This paper addresses the question of whether the Hang Kong government made a rational economic decision when it decided to set aside land to develop a Wetland Park, or whether it should have used the land for alternat...This paper addresses the question of whether the Hang Kong government made a rational economic decision when it decided to set aside land to develop a Wetland Park, or whether it should have used the land for alternative commercial developments. Different analytical methods are used to estimate the economic value of the environmental benefits of the Wetland Park： the Value Transfer Method is used to estimate the economic value oJ the ecological services provided by the Park. the Direct Market Price analysis for the economic value of the goods purchased in the Wetland Park, the Hedonic Housing Price Analysis for the value of the Park to those residing in its proximity, the Travel Cost and Contingent Valuation Method for the value of the Park to the visitors, and the Contingent Valuation for the Passive （Nonuse） Values of the Park. These benefits are compared to the opportunity cost of the land and the cost of running the Wetland Park. The article concludes that if a rate of 5% or less is used to discount fiture costs and benefits, we would find that the government＇s decision to set aside land for a Wetland Park was economically sound while using a discount rate of 6% or more shows that it was not.展开更多
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
文摘This paper addresses the question of whether the Hang Kong government made a rational economic decision when it decided to set aside land to develop a Wetland Park, or whether it should have used the land for alternative commercial developments. Different analytical methods are used to estimate the economic value of the environmental benefits of the Wetland Park： the Value Transfer Method is used to estimate the economic value oJ the ecological services provided by the Park. the Direct Market Price analysis for the economic value of the goods purchased in the Wetland Park, the Hedonic Housing Price Analysis for the value of the Park to those residing in its proximity, the Travel Cost and Contingent Valuation Method for the value of the Park to the visitors, and the Contingent Valuation for the Passive （Nonuse） Values of the Park. These benefits are compared to the opportunity cost of the land and the cost of running the Wetland Park. The article concludes that if a rate of 5% or less is used to discount fiture costs and benefits, we would find that the government＇s decision to set aside land for a Wetland Park was economically sound while using a discount rate of 6% or more shows that it was not.
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.
