The quantification and valuation of ecosystem services

This paper explores differences between economic and ecological criteria for identifying, measuring, and evaluating ecosystem services. It argues that economic stakeholders (user groups) generally do well in identifying these services and assigning prices to them. These prices arise spontaneously in—and serve to coordinate—market activity related to the environment. The relevant ecological information which markets gather and apply tends to be dispersed, contingent, particular, local, transitory, and embedded in institutions and practices. Ecologists and other scientists, in contrast, often seek to understand how ecosystems work and which populations and processes provide ecosystem services. The knowledge science seeks, unlike the information markets gather, tends to be centralized, collaborative, collective, and consensus-based; science pursues concepts and principles that are timeless and general rather than ephemeral and site-specific. The paper contrasts the dispersed and decentralized information organized by markets with the collective and centralized knowledge characteristic of science. The paper argues that the conceptual distance between market-based and science-based methods of assembling information and applying knowledge defeats efforts to determine the “value” of ecosystem services in any integrated sense.     

Comprehensive evaluation of regional ecological security for land use: a case study of Yanchi County, Ningxia Province

As an abstract study conception, most researches of ecological security generally are macro-scale theoretical study with a regional, national or global perspective. Micro-scale research mainly concentrates on ecological risk, ecosystem health and ecosystem safety. In order to assess regional ecological security and to accomplish the transition from micro-scale to macro-scale research, a Driving-Function-State-Output-Respond model framework （DFSOR model） is put forward in this paper according to the analyses on regional population, society, economy resources, environment and ecological risks＇. In empirical research an index system is set out to evaluate ecological security of land use. The DFSOR model comprises five group of indicators： （1） driving indicators, which include social population pressure and economic pressure; （2）function indicators, which include human function, hydrodynamic function, wind function and gravity.function; （3） state indicators, which include soil resources, water resources and land use/land cover; （4） output indicators, which include production output and ecological risk output; （5） response indicators, which are composed of all sorts of policies and measures for improving production of ecosystem. The method and procedure for ecological security evaluation is put forward based on DFSOR model as well. In the case study, Yanchi, the ecotone between agriculture and animal husbandry, is chosen for the study. An index system is built to evaluate ecological security based on the evaluation of regional ecological risks which including sandification, water erosion, soil salinization, soil pollution and shortage of water. The comprehensive evaluation result shows the regional ecological security index of land use in the research area increase obviously. But it is still in the state of low-graded danger.     

Privacy and security concerns in online health services

There is a growing interest in Internet privacy and security concerns. This article investigates Internet privacy and security concerns to determine whether such concerns hinder online health service use under different policies that enhance privacy and security protection. Empirical findings show a negative association between online privacy and security concerns and the use of online health services. Regulations enhancing customers’ privacy and security moderate the negative relation.     

Efficient ecosystem services and naturalness in an ecological/economic model

In an integrated economic/ecological model, the economy benefits from ecosystem services that include: (1) the consumptive use of a harvested species, (2) the non-consumptive use of popular species, and (3) naturalness, i.e., the divergence of the ecosystem’s biodiversity from its natural steady state. The biological component of the model, which is applied to a nine-species Alaskan marine ecosystem, relies on individual optimizing behaviour by plants and animals to establish population dynamics. The biological component is used to define naturalness. By varying harvesting we arrive at different steady-state populations and humans choose from among these steady states. Welfare maximizing levels of the ecosystem services are derived, then it is shown that in the laissez-faire economy overharvesting occurs when the harvesting industry ignores ecosystem services (2) and (3). Lastly, we introduce efficiency restoring taxes and standards that internalize the ecosystem externalities.

Measuring economic loss caused by ecological damages： a case study of China＇s forest ecosystem in 2005

At present about 60% of ecosystem has been damaged and degraded severely, resulting in enormous ecological loss globally. The essential cause is the irrational utilization of ecosystem by humankind, so it is tire key to changing improper environmental performance of humankind so as to prevent ecosystem from being damaged The quantitative valuation on the loss of ecological damage is an effective tool to guide human eco-environmental performance. In this paper, the concepts related to the valuation on ecological damage cost are introduced,＂ uncertainties that might arise in the valuation on the loss of ecological damage such as area coverage of valuation, ecological damage quantity, borders of ecological damage cost and data support are analyzed and the valuation approaches for the loss of ecological damage are also discussed As a case study, the economic losses of ecological damage of forest in 2005 in China are valuated.     

The forms of ecological logistics and its relationship under the globalization

The logistics system is a complex ecosystem. Ecological logistics （EL） is development trend of modern logistics, and of important practical significance. Effective use of resources and environmental protection should be put in the top position of logistics development. To strengthen research on logistics ecologization and realize ecological and analyzes their relationship.     

