Mapping regional differences in payment for ecosystem service policies to inform integrated management: Case study of the Yangtze River Economic Belt

Spatio-temporal evolution and trend prediction of urban ecosystem service value based on CLUE-S and GM (1,1) compound model

Ecosystem service value (ESV) is a significant indicator related to regional ecological well-being. Evaluating ESV premised on continuous time series land benefit data can provide an accurate reference for regional ecological civilization construction and sustainable development. Taking Shijiazhuang, the capital city of Hebei Province as an example, the study analyzed land use changes based on the land use data of the continuous time series from 2000 to 2020 and introduced a socio-economic adjustment factor and biomass factor adjustment factor to construct a dynamic assessment model of ecosystem service value. The spatiotemporal changes of the ecosystem service value in Shijiazhuang City were evaluated, and the dynamic prediction of the ecosystem service value was made using the CLUE-S model and the GM (1,1) model. (1) The changes in the overall ESV and spatial pattern in Shijiazhuang are strongly linked to the change in land use, and the contribution of cultivated land, woodland, and grassland to ecosystem service value exceeds 90%. (2) Between 2000 and 2020, the value of ecosystem services illustrated a dynamic change and gradually declined, with the total amount falling from 28.003 to 19.513 billion yuan. Among individual ecosystem services, the value of regulation services suffered the most serious loss. (3) CLUE-S and GM (1,1) perform well in the prediction of ESV. The prediction outcomes illustrate that the ecosystem service value of Shijiazhuang will continue to decline by 2025, and the ecosystem value will drop to 16.771 billion yuan. This research may offer a reference for the dynamic assessment of ESV of the continuous sequence and help to promote regional ecological protection and sustainable development.

Individual participation and incentive coordination in watershed ecological compensation project: insights from China's Xin'an River Basin pilot

The success or failure of executing the watershed ecological compensation (WEC) policy is primarily contingent on incentive designs. How do different contractual designs influence the actions of micro-individuals in WEC? How may individuals be enticed to engage in WEC project? Taking the first inter-provincial WEC-Xin'an River Basin (XRB) pilot in China as a case, this study investigates the impacts of government-oriented, market-oriented, and incentive-cooperation contracts on individuals' behavior based on the framework of Stackelberg games. Subsequently, differences in efforts and profits of diverse individuals are compared and analyzed for each contract. The case-specific numerical example is then utilized to validate theoretical outcomes and to support subsequent key insights. First, the government-oriented contract exhibits effectiveness in bolstering the efforts and interests of micro-individuals, whereas it also places the government under tremendous financial strain. Second, the market-oriented contract formed by the output contribution rate assists in overcoming deficiencies of excurrent government-oriented contract. But it remains controversial if, in the absence of government inspection, investors that devote more cooperative-efforts are not rewarded with further dividends, ultimately diminishing their enthusiasm for the WEC-XRB project. Lastly, the incentive-cooperation contract reinforced by market dominance is advantageous for improving the efficacy of water resource management under the existing government-oriented policy relying on command-and-control instruments.

How can an ecological compensation threshold be determined? A discriminant model integrating the minimum data approach and the most appropriate land use scenarios

Ecological compensation has become very common worldwide due to the imbalance in the development of modern society, economy, and the environment and the increased pressure on ecosystem carrying capacity. Nonetheless, the various approaches for quantifying ecological compensation standards differ significantly. Thus, the process for determining a reasonable ecological compensation threshold is important to understand. To ensure the maximization of ecosystem service supply and economic benefit incentives for farmers, this paper constructs a discriminant model of an ecological compensation threshold based on the minimum data approach and the most appropriate land use scenario to define the ecological compensation threshold of the Sloping Land Conversion Program in the upper Yangtze River basin. The results show that with an increase in the compensation price, the proportion of farmers participating in returning farmland to forests and grassland increases, and water conservation increases. However, the discriminant curve first increases to a certain threshold point and then decreases, after which the ecoefficiency rate obtained from the compensation decreases. The ecological compensation thresholds for Chongqing, Sichuan, Yunnan, Guizhou, Hubei, Qinghai, Gansu, Tibet and Shaanxi provinces are 17.74 yuan/m³, 13.79 yuan/m³, 19.1 yuan/m³, 17.79 yuan/m³, 15.28 yuan/m³, 45.14 yuan/m³, 17.23 yuan/m³, 25.2 yuan/m³ and 22.36 yuan/m³, respectively. This research examines ecological compensation standards in different watersheds throughout the world and discusses the relationship between ecological compensation and water conservation. The discriminant model of the ecological compensation threshold can provide a new reference for the implementation and management of ecological compensation policies.

