Ecological Compensation Mechanism Research Articles

A Frugal Eco-Innovation Policy? Ecological Poverty Alleviation in Contemporary China from a Perspective of Eco-Civilization Progress

Ecological poverty alleviation is a discursive and policy system with rich theoretical implications, comprehensive policy tools and multiple practical approaches, constituting an important dimension of contemporary Chinese poverty alleviation theory and practice, or a complete case of eco-innovation. Promoting green development, establishing ecological public-welfare compensation mechanisms and organizing ecological relocation are the three major modes or paths of implementing this policy. It is undoubtedly a historic success on the one hand and has still great potential for self-adjustment or self-transformation on the other from a perspective of eco-civilization progress or sustainability.

Study on Influencing Factors and Simulation of Watershed Ecological Compensation Based on Evolutionary Game

In the practice of watershed ecological compensation, due to the inconsistency between the interests of economic development and the objectives of ecological protection, there are typical game characteristics among the relevant stakeholders. Taking the ecological compensation between Henan and Shaanxi in the Yellow River Basin as an example, this paper constructs an evolutionary game model, obtains the external conditions for various stakeholders to achieve stable cooperation from the perspective of the government, and demonstrates the necessity of combining vertical and horizontal ecological compensation. The sensitivity of each party’s decision making to key elements is analyzed through a simulation. The results show that: (1) the optimal strategy is mainly affected by the initial willingness of the upstream government and the central government; the strong regulatory power of the central government can eliminate the influence of the initial will; (2) development opportunity costs and vertical fiscal transfer payments have the most obvious influence on upstream government decision-making; (3) the effect on optimal decision state of downstream paying upstream ecological compensation is higher than that of upstream paying downstream ecological compensation; (4) the punishment of the central government should ensure the binding force on the lower governments, and the revenue and expenditure under its supervision strategy should ensure the effectiveness of the supervision public power. The above conclusions provide support for improving the ecological compensation mechanism of transboundary basins.

Quantification of the coupling relationship between ecological compensation and ecosystem services in the Yangtze River Economic Belt, China

With the rapid development of human society, the self-regulation ability of ecosystem services has lagged far behind the degree of human destruction. As an effective environmental incentive policy, ecological compensation plays an important role in improving the ecology of all regions in the world. This study discussed the willingness of farmers to participate in ecological compensation in the Yangtze River Economic Belt based on the results of a questionnaire, analyzed the influencing factors, established differential ecological compensation standards, and explained the coupling relationship between ecological compensation and ecosystem services. First, the contingent valuation method (CVM) was used to analyze the ratio of farmers' willingness to accept and willingness to pay and to identify the factors affecting farmers' willingness to accept ecological compensation. The minimum-data approach was used to establish different types of ecological compensation standards in various administrative regions of the Yangtze River Economic Belt. Finally, the efficient guidelines for ecological compensation standards were analyzed. The results showed that the expected value ratio of farmers' willingness to accept and willingness to pay in the Yangtze River Economic Belt was 9.26 times, the actual compensation standard was generally lower than the theoretical compensation standard, and the degree of participation in seven administrative regions was less than 10%. When the compensation standard reached a certain threshold, the supply of ecosystem services would exceed the needs of regional development, leading to a “marginal effect”, so compensation standard should be no longer increased. The results of this study provide scientific advice for formulating compensation standards, perfecting the ecological compensation mechanism, and improving the efficiency of ecological compensation in the rapidly developing regions represented by the Yangtze River Economic Belt.

Analysis of the Hotspots of Ecological Compensation Research in China in the Past 20 Years Based on a Bibliometric Study

Ecological compensation is an important part of ecological civilization which has gained widespread attention in academia in recent years. This study uses the knowledge graph tool CiteSpace to identify and analyze the literature related to ecological compensation research published in academic journals in the CNKI database, in order to provide an objective and scientific reference for the research in this field. The results show that the domestic research on ecological compensation began to appear around 2000, and the first research boom was ushered in starting in 2009. Most studies have explored ecological compensation from the connotation of ecological compensation, compensation subjects and objects, compensation standards, compensation methods, compensation supervision and evaluation of compensation effects, etc., and the articles on ecological compensation standards are relatively more abundant. At the same time, ecological compensation research is often linked to the realization of ecosystem service value and ecological product value. In the future, researchers should focus on establishing and improving the ecological compensation standard accounting system, exploring the market-based ecological compensation mechanism, attaching importance to the ecological compensation fund distribution mechanism, and strengthening research related to ecological compensation effect assessment. Ecological compensation theory should be developed in the direction of deepening and providing new research perspectives for helping China to deal with the relationship between conservation and development.

