Integrated assessment of a payment for ecosystem services program in China from the effectiveness, efficiency and equity perspective

Abstract

Despite growing interest in understanding the outcomes of payments for ecosystem services (PES) programs, there are few systematic and quantitative studies, particularly integrated assessments that consider ecological effectiveness, economic efficiency, and social equity (3E). By integrating remote sensing images, geographic information, household survey data, and policy documents, we present a demonstration from China between 2000 and 2015, which implemented PES programs extensively. At the forest patch level, the Ecological Welfare Forest Program (EWFP) increased forest coverage by 1.35%–2.03%. Furthermore, the EWFP respectively added 68.23–72.55 ton ha−1, 1.87–2.09 ton ha−1, 23.39–35.81 ton ha−1, and 10.12–11.11 MWh ha−1 of water conservation, soil retention, flood regulation, and local climate regulation services. Our results were consistent using different impact evaluation methods. However, forest recovery was achieved at high economic cost, with one hectare increase of forest cover costing 211,000–319,000 USD. EWFP participants experienced lower increases in human well-being and more unequal income distribution compared to non-participants, largely due to the rapid and disproportional increase of business income such as nature-based tourism. We provide recommendations to improve the multidimensional outcomes of PES programs in our study area and beyond. Although our study is an integrated assessment of one PES program, the 3E perspective and methodology may also apply to other conservation policies.