Integrating ecosystem services into conservation assessments: A review

A call has been made for conservation planners to include ecosystem services into their assessments of conservation priority areas. The need to develop an integrated approach to meeting different conservation objectives and a shift in focus towards human wellbeing are some of the motivations behind this call. There is currently no widely accepted approach to planning for ecosystem services. This study contributes towards the development of this approach through a review of conservation assessments and the extent to which they include ecosystem services. Of the 476 conservation assessments identified by a set of search terms on the Web of Science, 100 were randomly selected for this review. Of these only seven had included ecosystem services, while another 13 had referred to ecosystem services as a rationale for conservation without including them in the assessment. The majority of assessments were based on biodiversity pattern data while 19 used data on ecological processes. A total of 11 of these 19 assessments used processes, which could be linked to services. Ecosystem services have witnessed an increase in attention received in conservation assessments since the year 2000, however trends were not apparent beyond this date. In order to assess which types of ecosystem services and how they have been accounted for in conservation assessments, we extended our review to include an additional nine conservation assessments which included ecosystem services. The majority included cultural ecosystem services, followed by regulatory, provisioning and supporting services respectively. We conclude with an analysis of the constraints and opportunities for the integration of ecosystem services into conservation assessments and highlight the urgent need for an appropriate framework for planning for ecosystem services.     

Valuation of the ecosystem services: A psycho-cultural perspective

Valuation of ecosystems services has been a challenging issue for economists. There is a growing concern to capture the total and incremental changes in services of different types of ecosystems, mainly, due to perturbations arising from anthropogenic activities. Market-based valuation techniques have long been declared inadequate and a constructed market method such as the contingent valuation method albeit a robust tool does not seem to capture the expanse, nuances, and intricacies of many of the ecosystem services. The paper attempts to address the lacunae in valuation of ecosystem services from a psychological perspective by arguing that the common person's perception of the ecosystem is quite different from what is conceptualized by conventional economists. The paper shows how the ecological identity of individuals is revealed at various levels of the decision-making hierarchy that is, from local to regional and further onto a global level. The paper builds upon insights from psychoanalytic psychology and environmental-psychology. Further, it outlines recent research findings from experimental psychology to redefine concepts such as ecological identity, self-other dichotomy, and the fostering of identification with nature, as issues that must be embraced in the valuation of ecosystem services. Extending the idea of relational goods and reciprocity, the paper offers a deconstructed view of market forces and furthers the idea of interdisciplinary collaboration and cooperation in the valuation of ecosystem services. In this perspective the dichotomy and schism between markets, missing markets and non-markets, gets renovated and reconstructed beyond a utilitarian discourse.     

Indices of biotic integrity in stated preference valuation of aquatic ecosystem services

Stated preference surveys often give minimal attention to distinctions between intermediate and final ecosystem services, leading to the potential for welfare estimates that overlook, misrepresent or double count associated values. This paper illustrates potential mechanisms through which multimetric indexes of the type developed in the ecological literature, here an index of biotic integrity, can be used within stated preference survey scenarios to both improve the validity of survey responses and provide otherwise unavailable information on willingness to pay for intermediate and final ecosystem services. We illustrate the approach using a choice experiment application to the restoration of migratory fish in a Rhode Island watershed. Where assumptions of the model hold, results can allow transparent disentanglement and estimation of marginal values for both intermediate and final ecosystem services.     

Defining and classifying ecosystem services for decision making

The concept of ecosystems services has become an important model for linking the functioning of ecosystems to human welfare. Understanding this link is critical for a wide-range of decision-making contexts. While there have been several attempts to come up with a classification scheme for ecosystem services, there has not been an agreed upon, meaningful and consistent definition for ecosystem services. In this paper we offer a definition of ecosystem services that is likely to be operational for ecosystem service research and several classification schemes. We argue that any attempt at classifying ecosystem services should be based on both the characteristics of the ecosystems of interest and a decision context for which the concept of ecosystem services is being mobilized. Because of this there is not one classification scheme that will be adequate for the many contexts in which ecosystem service research may be utilized. We discuss several examples of how classification schemes will be a function of both ecosystem and ecosystem service characteristics and the decision-making context.     

