Study On Ecological Compensation Of Soil And Water Conservation In The Source Of Hanjiang River

In 2004, the State Council set up its special Office of South-to-North Water Diversion, and soon formulated its Plan on Water Pollution Prevention and Soil & Water Conservation for Danjiangkou Reservoir and Its Upstream, which was approved in February 2006; in the following 2007, the project of Water and Soil Conservation for Danjiangkou Reservoir and Its Upstream, a significant part of the South-to-North Water Diversion, was put into effect; moreover, the project of Hanjiang-to-Weihe Water Diversion, a south-to-north water diversion within Shaanxi province, was on its way in 2010, which not only reinforced the soil & water conservation in Hanzhong, but highlighted the significant eco-environmental role of soil & water conservation in the fountainhead of Hanjiang river to the projects of south-to-north water diversion. In Hanzhong, the folks, the local businesses, as well as the local governments, all have been sacrificing without any complaining for the eco-environment of the fountainhead of Hanjiang river, which, however, is not yet reasonably rewarded from the water diversion. The huge financial pressure for environment protection, and the economic loss of the folks as well as that of the local agriculture and industry, have not only brought about great disturbance to the soil & water conservation in Hanzhong, but also seriously hindered the social economical development of Hanzhong as a whole. It has increasingly been a social outcry of this region for the early setup of an eco-compensation mechanism for the fountainhead valley of Hanjiang river.This study, in the light of the relevant findings in ethics, jurisprudence, sustainable development, public goods theory, and externality theory, with regard to the past experiences and the present situation of the region, offers a framework of the compensation mechanism for soil & water conservation in the fountainhead valley of Hanjiang river, by detailed discussion on the defining of the subjects and the objects, the classification of compensation, compensation limits, compensation forms and methods; together with its calculation of the coverage of the compensation and its analysis of the necessity for the compensation mechanism, this study provides some theoretic basis for the setup of the mechanism, and, from some actual working experiences, proposes some remedial suggestions for the perfection of the compensation mechanism of soil & water conservation for the fountainhead valley of Hanjiang river.Much still remains to be done in the soil & water conservation endeavor, and a scientific compensation mechanism for the fountainhead valley of Hanjiang river requires continues theoretical investigation and practical implementation. The compensation mechanism, therefore, has to be put into implementation from its theoretic studies, and with regard to its strategic significance for the development of the entire region. The setup and implementation of the mechanism is a promotion to socialize the soil & water conservation, to reinforce the sense of eco-environment via soil & water conservation, and to harmonize the joint social economic development of both the conservation and the benefited regions of the water diversion projects.