Using Ecosystem Service Flows to Inform Ecological Compensation: Theory & Application

Abstract

Ecological compensation is a crucial policy instrument that realigns the benefits of stakeholders to the ecosystem service provision. However, the spatial disconnections between locations where ecosystem services produced and used are common. The supply and demand for ecosystem services are calculated to reflect the status of the districts or counties based on ecosystem service flows. The replacement cost methods provide necessary technical supports for the calculation of compensation funds. The realigning of compensation funds between service-benefiting areas and service-providing areas not only identifies the beneficiaries and suppliers but also realizes the connection between them, which may be a feasible methodology. Fuzhou City is the study area, and two ecosystem services of water conservation and soil retention were taken into consideration. The prioritized development zone, Linchuan, and the key agricultural production zones paid ecological compensation funds. Linchuan paid the highest, 5.76 billion yuan. The key ecological function zones and the key agricultural production zones received the ecological compensation funds, of which Yihuang obtained the highest, 1.66 billion yuan. The realigning of compensation funds between the service benefiting and providing areas addresses the trade-offs between ecosystem services, social development, and ecosystem protection. Embedding the ecosystem service flows into the ecological compensation mechanism can most truly realize the value of ecosystem services, achieve the “beneficiary pays” principle, and be conducive to regional sustainable development.

Complex regional telecoupling between people and nature revealed via quantification of trans‐boundary ecosystem service flows

“…Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan), potentially achieving costeffective carbon emissions reduction. Ecological compensation could be included into these schemes to address trade-offs between economic development and ecosystem protection (Gao et al, 2020).…”

Market-based instruments for ecosystem services: framework and case study in Lishui City, China

“…Besides that, farmers with contracting rights or management rights can also serve as ES providers (Engel et al 2008). Except for the directional flow or in situ, it is difficult to identify the providers and beneficiaries of ES (Burkhard et al 2014;Serna-Chaveza et al 2014;Gao et al 2020a).…”

“…ES are benefits produced by ecosystems, but since most ES are public goods, governments as agents need to purchase ES (Gao et al 2019). The payment standard can be determined according to the ecological protection input, opportunity cost, or value of ES (Zhou et al 2019;Gao et al 2020a). Since the government is the primary supplier of ecological compensation policies for ecological public welfare forests, the compensation funds mainly come from government finances.…”

“…In the future, further research is needed around ecosystem service accounting and ecosystem service flow (Gao et al 2020a). The good news is that in recent years, China has actively promoted the pilot work of the value realization mechanism of ES, which will actively promote the construction of China's ecological civilization.…”

Calculation of Ecological Compensation Standards for Arable Land Based on the Value Flow of Support Services

“…It is often linked to regional development in order to improve the effectiveness and sustainability of compensation [14,15]. In recent years, many scholars have carried out extensive research on the basic theories [16], systems [17][18][19], compensation standards [20] and implementation mechanisms of ecological compensation. They have made positive progress in areas such as forests [21,22], grasslands [23,24], wetlands [25,26], watersheds [27,28] and national parks [29].…”