An Improved GM(1,1) Model of Marketization of Forest Ecological Compensation based on Health-Cultivation Industry

In the context of supply-side structual reform, the marketization of forest ecological compensation is an inevitable requirement under the market economy. The forest health-cultivation industry, which explores the new method to utilize the forestry resources, is a new direction of forestry firms and is the production of supply-side structural reform. From the perspective of forest health-cultivation industry, this essay explores the possibility of the marketization of forest ecological compensation based on forest health-cultivation industry, and predicts the willingness of people to pay for the ecological service by using the original number of tourists in forestry tourism and leisure industry tourism between 2010 and 2015 and adopting the improved GM (1,1) model. The result shows that people’s willingness is increasing. It is predicted that, by 2023, the number of tourists in forestry tourism and leisure industry tourism will reach 8.98 billion. The development of forest health-cultivation industry has introduced the market mechanism for forestry development, which makes up for the deficiency of the existing compensation mechanism characterized by low compensation standards and single channel of funding. The increase of people’s demand for ecological tourism and the boom of forest health-cultivation industry which provide a new opportunity for the marketization and diversification of forest ecological compensation mechanism.

Ecological compensation strategy of the old revolutionary base areas along the route of Long March based on ecosystem service value evaluation

The conflict between ecological protection and socio-economic development in the old revolutionary base areas along the route of Long March can be addressed by ecological compensation. In this study, we collected 2018 data of land use, net primary productivity of vegetation, climate factors and so on. The ecosystem service value of 310 counties in the old revolutionary base areas was calculated using the data and modified equivalent factor. Then, the regional differentiated ecological compensation estimation method was applied to estimate the priority and amount of ecological compensation within the area. We further proposed the ecological compensation strategy adopted for the old revolutionary base areas along the route of Long March. The results showed that the total value of ecosystem services in the old revolutionary base areas along the route of Long March amounted to 2593.74 billion yuan in 2018. Forest services took the highest proportion (58.8%), followed by grassland and waters. The total amount of ecological compensation made for the old revolutionary base areas along the route of Long March reached 183.405 billion yuan. Compared with this amount, there was a large gap in the actual compensation funds available to the region. In addition, the total amount of ecological compensation accounted for only 0.04% of the aggregate GDP in this area, which put some strain on local fiscal resources and showed certain viability in ecological compensation. In 2018, totally 100 old revolutionary base areas along the route of Long March were designated as the priority areas for ecological compensation, consistent with the national key eco-function zone policy. However, there were deviations in the allocation of ecological compensation funds, with some priority areas receiving no compensation. As for the compensation strategy, it is necessary to put in place a diversified, market-oriented and comprehensive ecological compensation mechanism to increase the sources of ecological compensation funds at first. Then, efforts should be continued to optimize the spatial selection of ecological compensation in the old revolutionary base areas along the route of Long March and to improve the efficiency of regional ecological compensation mechanism.

Construction of Resource Ecological Compensation Mechanism Model under Rural Leisure Sports Environment.

In order to solve the problem of resource ecological compensation, this paper proposed a model of resource ecological compensation mechanism based on a rural leisure sports environment. The model is carried out in many places in China. The survey data involves 31 provinces, 10 years, and 43 indicators, with a total of 43 × 10 × 31 = 13,330 data. The preliminary basis of mechanism construction is summarized from four aspects. Finally, make full use of modern information technology to improve the network platform of the compensation mechanism, promote the efficient allocation and comprehensive utilization of ecotourism resources, and lay a solid foundation for establishing a reasonable and perfect resource ecological compensation mechanism and ensuring the long-term and stable operation of the mechanism. Through the experiment, it is found that the timely and effective publication of information can eliminate the inner estrangement between the two sides, so as to make the behavior of both sides more rational. A special information feedback department is established to deal with the opinions put forward by all compensation parties in tourism development, extract effective information, summarize and publish reasonable guidance information, and guide the compensation of both sides to an ideal balance through the feedback of this information. The effectiveness of the experiment is verified.

