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Journal of Environmental Accounting and Management 4(2) (2016) 115--127 | DOI:10.5890/JEAM.2016.06.003

Meng Xu$^{1}$,$^{2}$, Chunhui Li$^{1}$,$^{3}$, Nan Shen$^{1}$, Yanpeng Cai$^{3}$,$^{4}$, Xuan Wang$^{1}$,$^{3}$

$^{1}$ Key Lab of Water and Sediment Science, Ministry of Education, School of Environment, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, P R China

$^{2}$ School of Public Administration, Zhejiang University of Finance & Economics, Hangzhou 310018, P R China

$^{3}$ State Key Laboratory of Water Environment Simulation, School of Environment, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, P R China

$^{4}$ Institute for Energy, Environment and Sustainable Communities, University of Regina, 120, 2 Research Drive, Regina, Saskatchewan S4S 7H9, Canada

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Abstract

Eco-compensation is used to deal with varying eco-environmental issues associated with possible resources transfer. It aims to translate nonmarket values of any environmental services into real financial incentives for the concerned stakeholders. In this paper, an integrated ecocompensation approach was proposed based on ecosystem health assessment through incorporating the assessment results into the assessment criteria. Compensation ranges were identified and taken as the references to formulate short-, middle- and long-term eco-compensation targets. Then, Xin’an Drinking Water Reserve in China was used as a studying case, the calculated results of compensation amounts were (63.1, 122.9); (128.4, 192.5) and (195.2, 202.1) million RMB Yuan, respectively, under short-, middle- and long-terms. Through comparing results with those of the previous approaches, the developed approach have the following advantages: a) with the aim of ecological reclamation, the results based on the integrated approach could reflect the real costs needed for ecological recovery of the previously contaminated reserves; b) comparatively flexible since it can adjust its eco-compensation targets flexibly according to the practical situation for ecosystem recovery levels; and c) the value intervals could indicate the degrees of compensation inputs on the overall ecological recovery, thus the possible compensation targets could be established accordingly.

Acknowledgments

This research was supported by National Program on Key Basic Research Project (973 Program) (2010CB951104), Social Science Project of Zhejiang Province (12JCJJ10YB), Social Science Project of Education Department of Zhejiang Province (Sustainable Development of Coastal Areas based on Ecosystem Analysis)

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