Inter-regional ecological compensation in the Yellow River Basin based on the value of ecosystem services

Ecological compensation in the Yellow River Basin aims to improve its ecological and environmental management capacity. Based on data on land-use changes in the Yellow River Basin from 2010 to 2020, this study used the equivalent factor method to assess the value of ecosystem services in the basin. This was measured at three spatial scales in the upper, middle, and lower reaches, encompassing; nine provinces and 72 cities. The priority and amount of ecological compensation were determined for the Yellow River Basin regions. Results show that (1) The total value of ecosystem services in the Yellow River Basin increased from 1798.317 billion yuan in 2010 to 1838.259 billion yuan in 2020. Grasslands had the highest total ecosystem service value in 2020, accounting for 46.11%. (2) The value of ecosystem services in the Yellow River Basin region is upstream > midstream > downstream. Qinghai Province has the highest value of ecosystem services among the nine provinces, and the level of economic development in each region is inversely correlated with the value of ecosystem services. (3) The ecosystem service value and the economic development level of the cities in the Yellow River Basin are positively and negatively correlated with the priority of ecological compensation, respectively. Among them, the cities in the upper reaches are the most urgent targets for national ecological compensation. (4) The total ecological compensation in the Yellow River Basin in 2020 was approximately 122.63 billion yuan. Further, the amount of vertical ecological compensation to be paid by the state was approximately 114.673 billion yuan, and the horizontal compensation to be borne between provinces was approximately 7.957 billion yuan. The findings of this study provide novel insights into improving ecological compensation in the Yellow River Basin regions.

Quantitative evaluation of ecological compensation policies for the watershed in China: based on the improved Policy Modeling Consistency Index

Ecological compensation policies for the watershed (ECPW) have played a guiding role in establishing a sound watershed ecological compensation system with Chinese characteristics, and the quantitative evaluation of current policies can provide a reference for policy optimization. Firstly, taking 77 ECPW promulgated in China from 2006 to 2020 as the research objects, this paper extracted keyword frequencies using a text mining method, and then selected the policy indicators by combining the policy characteristics and existing results of watershed ecological compensation. Secondly, the Fuzzy analytic hierarchy process was used to determine the weights of the variables and improve the Policy Modeling Consistency Index (PMC-Index). Finally, the empirical analysis was conducted on six typical policies and the differences among P1, P3, and P5 at the three levels of the national, provincial, and municipal levels were further explored and compared. It was found that (1) the consistency evaluation of P1, P2, P3, and P4 were excellent levels, and that of P5 and P6 were acceptable levels. (2) The mean value of an improved PMC-Index of the six strategies was 0.6287, which indicated that the overall performance of the quality of ECPW was good, but still room for improvement. (3) The quality of China's ECPW showed a trend that the higher the level of government, the better the overall performance of the policy. The more targeted the ECPW, the lower the PMC index score, which is manifested in indicators such as incentive measures, policy mechanisms, policy areas, and policy functions. This study helps to fully understand the strengths and weaknesses of China's single ECPW.

How to Identify Future Priority Areas for Urban Development: An Approach of Urban Construction Land Suitability in Ecological Sensitive Areas

The suitability of urban construction land (SUCL) is key to the appropriate utilization of land resources and represents an important foundation for regional exploration and land management. This study explores the SUCL conceptual framework by considering the theory of human-land relationships. The upper reaches of the Yangtze River were studied, a typical ecologically-sensitive area of China. The spatial pattern and control of the SUCL were determined using the improved entropy method. The results show that an area of 91 × 10⁴ km² was categorized as prohibited or restricted, and these categories account for 28.61% and 50.66% of the total area, respectively. Priority areas and suitable areas are mainly located in the Chengdu Plain, the urban agglomeration of southern Sichuan Province, Chongqing, and the economic corridor in the west, and the surrounding cities of Guiyang and Kunming. SUCL hotspots feature obvious spatial heterogeneity and are concentrated in Sichuan Basin and Guizhou Plateau. The SUCL is obviously constrained by the physical geography of this region. In addition, towns affected by the pole–axis effect have stronger suitability for development and construction. These findings will be very useful for land managers as they provide relevant information about urban development in mountainous areas.

The effectiveness of eco-compensation in environmental protection -A hybrid of the government and market

The Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES) program has provided policy innovation for global environmental affairs. China, the largest developing country in the world, is also faced with serious environmental problems. China developed a unique environmental policy - ecological compensation (Eco-compensation), which combined the flexibility of the PES mechanism with efficient government management. The paper studies the efficiency of eco-compensation policy in a large-scale region and the stability of policy in a long-time. We use the counterfactual method - Synthetic Control Method (SCM) to analyze the eco-compensation policy. Zhejiang province, China, which is the first province to implement Eco-compensation policy, chose as study case. We run several robustness checks to discuss the influence of other factors, including economy, politics and geology. The result shows that the eco-compensation policy improve the region's environment significantly. And it never has negative impact for the economy of Zhejiang. We discuss some experiences and challenges of this policy. The paper thinks that localization and the hybrid of government and market could provide successful experience for this policy.