Air pollution and economic growth under local government competition: Evidence from China, 2007–2016

This study employs spatial simultaneous equations models with the Generalized Spatial Three-Stage Least Squares (GS3SLS) method to evaluate the interrelationship between economic growth and air pollution under local government competition for China's “2 + 26” cities from 2007 to 2016. The results show an unbalanced spatial agglomeration effect of economic growth and air pollution across the region. Findings indicate that air pollution accompanies economic growth in the “2 + 26” cities, and economic growth has a U-shaped relationship with air pollution. Moreover, tax income and foreign investment competitions increase air pollution. Suggestions for the “2 + 26” cities include organizing a cross-regional agency for integrated management of the economy and air quality, constructing multiple economic-center cities, reforming the political promotion mechanism, and developing the ecological compensation mechanism for air pollution.

Research on the Spatial and Temporal Differences of China's Provincial Carbon Emissions and Ecological Compensation Based on Land Carbon Budget Accounting.

The establishment of a complete carbon ecological compensation mechanism is of great significance for China to achieve “carbon peak and carbon neutrality” as soon as possible. From the perspective of land carbon budget accounting, this paper measures the carbon emissions and the value of carbon ecological compensation in 30 provinces in China from 2010 to 2019, by constructing a carbon ecological compensation model, and analyzes it from both time and space perspectives. The study found that: (1) during the period 2010–2019, China’s carbon absorption remained basically stable, and woodland and grassland were the main carriers of China’s land carbon absorption. The total carbon sequestration of woodland and grassland showed a pattern of being high in the west and low in the east, and the total carbon sequestration of cultivated land showed a pattern of being high in the east and low in the west. (2) Construction land is the main source of carbon emissions in China. Cultivated land carbon emissions mainly come from major agricultural provinces such as Henan and Heilongjiang, while construction land carbon emissions are mainly concentrated in energy-consuming provinces such as Shandong and Shanxi. (3) After revising the carbon compensation benchmark value, it is found that provinces such as Guangdong and Jiangsu should receive carbon ecological compensation, while provinces dominated by heavy industries such as Shanxi and Shandong need to pay corresponding carbon compensation fees. Finally, this article puts forward corresponding policy recommendations, such as that China should give full play to the role of the government and the market, accelerate the optimization and improvement of the ecological resource asset property rights system, and optimize the development and utilization of land.

Compensation for Marine Ecological Damage: From ‘Tasman Sea’ to ‘Sanchi’

The research on marine ecological compensation is aimed to protect the marine environment and sustainably utilize marine ecosystem services, and is an important institutional instrument for coordination of the relationships among environmental, economic and other social interests. The legal mechanism of marine ecological compensation should be an important way to effectively deal with the contradictions (for examples: the value loss of marine ecosystem services, destruction of marine biodiversity, etc.) in marine eco-environmental protection. This paper firstly introduces the case of the “Sanchi” ship accident, which is regarded as the first collision case of a tanker carrying gas condensate in world shipping history, and also provides a detailed analysis of the “Tasman Sea” ship case which is regarded as the first compensation claim for marine ecological damage in China, and makes some related discussions on marine ecological compensation concerning the two cases. Then, the paper probes into the research theme from four aspects: China’s legislative deployment, the legal connotation of marine ecological damage (including the current legal status of compensation claims, subjects of compensation claims, the compensation scope and the evaluation system.), major challenges in legal practice, and remediation of marine ecological damage in China. Finally, the paper provides some suggestions on marine ecological damage compensation for the final settlement in the “Sanchi” case, and tries to explore the future trend of the research theme based on the China’s marine strategy.

Regional ecological compensation accounting in Fuzhou City based on a payment for ecosystem services (PES)model.

