Wetland Ecosystem Services, Revenue and Customs

摘要

In 2005 the ADB team and the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region Government (NHAR) and its Finance Department designed an integrated ecosystem management (IEM) approach for the sustainable use of natural resources in the Yinchuan plain and piedmont which included the introduction conservation agriculture,alternative livelihoods and water use productivity through diversification into higher value crops,interventions for habitat restoration,wetlands protection,ecotourism,biodiversity conservation,carbon sequestration,and management and commercialization of wildlife,and lastly an ecosystem monitoring system.A strong tenant behind the strategy was to develop systems that incorporated commercial market based returns linked to responsibility for sustaining ecosystems and habitats.Marketbased economic incentive mechanisms need to incorporate local social,political,legal and cultural complexities into their design and practice.Economic incentives on their own are unlikely to transform local cultural,ethical and behavioural traits towards environmental stewardship and citizenship.Many choices made by today's managers based on commercial realities will favour short run profits supported by actions that are likely to act against conservation options.The most expedient ecosystem conservation options have already been taken and in future the economic opportunity costs of conservation will be higher.In China,like elsewhere the indirect values of water ecosystem services is higher than their direct value (product supply) including water supply for daily uses,industry and agriculture and other economic sections,hydro-power generation,navigation,and aquatic products.These trends are even more significant when they involve the benefits of real estate development built on wetland aesthetics,and arcadian preferences of urban investors or golf course developers.This paper discusses financing of wetland management especially in NHAR,in the context of their current management and the future benefits and options to improve environmental and cultural outcomes as well as revenues and markets in carbon,water,biodiversity,and bundled ecosystem services.