Ecosystem services and ecological compensation of world heritage: A literature review

Abstract

In recent decades, research on ecosystem services and ecological compensation has increasingly become a focal area in ecological research in the face of the degrading ecological environment. Recently, some institutions and studies have paid attention to ecosystem services and ecological compensation at World Heritage (WH) sites. However, no comprehensive literature review has covered ecosystem services and ecological compensation research at WH sites. To fill this gap, this study conducts a systematic literature review based on 115 related articles retrieved from the Web of Science database and CNKI database. First, quantitative research was conducted to analyze the annual numbers, content, country and institution of the published literature, and a word cloud was generated to summarize the keywords. Second, the main progress and achievements in ecosystem services and ecological compensation of WH sites were classified and summarized. Finally, in view of the existing research on ecosystem services and ecological compensation of WH sites, this study proposed eight key scientific issues that remain to be addressed, as well as directions for future research.