| As governments and researchers around the world paid more attention to the ecological environment and water resources in watersheds,people start to realize the fact that there is intense interaction between basin water resources and economic and social development.In reality,the upstream and downstream areas of a watershed often belong to different administrative jurisdiction,which may result in conflicts of interests between people upstream and downstream,while exploiting,distributing and consuming water resources.As a consequence,the incoordination between basin water supply and demand will increase,and even serious social problems and ecological crisis may occur.Currently,Dahuofang water reservoir supply clean water for seven cities in Liaoning Province,which makes it become the most important water source conservation areas.As to ensure water quality and quantity,two counties in upstream region,Fushun,Benxi faced with increasingly strict limitations and constraints in economic development.Market mechanism of ecological compensation,a market-based ecological compensation tool,focused on regional ecological protection and prevention of environmental pollution,makes the ecological compensation process work as a market mechanism,so that the price of environmental factors or ecosystem services truly will reflect their scarcity,protection costs and/or the association between their supply and demand.It is a kind of economic incentives to promote environmental protection and water supply,which playing a crucial role in balancing profits between the upstream and downstream.Therefore,we target Dahuofang reservoir conservation areas as our main subject,to study on its market-based ecological compensation mechanism,so as to explore the suitable methods of ecological compensation,to help build long-term mechanism to make sure people from upstream and downstream can share the achievement and benefit together,to motivate ecological compensation policies and rules making,and in the end to promote the improvement of ecological environment.The main contents of this article are presented as following:First of all,after a review of relevant literature,we make an analysis of different ecological compensation mechanism types and approaches as well as their corresponding application conditions,providing a theoretical basis for building the market mechanism of ecological compensation in Liao River water source conservation areas.Secondly,starting from recalling the natural,economic and social situation of Liao River water source conservation areas,based on the analysis of local ecological compensation practice and the consideration of ecological compensation objectives,we come up with the preliminary ideas of market-based ecological compensation by abstracting main association between local stakeholders under the market mechanism.Thirdly,we build a mathematical model to show the operation of the market mechanism,and hoping to explore which approach of compensation would be most cost-effective when we combine commercial output and ecosystem protection as joint product and make compensation.At last,based on a qualitative analysis of the operation process of the mechanism,we address some issues such as who pays and who gets the payments in context,as well as complementary facilities and mechanisms needed to establish the market mechanism,and so on,hoping to propose a theoretical framework for the construction and implementation of market-based ecological compensation mechanisms in Liao water sources conservation areas.Depending on above analysis and research,this paper presents a relatively complete designing framework for market-based ecological compensation mechanisms in Liao water sources conservation areas,providing a theoretical basis and some policy suggestions for local ecological compensation mechanisms,and fulfilling existing theories of ecological compensation mechanism in water source conservation areas. |
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