Markets For Ecoystem Services In China

This report documents recent policy innovations for the conservation and management of ecosystem services in China. Policymakers have become increasingly interested in developing new approaches to address China's multiplying conservation challenges and resource constraints in face of break-neck economic growth. This has led China's central and local governments to rapidly expand the range of policy and program innovations, many under the broad heading of "eco-compensation," that are laying the groundwork for the development of ecosystem services markets. In particular, local governments have been important contributors to this process, rapidly adapting centrally designed "eco-compensation" programs to their own needs, creating "hybrids"--programs that weave together and draw upon multiple central and provincial policies and funding sources--and creating their own distinct initiatives that often feed back into central government policy development. While not an exhaustive account of all payments (PES) and markets (MES) for ecosystem services in China, it provides an overview of a range of policy innovations for watershed ecosystem services, carbon markets, forest conservation, improving landscape amenities, biodiversity conservation and anti-desertification. The results of this report suggest that there are tremendous opportunities to draw lessons from the significant degree of local innovation that is occurring and to connect innovations from around the globe to inform developments in China.

This paper was originally produced for the "International Conference on Payments for Environmental Services," held in Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region in China on 6-7 September 2009, and jointly hosted by the People's Republic of China's National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Environmental Protection, the government of Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, and the Asian Development Bank (ADB). It is part of the full volume of conference proceedings published by ADB in December 2010, entitled "Payments for Ecological Services and Eco-Compensation: Practices and Innovations in the People's Republic of China".

Faced with intensified ecological crisis, the Chinese government has sought policy interventions to reverse its forest degradation. Among the policy instruments is the Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES) that aims to transform the pattern of traditional forest management and protection and to encourage forest sustainable use by financial incentive. This book provides a policy evaluation on the payment schemes for forest ecosystem services in China. It examines PES schemes with respect to ecological effectiveness, economic and livelihood impacts, participation of local people, and the interlinkages with forest tenure reform. The evaluation is based on different cases across China's main forested regions. The implementation of payment schemes in China shows improvements in forest management and protection and an incentive-based governance method is employed instead of 'command and control'. New forest use practices are also created to couple local livelihood requirements with ecological conservation. In addition, local farmers are more and more involved in the implementation of payment schemes. Providing a comprehensive assessment of payment policies for ecosystem services in China, this book will be of great interest to policy-makers and government advisers in China, international donor agencies, and academics and students with an interest in PES and forest governance.

"Ecosystem Services and Management Strategy in China" is a two-year international cooperation project that culminated from the China Council for International Cooperation on Environment and Development’s Task Force on Ecosystem Services and Management. It combines case studies, scenario analysis, and stakeholder consultations that focus on Chinese forest, grassland and wetland ecosystems and assesses the economic and social benefits of sustainable ecosystems management. It also identifies better practices in ecosystem management from Chinese and international experience and recommends a more intensive integration of ecosystem services into decision-making processes. In November 2010, the Task Force presented five strategic policy proposals for the implementation of sustainable management for Chinese ecosystems. These proposals were extremely well-received by senior decision makers and have since been adopted by national government agencies. The book represents a valuable reference work for researchers and professionals working in related areas. Professor Yiyu Chen worked as president at the National Natural Science Foundation of China from 2004 to early 2013 and is Member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Professor Beate Jessel works as president at the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation, Germany. Professor Bojie Fu works at the Research Center of Eco-Environment Sciences, CAS and is Member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Professor Xiubo Yu works at the Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Dr.Jamie Pittock is a Senior Lecturer at the Fenner School of Environment and Society, Australian National University, Australia.

This article provides an analytical overview of major works on the topic of environmental governance in China, with a particular emphasis on studies examining policies during the reform era (post-1978).

This book provides a comprehensive yet accessible overview of land systems vulnerability assessment in Asia - fundamental to the understanding of the link between global change, environmental sustainability and human wellbeing. The extent and intensity of human interactions with the environment have increased spectacularly since the Industrial Revolution. Thus, the global change research community and development practitioners increasingly recognize the need to address the adverse consequences of changes taking place in the structure and function of the biosphere and the implications for society. With a focus on Asia, this book provides an overview of the vulnerability of land systems and the subsequent multiple stressors in this region. The book offers a discussion surrounding the potential causal processes that affect land systems vulnerability and our capacity to cope with different perturbations. It also identifies factors that help to integrate vulnerability assessment into policy and decision-making. • Addresses the complex issues arising from human–environment interactions that cannot be satisfactorily dealt with by core disciplinary methods alone. • Key coverage of a variety of topics from the vulnerability of smallholder agriculture and urban systems to the impact of socioeconomic processes at the sub-regional level. • Coverage of the causal processes that affect land systems vulnerability and capacity to cope with different perturbations are documented. • Focus on integrating vulnerability assessment into policies and decision-making • Includes contributions from leading academics in the field.

Policy makers in the People's Republic of China have been experimenting with new approaches to environmental management, resulting in a wide array of policy and program innovations under the broad heading of eco-compensation. Many of these are market-based instruments, particularly payments for ecological services---currently an emerging policy debate regarding the extent to which beneficiaries should pay, and the providers should be compensated---for the provision of natural resources and environmental services to promote sustainable, balanced growth. These proceedings are a collection of papers presented at the International Conference on Payments for Ecological Services convened in Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region in September 2009 to support eco-compensation programs in the country.