Theoretical framework for eco-compensation to national parks in China

Abstract

At present, the establishment of a natural protected area system with national parks as the main subject has attracted widespread attention from all corners of Chinese society. Eco-compensation mechanism is an important institutional guarantee for the construction of China’s system for natural protected areas. However, the current research over eco-compensation policies for China’s national parks and relevant practices are far from systematic and lacking of top-level design. Based on the current research and practices of eco-compensation to national parks (NPEC) at home and abroad, this paper has considered China’s requirements for the pilot areas in the national park system, proposed a theoretical framework on the basis of clarifying the connotation of eco-compensation, and thus formulated four key techniques. The techniques include identifying compensation subjects, formulating compensation methods, determining compensation standards, and expanding financing channels, with a view to providing a top-level design for the establishment of an NPEC mechanism in China.