Valuation of Fragile Agroecosystem Services in the Loess Region

Abstract

Much research has been done since the concept of ecosystem services was put forward. However, activities have concentrated on the larger (global or national) scale, and fragile agroecosystems disturbed by human activity, such as that of the Loess Plateau where decay of the ecological environment occurs through severe soil erosion and harsh natural conditions, have scarcely been considered. Using various parameters such as market value, shadow price and opportunity cost, the authors have calculated the value of agricultural ecosystem services in Ansai county in the Loess region, to include conserving soil (Es) and water (Ew), fixing CO2 and releasing O2 (Ea), maintaining nutrient cycling (En) and decontaminating the environment (Ee). The results show that the gross value of services from the ecosystem is Yuan31,699 million, which is 170 times the production value (Ep). This implies that even this fragile ecosystem has an important support function, although it has been disregarded for a long time. In Ansai county, the agro-ecosystem provides great ecological support for economic productivity. The value of the various contributions to ecological services is, for En, Yuan (RMB)28,481 million (89.8%), for Ew, RMB1,391 million (4.4%), for Ea, RMB1,325 million (4.2%) for Vp, RMB185 million (0.6%), for Es, RMB258 million (0.8%) and for Ee, RMB57 million (0.2%). Moreover, the results show that there is an imbalance between ecological productivity and economic productivity in this area, which is a general problem across the entire Loess Plateau. The first priority for restoring the ecological environment is to extend the areas of grassland and forest in order to improve conservation of soil and water.