of cultivated land. The ecological deficit areas of cultivated land are mainly distributed in the lower reaches. The spillover effect of the ecological benefits is evident between provinces. The increase of regional economy and ecological compensation policy for cultivated land can effectively stimulate the ecological benefits whereas the pressure of cultivated land protection and power spillovers are adverse to cultivated land ecological protection. The vertical and horizontal fiscal transfers in 2017 respectively amounted to 230.14 billion RMB and 27.24 billion RMB. Particularly, the upper, middle, and lower reaches received 13.07%, 58.41% and 28.52% of the ecological fiscal transfers, respectively. It is important to strengthen spatial spillovers and improve the horizontal and vertical ecological fiscal transfers for protecting ecology of cultivated land.
Highlights
Cultivated land is a basic element of agricultural production, and an important natural resource, and a type of scarce natural capital that provides necessary agricultural products and ecological services for human beings
The ecological benefit of cultivated land is the ecological service value created by cultivated land protection [1,2]
The results show that the ecological benefits of cultivated land protection in all provinces of the Yangtze River Economic Belt are more than 0, showing an overall growth trend, indicating that the ecological benefits of cultivated land quantity and quality protection are greater than the ecological negative externalities of cultivated land use, and the ecological value of cultivated land is constantly prominent
Summary
Cultivated land is a basic element of agricultural production, and an important natural resource, and a type of scarce natural capital that provides necessary agricultural products and ecological services for human beings. A regional cultivated land ecosystem service payment framework based on market principles may help to improve the government’s economic incentive mechanism for cultivated land ecological protection [31], but in practice, ecological compensation for cultivated land is still under constant exploration and cannot be implemented widely, especially in watershed areas. The existing literature discusses the calculation of ecological benefits of cultivated land protection and the determination of compensation standards and financial transfer payments, which provides a reference for cultivated land ecological compensation mechanisms and policy innovation. With the Yangtze River Economic Belt as the research area, this study discusses the government-led ecological compensation standards for cultivated land and ecological fiscal transfer quotas at the river basin scale. Theory and Analytical Framework of Ecological Compensation for Cultivated Land Protection
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