The determination of regional ecological compensation quota and spatial selection are key issues in the study of horizontal transfer payment ecological compensation mechanism. Taking 12 districts of Fuzhou City as the basic research unit, we accounted the ecological function values of forest, grassland, wetland, agriculture, and marine ecosystems in 2015 and 2018. Combined with local economic development situation, we constructed an ecological compensation model. With this model, we determined the ecological compensation quota and spatial distribution of different ecosystems in various districts and counties of Fuzhou. The results showed that from 2015 to 2018, Gulou District had the largest ecological payment, with 36.384 billion yuan, followed by Mawei, Cangshan and Jin'an districts, with 7.809, 6.974 and 6.669 billion yuan, respectively. Luoyuan County and Taijiang District had lower payment, which were 2.942 and 1.903 billion yuan respectively. Among the areas requiring ecological compensation, Lianjiang County and Changle District had high compensation quotas, being 25.120 and 20.261 billion yuan, followed by Yongtai County (12.570 billion yuan). The compensation amounts in Minhou County, Fuqing City and Minqing County were less than 10 billion yuan. The distribution of ecological compensation differed across various ecosystems. In general, the main ecological compensation areas of forest, grassland, wetland and agriculture ecosystem were in Yongtai, Minqing, Minhou, Lianjiang and Luoyuan counties. The compensation amounts were 2.424-31.379 billion yuan in forest, 1.181-20.708 billion yuan in grassland, 1.015-45.493 billion yuan in wetland, and 5.780-23.954 billion yuan in cropland. The main regions that need compensation for marine ecosystem were Lianjiang County, Changle District, and Fuqing City, with the amount of compensation being 8.216-47.854 billion yuan. The results could properly reflect the coordinated development of regional ecological and economic conditions, which could provide a reference for the improvement of the ecological compensation mechanism in Fuzhou City.

The Research on the Original Ecological Compensation Mechanism in the River Basin of the Central Soviet Area: From the Angle of Ecological Civilization

Most of the areas of economic poverty are the birthplace of most rivers in China, at the same time; these areas are extremely important ecological function reserve. For the whole society, It makes much sense to take effective protection to river basins to, in this process, the construction of ecological compensation mechanism is the key to the protection of river basins, not only be conducive to the protection of the ecological environment, but also be useful to the harmonious development of river basin upstream and downstream. From the perspective of ecological civilization, this paper analyzes the related theories of river basin ecological compensation mechanism, according to Coase's law of environmental economics and Pareto optimality; it explains the related model of river basin ecological compensation mechanism in China. And on this basis, we present the corresponding policy implications.

Calculation of compensation for forest ecosystem damage by engineering projects in Guangdong Province, China

In China, ecological damage compensation refers to the punitive ecological compensation for ecosystem damage by human activities, and it internalizes negative externalities by adjusting the interest relationship between ecological protectors and destroyers. Making reasonable and scientific payment standard of ecological damage compensation is an important factor to implement ecological damage compensation mechanism. Here, we take the forest ecosystem damage due to engineering projects in Guangdong Province, China as an example to discuss a calculation method for this compensation. Based on the forest ecosystem service (ES) value, this method comprehensively measures the degree, area, and duration of forest ecosystem damage due to various engineering projects. The contribution of construction projects to socioeconomic development and the importance of ecologically sensitive areas is also considered. Finally, a rapid, quantified, and differentiated compensation standard for ecological damage is obtained. This standard provides a scientific basis for balancing the interests between ecological protection and economic development. Thus, our results have certain guiding significance for the protection and sustainable development of the various types of ecosystems.

Horizontal ecological compensation mechanism and technological progress: theory and empirical study of Xin’an River Ecological Compensation Gambling Agreement

The Xin’an River ecological compensation mechanism is China’s first horizontal compensation mechanism to improve the ecological environment of the downstream areas and increase the fiscal revenues of the upstream areas. Although the amount invested in the program is increasing every year, few studies have been conducted to evaluate the impact of the program. Based on the Levinsohn–Petrin method and a comprehensive dataset of Chinese industrial companies from 2009 to 2015, we employed the k-nearest neighbor propensity score matching–difference-in-difference (PSM-DID) to explore the impact of the Xin’an River Ecological Compensation Gambling Agreement (ECGA) on company technological progress and its drive mechanism. The empirical results show that ECGA inhibits the technological progress of upstream industrial companies and has more pronounced inhibitory effects for heavy-polluting companies. ECGA indirectly inhibits the technological progress in upstream companies by affecting profitability, scale, human capital, foreign direct investment, and management efficiency.

