Measuring Gross Ecosystem Product (GEP) in Guangxi, China, from 2005 to 2020

Abstract

The economic and social development evaluation system with the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) as the leading indicator is no longer applicable to the current social progress in China. It is essential to carry out an assessment of the Gross Ecosystem Product (GEP) to integrate ecological benefits into the economic and social evaluation system and promote sustainable socio-economic development. This study took Guangxi, an important province in South China, as the study area. We used four periods of land use and land cover data (LULC), meteorological data, soil data and yearbook statistics to construct a GEP assessment framework based on geographic information system (GIS) and remote sensing (RS) technologies. We accounted for the provisioning services, regulating services, and tourism services provided by Guangxi in 2005, 2010, 2015, and 2020 and analyzed the region’s and municipalities’ spatial–temporal pattern characteristics and trends of change in GEP. In addition, this study also discusses the relationship between GEP and GDP. The results showed that many important products and services provided by natural ecosystems in Guangxi had enormous economic benefits. GEP had increased from CNY 15,657.37 billion in 2005 to CNY 36,677.04 billion in 2020, and the distribution of GEP showed obvious spatial heterogeneity. The value of ecosystem regulation services was about 65–89% of GEP, which is the main component of GEP. From 2005 to 2020, natural ecosystem protection and socio-economic development have achieved coordinated development in Guangxi. GEP and GDP showed upward trends in general. Although Guangxi is relatively backward in terms of economic development, the scientific quantification of the unrealized value of the services provided by the ecosystem through GEP accounting makes it possible to transform ecological advantages into economic advantages. It could help the local government and people to re-recognize the value of ecological resources and realize the beautiful vision of lucid waters and lush mountains as invaluable assets.

Evaluation and Analysis of the Gross Ecosystem Product towards the Sustainable Development Goals: A Case Study of Fujian Province, China

“…We found that this is related to the distribution characteristics of land use types and ecosystem types. This is consistent with the findings of Wang et al [57] and Zhou et al [58]. In response to the following results, we make several suggestions for the sustainable development of Fujian Province.…”

Spatial–Temporal Variations of the Gross Ecosystem Product under the Influence of the Spatial Spillover Effect of Urbanization and Ecological Construction in the Yangtze River Delta Region of China

“…In the process of the GEP estimation, based on the National Ecosystem assessment Guidelines for the gross ecosystem product and Technical specifications for the gross ecosystem product (GEP) for Terrestrial ecosystems in Zhejiang Province, the shadow engineering method, the market value method, and the alternative cost method [10,12,[40][41][42][43] were used to calculate the value of different ecological products. The regional differences and interannual variations in prices were taken into account for the accuracy of the results and the results of the calculations for different years were comparable.…”

Identifying and optimizing key areas provide insights for landscape ecological planning: A case study in Guangxi, China

“…The study of ecosystem value accounting is widely practiced in various nations, including the United States, Britain, Australia, etc. (Wang et al 2022a). Evaluation of the GEP makes it possible to identify and protect key sites of ecological assets.…”