Computing payments for wind erosion prevention service incorporating ecosystem services flow and regional disparity in Yanchi County

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.03.361

Science of The Total Environment

Volume 674, 15 July 2019, Pages 563-579

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.03.361 Get rights and content

Highlights

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Wind erosion prevention service (WEPS) is an invisible protective service.
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ES flows can visualize the relationship between providers and beneficiaries of ESs.
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This relationship can be reflected in the physical and economic value flow of WEPS.
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Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES) aim to compensate the ES providers.
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A framework to compute the PES for WEPS based on ES flows and regional disparity.

Abstract

Simulating the flows of ecosystem services (ESs) can help understand their spatiotemporal flow paths from generation to use, thereby facilitating payments from beneficiaries to providers of ESs. In this study, an analytical framework incorporated with ES flows and regional disparity was established to compute payments for wind erosion prevention service (WEPS). The results showed that between 2010 and 2015, both the potential and actual wind erosion amounts in Yanchi County decreased considerably, and the total amount of sand fixed by WEPS decreased significantly from 3.71 × 10⁹ kg to 0.08 × 10⁹ kg; additionally, the economic value of the WEPS also decreased from CNY 479.46 million to CNY 10.22 million. Based on the spatiotemporal movements of the physical and economic value flows of the WEPS, this study revealed spatiotemporal relationships between areas providing and benefiting from the WEPS of Yanchi County and provided a direct, scientific basis for decision makers to formulate payment systems for WEPS. The total amount paid for WEPS by beneficiaries in China should theoretically be CNY 38.16 million in 2010 and CNY 1.00 million in 2015 based on the economic value flow of WEPS and the regional disparity coefficient. This framework can provide a scientific and objective basis for establishing horizontal ecological compensation policies.

Graphical abstract

Introduction

Flows of ecosystem services (ESs) emphasize the spatiotemporal correspondences between service providing areas (SPAs) and service benefiting areas (SBAs) (Turner et al., 2007; Jiang et al., 2016a; Goldenberg et al., 2017; Li et al., 2017; Bagstad et al., 2018). The flow paths are the carriers of the physical and economic value flows of ESs. Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES) aim to compensate the economic losses suffered by the ESs providers as a result of protecting the ESs by establishing a link between the providers and beneficiaries of ESs (Mudaca et al., 2015; Bennett and Gosnell, 2015), which just correspond to the SPAs and SBAs of ES flows. In addition, there is a lack of mature theories and methodologies for the determination of the compensation range, accounting standards and policy feasibility of PES (Dong et al., 2011). Theoretically, the compensation criteria of PES should be consistent with the ES economic value flows to guarantee the sustainability of ES supply (Xu et al., 2018b), and the PES are transferred from the ES beneficiaries to the ES providers, which is opposite to the economic value flow. However, PES are not only an economic compensation tool but also a political redistributive mechanism between different social groups and ESs users (Kumar et al., 2014) to balance the conservation goals and the development objectives of economy and society. Therefore, simulating flow paths of ESs from generation to use and determining the quantitative relationships between ESs and human welfare incorporating spatial disparity can facilitate the sustainability of natural resources and ESs and provide a scientific basis for PES (Bagstad et al., 2013; Serna-Chavez et al., 2014).

Wind erosion prevention service (WEPS) is the capacity of ecosystem vegetation to prevent and fix wind-blown sand (Roels et al., 2001) and is related to the reduction in sand and dust migration caused by wind erosion. The WEPS flows from the wind erosion source areas (the SPAs of WEPS) to the downwind areas (the SBAs of WEPS). The benefits of WEPS should ideally be compensated by the SBAs to the SPAs to balance the gap between the investments and costs of vegetation conservation. To calculate the benefits, the contribution of WEPS to reductions in the amount of wind erosion should be evaluated first. Currently, the Revised Wind Erosion Equation (RWEQ) developed by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is widely used for its strong practicability and comprehensive factors considered (Burgess et al., 1989; McTainsh et al., 1990; McTainsh et al., 1998; Fryrear et al., 1998). By correcting the parameters and adjusting the equation through constant examination and validation, Chinese researchers have demonstrated that the RWEQ model can be applied in the WEPS assessment in China. Du et al., 2015, Du et al., 2016 calculated the spatial distribution pattern of wind erosion in the farmland region in the Ningxia–Inner Mongolia reach of the Yellow River Basin using the RWEQ model. Jiang et al. (2016b) estimated the response of sand-fixing services to land-use changes in Inner Mongolia between 2000 and 2010 using the RWEQ model.