How does the ecological compensation mechanism adjust the industrial structure? Evidence from China

The ecological compensation (EC) mechanism is an innovative institutional arrangement which can effectively realize the coordinated development of social-economic growth and ecological protection. The current research on the evaluation of the implementation effect of EC mechanism mainly focuses on its environmental performance, how the EC mechanism guides the economically underdeveloped areas in the upper reaches of the basin to embark on the road of high-quality economic development, especially the mechanism of how EC triggers the optimization and upgrading of industrial structure, it is a topic worthy of in-depth discussion. This study takes China's first cross-provincial horizontal EC mechanism pilot (Xin'an River Basin EC) as the research object and regards it as a quasi-natural experiment. This paper selects the annual panel data of the 11 cities involved from 2009 to 2019 and builds a DID model to study the mechanism of EC affecting industrial structure adjustment systematically. The results show that the EC mechanism mainly promotes the adjustment of the industrial structure in the pilot area through two paths, this is achieved by triggering the transfer of backward or highly polluting industries and promoting the upgrading of the industrial structure. At the same time, technological innovation plays a part intermediary role in the impact of EC to promote the upgrading of industrial structure. Further analysis found that the larger the funds of compensation input, the higher the assessment intensity, the better the effects are. Finally, this study puts forward relevant policy recommendations to further release the potential of the horizontal EC for the reference of decision-makers.

Evolution of stakeholders’ behavioral strategies in the ecological compensation mechanism for poverty alleviation

Because poverty and natural resource conservation are multi-dimensional, complex interactive processes, ecological compensation (EC) mechanism, which is global environmental resource management policy instruments, have become important tools for poverty alleviation. This study developed a unified analysis framework that incorporated a tripartite evolutionary game that included EC-investors, who promote eco-compensated poverty alleviation, EC-providers, and superior government regulators. Based on proposed dynamic replicator equations, the evolution and steady state strategies for each of these stakeholders were then separately discussed. A numerical study based on the observable conditions in an eco-compensated poverty alleviation project was conducted to examine the asymptotic stability of the various evolutionary stabilization strategies. The results show that the government regulator's strategic choices act as a "weathervane" for the other two players, and the choice of the superior government regulator depends on the expected benefits and costs of the strategy. The strategic choices made by the EC-providers are significantly influenced by the EC-investor strategy choices, with a sufficient ecological transfer payment being the main motivation for the providers to participate in the eco-compensated poverty alleviation projects.

Study on the spatial changes concerning ecosystem services value in Lhasa River Basin, China.

In this study, the outcome serves to establish a measurement model to calculate the value of ecosystem services in Lhasa River Basin, China. Following on the principle of resource scarcity, a study paradigm is established according to the influence of natural and socio-economic location differences on the value of ecosystem services. Results show that the total value of ecosystem services in Lhasa River Basin is 104.503 billion yuan. The unit ecosystem service value of natural grassland in the lower reaches is 5.6 times and 1.07 times larger than that in the upper and middle reaches, respectively. The value of ecosystem services is clearly affected by the scarcity of ecosystem services and dependence of economic and social development on the ecosystem. The value of ecosystem services in the upper, middle, and lower reaches were 4.17%, 21.48%, and 74.35%, respectively. It is found that the value of ecosystem services in this particular region differs significantly in the upper, middle, and lower reaches of the basin. The scarcity of ecological resources has increased the value of ecosystem services, which is reflected in the highest value of ecosystem services in the middle of Lhasa River Valley and both sides of the river where population, economy, and ecological demand are relatively concentrated. According to the estimated results, this study proposes a variety of methods to improve the ecosystem service value and analysis of the ecological compensation mechanism, derived from the contribution made by ecological services.

