Mechanism of action of marine ecological restoration on ecological, economic, and social benefits—An empirical analysis based on a structural equation model

Abstract

Marine ecological restoration is not only an important means to ensure the continuous delivery of ecosystem services by marine ecosystems, but also a socioeconomic process of economic investment and value recovery. Identifying the links to the benefits accrued to society from ecological restoration is of significant importance for achieving successful conservation outcomes and guiding financial investments in ecological restoration. This paper aims to analyze the action mechanism of marine ecological restoration on ecological, economic and social benefits in China. The research hypothesis of ecological, economic, and social benefits generated by marine ecological restoration was first proposed from a theoretical research perspective. On this basis, a structural equation model was employed to validate theoretical assumptions and quantitatively analyze the mechanism of ecological, economic, and social benefits generated by marine ecological restoration in China. We find that marine ecological restoration can improve the level of marine ecosystem services and have a significant positive impact on promoting economic and social development. The results indicate that marine ecological restoration has the greatest impact on social benefits, followed by ecological benefits, and finally on economic benefits, and this result is consistent with the original intention of marine ecological restoration, which aims to directly improve the ecosystem services and social welfare level and indirectly drive economic development.