Gross economic-ecological product accounting of Fuzhou City, China.

Abstract

The gross economic-ecological product (GEEP) accounting is crucial to promote the construction of ecological civilization, and practice the ideas of "lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets". GEEP accounting had been conducted at national and provincial scales, but not at urban scale. According to the economic and ecological development, the GEEP accounting framework was built in Fuzhou City. The GEEP value of Fuzhou City in 2015 and 2018 was calculated and the spatiotemporal variation was analyzed. The results showed that the GEEP value of Fuzhou City was 1208.568 billion yuan in 2015. Among which, the value of GDP and ecological regulation, and the cost of environmental degradation and ecological damage were 577.742, 636.420, 3.095 and 2.500 billion yuan, respectively. Minqing County had the highest GEEP, with a value of 170.022 billion yuan, which accounted for 14.1% of that in Fuzhou City. The lowered values were found in Fuqing City, Minhou County and Yongtai County, accounting for 12.2%, 12.1% and 10.4%, respectively. In 2018, the GEEP of Fuzhou City increased to 1445.399 billion yuan, with an increase rate of 19.6%, mainly due to the GDP increase (up by 47.4% from 2015). The highest proportions of GEEP were observed in Minqing County and Gulou District (12.0%), followed by Fuqing and Minhou counties (11.0%). Compared with 2015, the increase trends were observed for the total value of GEEP, unit area and per capita of GEEP values in Fuzhou City. The cost of environmental and ecological degradation in Fuzhou decreased by 7.2% and 12.4%, respectively, indicating that the overall ecological environment of Fuzhou was improving. The accounting of GEEP in Fuzhou could effectively make up for the shortage of GDP assessment at the urban scale in China. It could provide an instrument for Fuzhou government to formulate rational ecological civilization assessment system and promote regional sustainable development.