Determining the Ecological Compensation Standards for Water Resources in the Yellow River Basin Using Opportunity Cost and Ecosystem Service Value Accounting

Abstract

【Objective】 Ecological compensation for water resources is a policy to improve sustainable use of water resources in regional and catchment scales. The purpose of this paper is to present a method to determine the ecological compensation standards for water resources in the Yellow River basin. 【Method】 The study is based on data collected from 2018—2022 in nine provinces within the basin. The low and upper limit in the ecological compensation standard for water resources in the basin are calculated using the cost method and the ecological service value evaluation method, respectively. 【Result】 The calculation shows that the total cost of the compensated area in the upstream reach from 2018 to 2021 is in the range of 256 149 to 312 152 million Yuan, and the associated total ecosystem service value is in the range of 5 485 795 to 5 889 577 million Yuan. The lower limit in the total ecological compensation amount in the compensated area ranges from 12 184 to 14 848 million Yuan, and the upper limit varies from 260 938 to 280 144 million Yuan. The provincial contribution to the compensation is 5.90% for Shanxi, 50.26% for Shandong, 34.39% for Henan and 9.49% for Shaanxi. 【Conclusion】 The accounting results calculated by the proposed method correctly reflect the costs that need to be paid by each province in the upper reaches of the basin in order to protect water resources and improve ecological benefits to the whole basin. The method can be used to determine ecological compensation standards for water resource use in other basins and regions.

Keywords

• ecological compensation standard
• opportunity cost
• ecosystem service
• yellow river basin