The Chinese characteristics of payments for ecosystem services: a conceptual analysis of water eco-compensation mechanisms

摘要

The applications of payments for ecosystem/environmental services (PES) are diverse. However, the changing characteristics of these applications in different contexts have not been adequately elucidated. This article provides a conceptual analysis of China's water eco-compensation mechanism (ECM), a notion reported in the PES literature, through the lens of public-private, state-market, central-local and interjurisdictional relationships. It argues that the water ECM is essentially a state-centric utilitarian approach to mediating regional conflicts and inequalities. The Chinese practices of water ECM indicate an alternative approach to incentive-based conservation, highlighting the potential of integrating government-led instruments with market-oriented mechanisms in the development of a PES framework.