Study On The Externalities And Its Economic Compensation Of Cultivated Land Protection

Cultivated land can provide production and livelihood for humanity, and it has also the ecological and social benefits including water conservation, soil-erosion reduction, climatic regulation, environment beautification, biodiversity maintenance, food security and social stabilization. However, the ecological and social benefits is placed in the public domain, which have outstanding externalities and public good properties. It makes the ecological and social benefits fail to be incorporated in the income of cultivated land use. Under the cultivated land use mechanism neglecting ecological and social benefits, the income of cultivated land is decreased, and the cultivated land protection willingness is reduced. The potential driving forces of cultivated land non-agricultural transfer will generate under the benefit gap. Meanwhile, the cultivated land occupancy costs spillover induces developed areas to convert cultivated land into construction land. As a result, the cultivated land protection externalities is the most crucial reason of cultivated land conversion. It influences the process of cultivated land conversion driving mechanism, and it also determines the size and the direction of the driving forces. The rapid pace of cultivated land conversion, not only leads to the waste of cultivated land resources and inefficient of non-agricultural construction land allocation, but also influences food security and ecological security.Taking major grain producing areas of Jiaozuo as an example, the paper carries out the study on the externalities and its economic compensation mechanism of cultivated land protection based on externality theory, theory of ecosystem services and non-market value theory. It focuses on discussing of the content, type and characteristics of cultivated land protection externalities, revealing its mechanism and impact, defining the regional and interregional economic compensation and affording and accepting subject of economic compensation. The paper also provides calculation methods on the cultivated land protection externalities and its compensation standard, and reconstructs the integrated dynamic regional and interregional economic compensation facing the coordinating urban-rural and regional coordination development, analyses the effects of economic compensation. Moreover, the paper brings the economic compensation of cultivated land renovated into the whole economic compensation system of cultivated land protection. The study is helpful to open out the mechanism of cultivated land conversion and economic compensation. The study can also enrich the economic compensation theories of cultivated land protection. Meanwhile, it can provide the theoretical basis and technology support for formulating relevant policies.The main content includes eight chapters. Brief introduction and conclusion is as follows:Chapter 1:Introduction. This chapter mainly states the background, research purpose and meaning, the domestic and international literatures related to the externality and its economic compensation of cultivated land protection. At last, the contents, methods, some key problems, and some possible innovation are summarized.Chapter 2:The basis theories on the externalities and its economic compensation of cultivated land protection. Ecological economics, environmental economics and resource economics are integrated based on the cultivated land as a natural-economic-social ecosystem as a kind of resource. Then some conclusions are summarized. The internalization of cultivated land protection externalities is its core issues and environmental economics foundation. Public belonging property is its basis of public economics of policies choice, and ecosystem services and value theory is the basis of the compensation standard. Coordinating urban-rural and regional coordination development theories are the aim of the economic compensation of cultivated land protection, and niche theory can measure the driving forces of cultivated land conversion. The theory system provides a basis for the study on externalities and its economic compensation of cultivated land protection.Chapter 3:Reconstruction of cultivated land utilization benefits system and analysis of its externalities. The cultivated land utilization benefit system is reconstructed based on the types, affecting process, form and features of cultivated land ecosystem. The ecological and social benefit of cultivated land is analyzed based on theories of public articles and externalities. At last, dominant benefit niche model of cultivated land conversion is constructed based on niche theory, which is applied to the mechanism of cultivated land conversion of Jiaozuo.Chapter 4:Calculation of cultivated land protection externalities. The assumption and methods are put forward on the basis of introduction and analysis of the content, principle, technology, advantages and disadvantages of some valuation methods. Then, the cultivated land protection externality of Jiaozuo is calculated by integrated approach and CVM. The results are as follows. Firstly, the change of externalities of cultivated land protection based on integrated approach is obvious increased by degree, which indicates that the ecological benefit and social benefit keep an increasing trend with the enhancement of scarce of cultivated land. Secondly, the proportion of social benefit increases during 2000-2008, and the increasing trend of food safety benefit is more remarkable. This shows the food safety benefit and social security benefit are getting more and more important. At the same time this also indicates that the compensation without social benefit is unilateral. Thirdly, urban residents more familiar with cultivated land ecological and social benefit than farm household. It could be one of important factors which affect willingness to pay. Farm household prefer voluntary labor, and offering money and voluntary labor is same for urban residents. The reason could be that farm households have more leisure time than urban residents.Chapter 5:Calculation of economic compensation standard of cultivated land protection. Firstly, the assumption and methods regarding calculate economic compensation standard of cultivated land protection are put forward. Secondly, the adjusting coefficient on cultivated land quality is determine based on the comprehensive grain production ability and classification on agricultural land, and the highest and lowest internal economic compensation standard of cultivated land protection is determined. The compensation surplus and deficit of cultivated land protection in different region of Jiaozuo based on integrated approach and CVM is also calculated, and it may be the highest and lowest interregional economic compensation standard. Thirdly, the dynamic changes of the economic compensation standard of cultivated land protection during 1997-2008 is expressed on the basis of analysis of the Engel's coefficient and social and economic statistics data. Finally, Quality Systems of classification on agricultural land and cultivated land renovated are contrasted, and the correspondence is determined. It brings the economic compensation of cultivated land renovated into the whole economic compensation system of cultivated land protection.Chapter 6:The economic compensation subject of cultivated land protection. The accepting subjects of cultivated land protection economic compensation are defined and analyzed based on the theory of externalities acceptor. Meanwhile, the affording subjects of cultivated land protection economic compensation are also defined and analyzed on the basis of analysis of externalities donator and its action pattern.Chapter 7:The economic compensation mechanism and compensation effect of cultivated land protection. The economic compensation mechanism is constructed based on analysis of the conceptual model of internalization of cultivated land protection internal externality and interregional externality. The internal economic compensation mechanism is composed of agricultural insurance, social security, material object, technology and currency, and the interregional economic compensation negotiating mechanism is composed of higher-level government adjustment and special financial transfer payment. Then, the economic compensation effect is analyzed under different compensation standard and ways based on farm household questionnaire. Finally, the chapter puts forward the three stages gradually development model of fund raising, guarantee system and strategy of economic compensation.Chapter 8:The conclusion and discussion. The major conclusions are summarized, and some economic compensation suggestions and policies of cultivated land protection are put forward. In the end, some issues and future work for this research are discussed.