A matter of opinion—How ecological and neoclassical environmental economists and think about sustainability and economics

The differing paradigms of ecological and neoclassical environmental economics have been described in various articles and books and are also embedded in different professional associations. However, we cannot take for granted that the paradigm debates described in the literature are actually mirrored in exactly the same way in the perceptions and opinions of researchers looking at sustainability from an economic perspective. This paper presents empirical results from a German case study on how economists and others involved in sustainability research from different schools of thought think about the issues of sustainability and economics, how they group around these issues, how they feel about the current scientific divide, and what they expect to be future topics of sustainability research.We analyze the data using cluster analysis. Based on a literature survey, we generated forty sustainability economics-related statements and asked 196 sustainability researchers about their degree of agreement or disagreement with these statements. In evaluating our survey results, we discuss to what extent the clusters that we identified do—or do not—represent the two schools of thought of ecological and neoclassical environmental economics. We also propose some fields of research that can help to bridge the gaps amongst sustainability economics researchers while clearly marking others that are more suitable for a scientific ‘competition of ideas’. Key results of the study are: We identify two primary scientific clusters, one clearly confirming the existence of the ecological-economics school of thought, and the other largely capturing the neoclassical environmental view. Yet, there are some surprising exceptions: Both schools of thought share a conceptual definition of sustainability that is integrative in considering ecological, societal and economic dimensions (‘three pillar concept’) and is geared at preserving the development potentials of society. We also find a shared critique of ‘pure economic growth’ strategies in our sample. These shared opinions may provide bridging concepts between the schools of thought. Also both clusters agree with respect to a wide range of future fields of sustainability economics research. Yet, the research agenda of the ecological-economics cluster contains a large number of additional topics, primarily related to social, distributional and evolutionary aspects of sustainable development. Strong divides between the clusters that seem to be more suitable for a scientific competition of ideas are primarily related to the question of how to achieve sustainability, including appropriate environmental policies.     

我国环保产业研究现状及尚需探讨的几个问题

本文在总结目前我国环保产业研究现状的基础上,认为中国环保产业的要想得到理论研究的指导,就不能回避对几个问题进行深入的探讨,即当前我国环保产业内涵的界定;环保产业的价值和评价体系;我国环保产业发展的特有规律;中国加入WTO对我国的环保产业的影响。     

关于提升生态产品价值实现路径的思考

通过梳理我国主要生态系统各类生态产品的价值实现路径及存在问题，发现供给类和文化类生态产品可直接进行市场交易，地方行政管理者为其价值实现路径推进主体，调节类生态产品难以直接进行市场交易，必须由国家进行统筹管理。为进一步推进我国各类生态产品价值市场化，提出加快开展现有生态产品价值评估技术标准整合完善，探索实施政府特许经营、政府购买服务等形式的生态修复项目，丰富“蓝碳、海水淡化”等服务交易标的，探索建立湿地银行、生物多样性银行，开展生态旅游区精细化管控，推进供给类产品绿色生产模式等工作建议。     

辽西地区生态旅游刍议

本文从生态旅游的角度对辽西旅游资源进行了分析，并针对辽西地区生态旅游资源开发不足。品牌形象不突出等问题提出了建议及对策。     

Application of ecological footprint in ecological industrial systems：a study case of maize-MSG production systems

To improve the comparability of the research results of ecological industry, the ecological footprint is appliedto analyze the resource utilization and environmental pollution in various subsystems, taking maize-MSG as a case.Results show that the production process from maize to MSG is a extended process of ecological footprint, and that theecological footprint of the maize production is the biggest; the extension of ecological footprint is followed by the increaseof footprint profit, which means that the extension of production chain is an important method to improve the resourcesprofit; the systems have a big proportion of the indirect energy ecological footprint; the air and water pollution in MSGsubsystem is the most serious. At last, it can be identified that ecological footprint is a good method to measure resourceutilization and environmental pollution in various subsystems of an integrated ecological industry.     

国外创业生态系统研究最新进展及未来展望

创业生态系统研究逐渐成为国际创业学界关注的热点问题之一,近年来该领域的研究不断深入和拓展。为了及时把握最新研究前沿,对国外2016年以来具有较高学术含量的创业生态系统研究文献进行系统梳理,并结合文献内容,从创业生态系统构成要素、相互关系、层次划分、动态演化、系统功能5个方面综合概述了最新研究进展。在此基础上,从创业生态系统治理、创业生态系统演化与创业生态系统功能3个方面提出未来研究展望,为促进创业生态系统理论构建提供参考。     

Collaboration mechanism of intercity emergency rescue ecosystem

With the development of metropolitan regions and the appearance of urban agglomerations, cities have been more closely related. For the restricted emergency rescue resource in a single city, it has become more and more imminent for the demand of the intercity collaborative resistance to major accident, so as to improve the protection capacity of urban security. In order to find an effective intercity, emergency rescue collaborative system, this paper introduces the concept and analysis method of ecosystem theory into intercity emergency, rescue. Based on the analysis of the formation-process of emergency rescue individual, population and community： a throe-level intercity emergency rescue collaborative system is constructed according to the characteristics of dynamics and structure of intercity emergency rescue ecosystem then the collaboration mechanism of information, resource and process in the interceity emergency rescue ecosystem is also studied in this paper; so as to offer available strategy and method for the ecosystem theory applied to intercity, emergency rescue. Through the studies of intereity emergency rescue ecosystem. it illuminates that the proposed emergency system can not Only cope with the major accident more timely and effectively but also integrate the intercity information resources and emergency rescue resource and process optimization.     

