Monetary Evaluation On Losses Of Marine Ecosystem Services Caused By Oil Spill

A gulf is an integrated natural terrain consisting of seawater,a water basin and the adjacent land.Gulfs provide both material and spiritual resources for human life and production through their unique ecosystem,and become areas of dense human activity.As important marine traffic intersections,gulfs are at high risk of accidents resulting in oil-spills.In view of the significantly highlighted position of oil in human life and industry,the expansion of exploration of marine oil,the increase in the volume of oil loaded for shipment and the proliferation of shipping routes,the rate of marine oil-spill accidents and the risks ensuing are growing.As a result of to their semi-closed marine terrain characteristics,once they are polluted by spilled oil,that will have a negative impact on human life and industry.The monetary evaluation of losses caused by gulf oil-spills will assist in solving the current problem of inadequate compensation for oil-spill damage,and support claim for the compensation and the stipulation of the laws involved as well as to perfect the technology used in evaluating. Hence,this study is of considerable importance in both practice and theory.This paper studies the ecological losses caused by marine oil-spill based on the recognition of marine ecosystem services and the characteristics of marine oil-spills, by the application of theories in Environmental Economics,Ecological Economics, Environmental Science,Environmental Assessment,Oceanography and so on,as well through reference research,the gathering of materials,theoretical analysis and field survey.The paper constructs a monetary evaluation framework for losses of gulf ecosystem services in a marine oil-spill accident.It further applies the core of the framework constructed to the Luoyuan Bay Case Study.The thesis achieves the following goals:(1) The paper defines ecosystem services and the scale of gulf terrain and discusses the contents of gulf ecosystem services by means of material research and comparisons from both home and abroad.It classifies gulf ecosystem services into four categories:provisioning service,regulating service,cultural service and supporting service.It further identifies the sub-services,and thereby lays a foundation for the construction of a monetary evaluation framework.(2) It proposes a complete pre-evaluation procedure,including the diagnosis of the source of spillage,identification of the volume spilled,simulation of the oil drift and diffusion,the fate of the spilled oil,identification of objectives affected by the spilled oil and the recognition of the loss extent,using the theories and approaches (Site Investigation,Lab Analysis,Model Simulation) from multidisciplinary subjects.(3) It recognizes and analyzes the losses of gulf ecosystem sub-services in an oil-spill accident,and proposes various approaches to the identification of the loss extent on the basis of the pre-evaluation procedure.It further constructs a monetary evaluation framework on the losses of gulf ecosystem services caused by marine oil-spills by adopting the monetary evaluation technologies resulting from the analysis and comparison of the pros and cons of the above technologies.(4) It applies the core of evaluation framework constructed above to the Luoyuan Bay Case Study,forecasting and evaluating the monetary losses of ecosystem services resulting from a potential oil-spill accident in Luoyuan Bay.The results predict that with a possible spilled volume of 57.3 tons,the losses at the 5 loci at greatest risk (Meihua,Xinao,Kemen,Xiangwei and Xiayu) would amount to 21.80 million 19.06 million,14.49 million,11.51 million and 13.28 million RMB respectively,of which loss from aquaculture would accounted for the greatest portion of the total loss.In view of the non-negligible losses caused by such an oil-spill,this paper suggests stipulating an oil-spill risk management plan by prioritizing prevention,taking effective countermeasures to prevent the occurrence of major oil-spill accidents.It also suggests ensuring investment in oil-spillage prevention measures and the establishment of emergency response systems within appropriate departments.