Application of payment for ecosystem services in China's rangeland conservation: a social-ecological system resilience perspective

摘要

Payment for ecosystem services (PES) has been adopted by the Chinese government over the past decade as a mechanism to combat regional-scale rangcland degradation. We analyzed some fundamental problems associated with PES application in rangcland management from the perspective of social-ecological system (SES) resilience by using as a case study he PES project of "retire livestock to restore rangcland" in Inner Mongolia. The study findings demonstrated that PES project resulted in obvious negativeimpacts on local pastoralists' livelihood and society networks without achieving any substantial rangcland restoration. Such failures arc rooted in that PES strategy in which the logic of using cash to purchase ecological services, fragmented and simplified the localized and diverse relationship within the SES thereby weaken its resilience. We concluded that PES should be aimed at SES function and improve its resilience during disturbances, and not just simply focus on maintaining ecological service. Inthis sense, we argue for the use of Payment for SES Resilience instead of Payment for Ecological Services in the future.