Opportunity cost of water allocation to afforestation rather than conservation of natural vegetation in China |
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| Institution: | 1. School of Geography, Beijing Normal University, No. 19, Xinjiekouwai Street, Haidian District, Beijing 100875, PR China;2. College of Economics and Management, Beijing Forestry University, No. 35, Qinhuadong Road, Haidian District, Beijing 100083, PR China;1. School of Civil Engineering, College of Engineering, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran;2. School of Civil Engineering and Center of Excellence for Engineering and Management of Civil Infrastructures, College of Engineering, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran;1. School of Agriculture and Food, University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria 3010, Australia;2. Wageningen UR, P.O. Box 47, 6700 AA Wageningen, The Netherlands;1. State Key Laboratory of Hydrology-Water Resources and Hydraulics Engineering, Hohai University, Nanjing 210098, China;2. Joint Innovation Center for Modern Forestry Studies, College of Forestry, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing 210037, China;3. Institute of Surface-Earth System Science, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072, China;4. School of Urban and Environment Science, Huaiyin Normal University, Huai’an 223300, Jiangsu Province, China;1. Landscape Science, School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, The University of Adelaide, PMB 1, Glen Osmond, SA, 5064, Australia;2. CSIRO Sustainable Ecosystems, PMB 2, Glen Osmond, SA, 5064, Australia;1. State Key Laboratory of Earth Surface Processes and Resource Ecology, Faculty of Geographical Science, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, 100875, China;2. State Key Laboratory of Urban and Regional Ecology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100085, China;3. Qianjiangyuan National Park Administration, Kaihua, Zhejiang, 324300, China;1. Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Earth System Modeling, Department of Earth System Science, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China;2. Tsinghua-Rio Tinto Joint Research Centre for Resources, Energy and Sustainable Development, International Joint Laboratory on Low Carbon Clean Energy Innovation, Laboratory for Low Carbon Energy, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084, China;3. State Key Joint Laboratory of Environment Simulation and Pollution Control, School of Environment, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China |
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| Abstract: | Estimation of ecosystem service values is a hot area of research in ecological conservation and economics. However, the costs of these outputs are largely unknown. In this paper, we estimated the opportunity cost of water allocated to afforestation projects through mathematical modeling based on statistical data for all of China to provide support for restoration planning based on a fuller consideration of the true costs. To guide future ecological conservation and environmental policy development, we illustrate a neglected concept (ecosystem service costs) and use this concept to compare the ecological services provided by ecological restoration based on afforestation with those of restoration based on the conservation of natural vegetation using data obtained since 1949 in China. The results showed that afforestation and natural vegetation create annual costs related to use of the available water resources equal to 4800 and 3700 RMB ha−1, respectively, representing a water opportunity cost of 1100 RMB ha−1 for afforestation. This illustrates the rule that “there is no free lunch” for any service, including ecosystem services. Therefore, to support the development of more effective and sustainable environmental restoration policy, it will be necessary to evaluate the associated opportunity costs. |
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| Keywords: | Climate change Ecological restoration Ecosystem services Environmental policy Water consumption |
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