Ecological compensation for hydropower resettlement in a reservoir wetland based on welfare change in Tibet, China

Abstract

The ecological compensation for hydropower development should internalize the exterior costs of losses to both humans and the environment from hydropower projects and their associated resettlement projects in a reservoir wetland. However, the externalities from the resettlement are rarely considered in current compensation policies or regulations, and thus many new environmental issues arise in the reservoir wetland region. In this context, an ecological compensation accounting method for hydropower resettlement was established in this study based on human welfare change. Within it, the preferences of respondents for environmental, social, and cultural attributes can be identified and evaluated through an integration of a choice experiment with a random utility model. Thus, the ecological compensation standard for hydropower resettlement could be determined, while various compensation schemes can be considered for the wetland region in accordance with the preferences of re-settlers. With a case study of the Pondo hydropower resettlement project in Tibet, China, the results showed the utility of the respondents for a single attribute ranged from 43.08 to 127.69 CNY, with the sequence of importance being natural environment, religious practice, and social relationships. Accordingly, the ecological compensation standard for the Pondo hydropower resettlement would be set in the range of 90–127.69 CNY per year, per family. Comprehensive environmental, social, and cultural compensation should be considered to improve human welfare and ecological service function in the Pondo reservoir wetland region.