College of Land Science and Technology, China Agriculture University, Beijing, 100193, China.
Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100101, China.
Ecol Appl. 2021 Jul;31(5):e02341. doi: 10.1002/eap.2341. Epub 2021 May 25.
Ecological compensation is an innovative and effective tool to explore the coordinated development of socioeconomic prosperity and ecological protection, especially for a watershed crossing different regions. It converts the externalities of ecosystem services into practical financial incentives for local stakeholders. This empirical study applies a quantitative policy evaluation approach to evaluate the environmental and economic effects of an ecological compensation policy, using the paddy land-to-dry land (PLDL) program implemented in China's Miyun Reservoir watershed as an example. The study is based on responses to a 2017 questionnaire regarding agricultural production inputs and outputs administered to 269 households in Hebei Province, where the PLDL program has been operational for over 10 yr. The results show that the program has reduced nitrogen usage by 24% on average in 2017 and decreased the total nitrogen emission load by 16.98 tons for the entire case area, which accounts for approximately 18.6% of the total nitrogen load reduction of the Miyun Reservoir basin. However, the upstream households involved in this program have experienced agricultural income losses higher than that allowed for by the current compensation criterion. Therefore, this paper discusses the factors that should be considered in the process of determining ecological compensation criteria. In particular, the paper proposes a differential compensation scheme based on the environmental effect at the individual level to avoid a standard payment for all households irrespective of their different contributions. This differential compensation payment scheme facilitates the fair treatment of environmental contributors and maximizes environmental benefits through an equitable allocation of limited ecological compensation funds. This study serves as a theoretical and practical reference for further improvement of the current ecological compensation policy in China. The study also sheds light on practices for estimating ecological compensation criteria and formulating ecological compensation policies for other regions or countries in the future.
生态补偿是探索经济社会繁荣与生态保护协调发展的一种创新而有效的手段，尤其对于跨区域的流域而言。它将生态系统服务的外部性转化为当地利益相关者的实际经济激励。本实证研究采用定量政策评估方法，以中国密云水库流域的耕地-非耕地（PLDL）项目为例，评估了生态补偿政策的环境和经济影响。该研究基于对河北省 269 户农户农业生产投入和产出的 2017 年问卷调查的回应，PLDL 项目在该地区已实施超过 10 年。研究结果表明，该项目在 2017 年平均减少了 24%的氮肥使用量，使整个案例区的总氮排放量减少了 16.98 吨，约占密云水库流域总氮负荷削减量的 18.6%。然而，参与该项目的上游农户的农业收入损失高于现行补偿标准允许的水平。因此，本文讨论了在确定生态补偿标准的过程中应考虑的因素。特别是，本文提出了一种基于个体层面环境效果的差异化补偿方案，以避免对所有农户按照统一标准进行支付，而不论其对环境的贡献程度如何。这种差异化补偿支付方案有助于公平对待环境贡献者，并通过公平分配有限的生态补偿资金来实现环境效益的最大化。本研究为进一步完善中国现行生态补偿政策提供了理论和实践参考。同时，该研究也为未来其他地区或国家估算生态补偿标准和制定生态补偿政策提供了借鉴。
