Ecosystem services valuation seeks to increase the social relevance of ecosystem characteristics, the underlying biological mechanisms that support services, by making the contribution of ecosystems to human well-bein...Ecosystem services valuation seeks to increase the social relevance of ecosystem characteristics, the underlying biological mechanisms that support services, by making the contribution of ecosystems to human well-being explicit. Economic valuation can help management by clarifying the full range of benefits and costs of proposed management actions. In the past two decades, economic valuation of wetland ecosystem services has become one of the most significant scientific priorities for wetland protection. In this paper, we provide an overview of ecosystem services, and summarize the main interdisciplinary approaches to measure and value wetland ecosystem services. We identified four main methodological gaps preventing progress on wetland valuation of ecosystem services in China, which are: 1) confusion on terminology like intermediate and final ecosystem services, 2) lack of ecological production functions to link ecosystem characteristics to final ecosystem services, 3) static valuation making it difficult to evaluate the trade-offs and synergies among ecosystem services, and 4) lack of clear guidance on relating ecological compensation programs to conservation targets. Overcoming these gaps is important to inform wetland compensation mechanisms and conservation policies. We propose future research on wetland ecosystem services in China should be focused on: 1) defining final ecosystem services based on beneficiary preferences and underlying biophysical mechanisms, 2) establishing wetland monitoring programs at specific sites to collect data on final ecosystem service indicators and ecosystem characteristic metrics to create ecological production functions for economic valuation and rescaling techniques, and 3) incorporating wetland ecosystem service values into decision-making processes to inform wetland management.展开更多
Based on multi-source data,this paper evaluated the economic value of ecological services in the Yeyahu Wetland Nature Reserve,Beijing,China.The ecological services of wetland included gas regulation,water quality im-...Based on multi-source data,this paper evaluated the economic value of ecological services in the Yeyahu Wetland Nature Reserve,Beijing,China.The ecological services of wetland included gas regulation,water quality im-provement,biodiversity maintenance,erosion control,water supply,recreational opportunity,raw material supply and existence value.Multiple conventional evaluation methods were used to calculate the value of eight wetland services.The results showed that significant values came from biodiversity maintenance and recreational opportunity.The main reasons were as follows.Firstly,Yeyahu Wetland Nature Reserve was the habitat for migrant birds,and government had payed more efforts to protect precious birds.Secondly,the population is large in Beijing.People enjoyed going outside and enjoyed the natural and artificial wetland scenes.At the same time,most people were prepared to pay for wetland conservation.The decline of vegetation cover made the economic value of erosion control the lowest.While the shrink of water resource and the deteriorative water quality caused the economic value of water supply lower.The evaluation results could help decision-makers understand the present status of the Yeyahu Wetland Nature Reserve and provide a scientific basis for strategic decision.展开更多
基金Under the auspices of Forestry Nonprofit Industry Scientific Research Special Project(No.201204201)National Key Technology Research and Development Program of China(No.2011BAJ07B05)
文摘Ecosystem services valuation seeks to increase the social relevance of ecosystem characteristics, the underlying biological mechanisms that support services, by making the contribution of ecosystems to human well-being explicit. Economic valuation can help management by clarifying the full range of benefits and costs of proposed management actions. In the past two decades, economic valuation of wetland ecosystem services has become one of the most significant scientific priorities for wetland protection. In this paper, we provide an overview of ecosystem services, and summarize the main interdisciplinary approaches to measure and value wetland ecosystem services. We identified four main methodological gaps preventing progress on wetland valuation of ecosystem services in China, which are: 1) confusion on terminology like intermediate and final ecosystem services, 2) lack of ecological production functions to link ecosystem characteristics to final ecosystem services, 3) static valuation making it difficult to evaluate the trade-offs and synergies among ecosystem services, and 4) lack of clear guidance on relating ecological compensation programs to conservation targets. Overcoming these gaps is important to inform wetland compensation mechanisms and conservation policies. We propose future research on wetland ecosystem services in China should be focused on: 1) defining final ecosystem services based on beneficiary preferences and underlying biophysical mechanisms, 2) establishing wetland monitoring programs at specific sites to collect data on final ecosystem service indicators and ecosystem characteristic metrics to create ecological production functions for economic valuation and rescaling techniques, and 3) incorporating wetland ecosystem service values into decision-making processes to inform wetland management.
基金Under the auspices of National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 40771170)Beijing Municipal Natural Science Foundation (No. 8082010)
文摘Based on multi-source data,this paper evaluated the economic value of ecological services in the Yeyahu Wetland Nature Reserve,Beijing,China.The ecological services of wetland included gas regulation,water quality im-provement,biodiversity maintenance,erosion control,water supply,recreational opportunity,raw material supply and existence value.Multiple conventional evaluation methods were used to calculate the value of eight wetland services.The results showed that significant values came from biodiversity maintenance and recreational opportunity.The main reasons were as follows.Firstly,Yeyahu Wetland Nature Reserve was the habitat for migrant birds,and government had payed more efforts to protect precious birds.Secondly,the population is large in Beijing.People enjoyed going outside and enjoyed the natural and artificial wetland scenes.At the same time,most people were prepared to pay for wetland conservation.The decline of vegetation cover made the economic value of erosion control the lowest.While the shrink of water resource and the deteriorative water quality caused the economic value of water supply lower.The evaluation results could help decision-makers understand the present status of the Yeyahu Wetland Nature Reserve and provide a scientific basis for strategic decision.