The identification of SBAs is also an essential step of both the analysis of flows of ESs and scheme formulation for PES. In regard to the areas benefiting from WEPS, the downwind SBAs in a wind erosion region can be determined by simulating the long-distance transport paths of sand and dust. Of the existing models, the Hybrid Single-Particle Lagrangian Integrated Trajectory (HYSPLIT) model is a professional model of relatively high operability developed by the Air Research Laboratory (ARL) of the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to calculate and analyze the transport and diffusion paths of atmospheric pollutants and has been extensively used to study the transport and diffusion of various types of pollutants (Draxler, 2000; Zhang et al., 2018; Zong et al., 2018; Arif et al., 2017; Li et al., 2018), including sand and dust (Draxler et al., 2001; Escudero et al., 2006; Rashki et al., 2015). The existing studies on sand and dust dispersion paths just establish spatiotemporal relationships between wind erosion regions and wind erosion-affected regions from a perspective of flows of ESs (Xiao et al., 2017; Xu et al., 2018a; Xu et al., 2018b). However, they do not determine the ecological compensation range, standards and payers of WEPS quantitatively by incorporating ES flows and PES. Therefore, there is a lack of PES for WEPS.

Yanchi County is located in a transition zone from semiarid to arid areas, which experiences serious drought, less precipitation, strong winds and severe grassland desertification and is the high-incidence center for sandstorms for both Ningxia and China. The implementation of ecological engineering projects has decreased the desertification degree and sand transport effects in Yanchi County (Cui et al., 2012). The ecosystems in Yanchi County are sensitive to human disturbances because they are situated in the ecologically fragile area of northern China. Yanchi County is also located in an area known for sand storms in northwestern China. Therefore, WEPS is important for the local area and the eastern part of China. However, the economic interests of farmers and herders have been hindered by vegetation conservation, which reduces their development opportunity and should ideally be compensated by the SBAs of WEPS. To provide a scientific basis for the formulation of PES policies for WEPS that are not only suited for Yanchi County, we established an analytical framework to compute the payments for wind erosion prevention service based on ES flows and regional disparity.

Section snippets

Study area

Yanchi County is located in the eastern part of the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region (37°04′ - 38°10′ E, 106°30′ - 107°41′ N) (Fig. 1) and belongs to a typical transition zone between the Loess Plateau in the south and the hilly region of the Ordos Mesa in the north, with a total area of 8661 km² (Wang et al., 2014). Yanchi County connects with the Mu Us Desert in the north and has always been one of the most serious desertification areas in China. The climate of Yanchi County is a typical

Identification of service beneficiary areas of wind erosion prevention service in Yanchi County

Under potential wind erosion conditions, there were 99 and 45 wind speed records exceeding the WS_{threshold_bl} (≥4.88 m/s) in 2010 and 2015, respectively, corresponding to 99 and 45 potential wind erosion paths, respectively. Under actual wind erosion conditions, there were 81 and 39 wind speed records exceeding the WS_{threshold_gl} (≥5.17 m/s) in 2010 and 2015, respectively, corresponding to 81 and 39 actual wind erosion paths, respectively (Fig. 4).

Based on the interpolation of flow

Implications for decision making

PES have received considerable attention from policy makers with the intention of bridging the gap between the private interests of ESs contributors and beneficiaries and have already been widely used in ESs management related to carbon, water resources, forests, landscapes and biodiversity (Ingram et al., 2014). However, payments for the WEPS have not yet occurred, mainly attributed to the lack of a scientific eco-compensation standard. In addtion, the research on ES flows is still in the

Conclusions

Movement of the physical and economic value flows of ESs can facilitate the determination of the spatiotemporal realizations of its benefits and can completely reveal its flow process. By calculating the amount of wind erosion prevented by the WEPS of Yanchi County as well as simulating the flow paths of the WEPS, this study identified the SBAs in 2010 and 2015 and mapped the physical and economic value flow of the WEPS and then determined the payments for WEPS incorporating regional disparity

Acknowledgments

This study was sponsored by the National Key Research & Development Program of China (2016YFC0503403 and 2016YFC0503706), the Demonstration Project for Industrial Integration and Development (YES-16-10-1001), the Science and Technology Innovation Pilot Fund Project of Ningxia Academy of Agriculture and Forestry Sciences (nkyz-16-1001) and the Strategic Priority Research Program of Chinese Academy of Sciences (XDA20020402).

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Computing payments for wind erosion prevention service incorporating ecosystem services flow and regional disparity in Yanchi County

Highlights

Abstract

Graphical abstract

Introduction

Section snippets

Study area

Identification of service beneficiary areas of wind erosion prevention service in Yanchi County

Implications for decision making

Conclusions

Acknowledgments

Ecosyst. Serv.

Appl. Geogr.

Ecol. Econ.

Sci. Total Environ.

Environ. Res.

J. Environ. Sci.

Atmos. Environ.

Aeolian Res.

Ecol. Indic.

Ecol. Econ.

Sci. Total Environ.

Trans. Chin. Soc. Agric. Eng.

Ecosyst. Serv.

Ecol. Indic.

Ecosyst. Serv.

Ecol. Indic.

Sci. Total Environ.

J. Arid Environ.

Glob. Planet. Chang.

Forest Policy Econ.

Aeolian Res.

Sci. Total Environ.

Ecol. Indic.

Atmos. Environ.

Energy Policy