Analysis of water yield service of Lianshui River Basin in China based on ecosystem services flow model

Abstract Water security assessment is very important to social development. However, most studies only focus on the status quo of water security in a static state and ignore the flow characteristics of water resources in water security assessment. This paper integrates multi-source data to construct a water supply and service supply–demand balance and spatial flow model in the Lianshui River Basin, simulates the spatial pattern of the service flow of the aquatic water ecosystem in the Lianshui River Basin from 1990 to 2018, and quantifies the service flow. Results show that: (1) From 1990 to 2018, the water supply in the Lianshui River Basin first decreased, then increased, and finally decreased. Water yield was the highest in 2010 and lowest in 2000. (2) Water demand increased year by year, and the amount of area with a poor water resource security index increased, indicating that water security was deteriorating. (3) The four main beneficiary areas in the basin are the urban area of Lianyuan City, the county seat of Shuangfeng County, the Louxing District of Loudi City, and the urban area of Xiangxiang City and nearby towns. The service flow showed the same changing trend as the water yield. In 2018, the water resource gap in the beneficiary area was as high as 4.49 billion m3. Local governments should actively build a water-saving society, improve the efficiency of industrial and agricultural water-saving and residents' awareness of water-saving, and improve the water resources in the river basin. The research can provide a scientific basis for realizing the sustainable development of water resources in the Lianshui River Basin and improving the ecological compensation mechanism, and can also provide references for water resources management in other river basins.

Gradient characteristics of China's land use patterns and identification of the east-west natural-socio-economic transitional zone for national spatial planning

Countries and regions with vast territory tend to have economic gradients and uneven land use pattern. Ecological sensitive zones, transitional zones and state poverty counties have been found near the Hu Huanyong Line (Hu Line) of China in previous studies. However, there is little knowledge about the identification of a comprehensive transitional zone that considers natural and socio-economic elements from national scale. Based on exploring gradient characteristics of land use patterns and the driving factors behind them, we propose a quantitative identification framework of natural-socio-economic transitional zone via multi-source data and methods of gradient analysis and change-point analysis. Taking China as an example, this study showed evidence of the discontinuity in each factor between the east and the west, and identified an east-west natural-socio-economic transitional zone (EWNSETZ) along the Hu Line. The EWNSETZ, determined by combining the integrated abrupt change zone of natural and socio-economic factors with the farming-pastoral ecotone (FPE), accounted for about 1/5 of China’s total land area and had more balanced distribution of land use types but more fragile environment and inferior combination of resources. Measures such as completing ecological compensation mechanism, developing tourism and green industries, increasing the supply of water resources and speeding up the construction of infrastructure and facilities can be used to promote the ecological-economic coordinated development of the EWNSETZ and eventually to drive the development of the western region. In particular, comprehensively consider the natural geographical conditions, key ecological function areas distribution and ecosystem services supply and demand of the EWNSETZ, the strategic orientation in its different parts should be focusing on different key points.

InVEST Model-Based Spatiotemporal Analysis of Water Supply Services in the Zhangcheng District

The Zhangcheng District is critically responsible for protecting water resources, preserving sand sources, and improving the ecological environment in Beijing. Quantitative evaluation and research on the ecosystem water supply services in this area are beneficial for developing conservation planning and establishing ecological compensation mechanisms in water conservation areas. In this paper, based on the land use, meteorological, soil, and field observation data of the research area, the InVEST water yield model is used to estimate the water supply of the ecosystem in the Zhangcheng District. The model quantitatively analyzes the spatiotemporal distribution characteristics of water supply services in the basin and the influence of different topographic factors. The results show that the average supply of ecosystem water in the Zhangcheng District is approximately 45 mm, and there is a degree of spatial heterogeneity. The total water supply in the Zhangcheng District is relatively small. The water resource supply in the southwest is relatively small, the rainfall in mountainous forest areas in the southeast is high, its water supply is higher, and the supply of forest land water is relatively high. The high-value areas are mainly distributed at 1500 to 3500 m and 15°~40°; the water supply on the sunny slope is greater than that on the shady slope. With the increase in altitude and slope, the water supply in the basin tends to increase first and then decrease.