Soil biota, ecosystem services and land productivity

The soil environment is likely the most complex biological community. Soil organisms are extremely diverse and contribute to a wide range of ecosystem services that are essential to the sustainable function of natural and managed ecosystems. The soil organism community can have direct and indirect impacts on land productivity. Direct impacts are those where specific organisms affect crop yield immediately. Indirect effects include those provided by soil organisms participating in carbon and nutrient cycles, soil structure modification and food web interactions that generate ecosystem services that ultimately affect productivity. Recognizing the great biological and functional diversity in the soil and the complexity of ecological interactions it becomes necessary to focus in this paper on soil biota that have a strong linkage to functions which underpin ‘soil based’ ecosystem services. Selected organisms from different functional groups (i.e. microsymbionts, decomposers, elemental transformers, soil ecosystem engineers, soil-borne pest and diseases, and microregulators) are used to illustrate the linkages of soil biota and ecosystem services essential to life on earth as well as with those associated with the provision of goods and the regulation of ecosystem processes. These services are not only essential to ecosystem function but also a critical resource for the sustainable management of agricultural ecosystems. Research opportunities and gaps related to methodological, experimental and conceptual approaches that may be helpful to address the challenge of linking soil biodiversity and function to the provision of ecosystem services and land productivity are discussed. These include: 1) integration of spatial variability research in soil ecology and a focus on ‘hot spots’ of biological activity, 2) using a selective functional group approach to study soil biota and function, 3) combining new and existing methodological approaches that link selected soil organisms, the temporal and spatial dynamics of their function, and their contribution to the provision of selected ‘soil based' ecosystem services, 4) using understanding about hierarchical relationships to manage soil biota and function in cropping systems, 5) using local knowledge about plants as indicators of soil quality, remote sensing and GIS technologies, and plant-soil biota interactions to help understand the impacts of soil biota at landscape scale, and 6) developing land quality monitoring systems that inform land users about their land's ecosystem service performance, improve capacities to predict and adapt to environmental changes, and support policy and decision-making.     

The economics of biotechnology under ecosystem disruption

Economic analysis of chemical pesticide use has shown that the interactions between plants, pests, damage control technology and state of the ecosystem are important variables to be considered. Hence, a bio-economic model was developed for the assessment of Bt variety and pesticide-based control strategies of the cotton-bollworm in China. The model simulates plant growth, the dynamics of pest populations and of natural enemies. The model predictions are used as major inputs for a stochastic micro-level profit model of alternative control strategies.Results show that: (1) productivity effects of Bt varieties and pesticide use depend on the action of natural control agents, and (2) the profitability of damage control measures increases with the severity of ecosystem disruption. The findings highlight the importance of the choice of the counterfactual scenario in the assessment of the impact of agricultural biotechnology. Also, some doubts are raised whether the high benefits of Bt cotton varieties claimed by previous studies based on cross section comparisons are realistic.     

Assessing ecosystem sustainability and management using fuzzy logic

Concern about the negative impacts of growth and development on protected area ecosystems has drawn attention to methods for assessing ecosystem sustainability and management. Existing non-stochastic and stochastic methods for assessing weak and strong sustainability of ecosystems have several limitations. The non-stochastic method does not account for errors in measuring attributes, stochastic variability in attributes, and uncertainty about the relationship between ecosystem attributes and states (degrees) of ecosystem sustainability. Although the stochastic method better accounts for errors in measuring attributes, and stochastic variability in attributes than the non-stochastic method, it requires information about the probability distributions of attributes for different states of sustainability. Such information is not readily available. The fuzzy logic method overcomes the limitations of the non-stochastic and stochastic methods, but requires fuzzifying an index of sustainability in the case of weak sustainability, fuzzifying individual attributes in the case of strong sustainability, specifying and estimating membership functions for low, medium and high ecosystem sustainability, selecting a rule to determine whether an ecosystem is strongly sustainable based on the conclusions for fuzzy propositions, and specifying fuzzy sets for truth qualifiers when evaluating conditional and qualified propositions. Whether the benefits outweigh the costs of using the fuzzy logic method depends on the knowledge, data, and information available about the ecosystem, the expertise of the persons doing the assessment, and other factors. The non-stochastic, stochastic and fuzzy logic methods can be used to rank management alternatives and select a preferred alternative in cases where the current state of the ecosystem is unsustainable. Ranking management alternatives using a fuzzy logic method requires ordering the fuzzy scores for alternatives. All three methods for ranking management alternatives call for a group preference ordering for management alternatives in cases where individuals in the group have different preferences for alternatives.