Wetlands (2015) 35:983–995 DOI 10.1007/s13157-015-0687-6 REVIEW ARTICLE Advancing Wetland Policies Using Ecosystem Services – China’sWayOut Bo Jiang1,2 & Christina P. Wong3 & Yuanyuan Chen1 & Lijuan Cui4 & Zhiyun Ouyang1 Received: 20 June 2014 /Accepted: 30 July 2015 /Published online: 19 August 2015 # Society of Wetland Scientists 2015 Abstract China’s wetlands provide valuable services to soci- and value ecosystem services in China. Next we outline the ety, which are necessary for sustainable development. The major challenges threatening wetland protection and the sci- Chinese government considers wetland protection a national ence policy needs on wetland ecosystem services. Lastly we priority, and is making progress on the ambitious goal of present a scientific framework on monitoring wetland ecosys- protecting more than 90 % of its natural wetlands by 2030. tem services aimed at helping meet China’s growing policy Despite the rapid growth in conservation actions, wetlands demands on ecosystem services. remain threatened because government, industry, and the pub- lic are using wetlands unsustainably, and there exists weak Keywords Wetland conservation . Ecosystem services . enforcement of wetland protection laws. Chinese China’swetlandpolicies . Monitoring policymakers in part are trying to use the ecosystem services approach to incentivize conservation to reduce wetland losses across spatial scales (local, regional, and national). However Introduction China currently lacks a systematic, scientific process for mon- itoring wetland ecosystem services, so scientists and managers China possesses significant water pollution and water short- can establish and refine ecological compensation schemes. In age challenges that threaten economic growth and human live- this paper we present a scientific framework on monitoring lihoods. In China, two-thirds of its cities have insufficient wetland ecosystem services aimed at improving national wet- water supplies, more than 20 % of its residents lack access land policies in China. First we review the current status of to potable water (CAS 2007), and 60 % of its lakes are eutro- China’s wetlands and its wetland policies. In particular we phic (MEP 2012). These complex water problems have se- present the growing popularity of ecological compensation verely impacted China’s wetland ecosystems, which are criti- in China, which is driving the demand for ways to measure cal to sustaining local and regional economies. In the 1990s and 2007, the algal blooms in Lake Tai triggered water supply crises that crippled agriculture, cities, industry, fisheries, and * Zhiyun Ouyang tourism resulting in billions of dollars in economic losses (Le [email protected] et al. 2010). In recent decades the water declines in Baiyangdian Lake affected communities by substantially re- 1 State Key Laboratory of Urban and Regional Ecology, Research ducing water regulation, reed production, and biodiversity Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of services (Li et al. 2004). Furthermore the vast water level Sciences, Beijing 100085, China fluctuations in Bosten Lake, mainly influenced by the runoff 2 Changjiang Water Resources Protection Institute, Wuhan 430051, of Dashankou station (Qiu et al. 2013), have increased region- China al vulnerability by impacting agricultural irrigation and fish 3 School of Sustainability, Arizona State University, populations (Ma et al. 2011). Wetland ecosystems are critical Tempe, AZ 85287, USA for water-related ecosystem services, such as water supply and 4 Institute of Wetland Research, Chinese Academy of Forestry, purification, thus continued wetland degradation and loss will Beijing 100091, China accelerate China’s water problems. 984 Wetlands (2015) 35:983–995 To more effectively address the degradation of wetlands in 2008), and (4) environmental payments as a REDD imple- China, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) became a sig- mentation mechanism in the Brazilian Amazon (Börner et al. natory of the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands in 1992. The 2010). However a significant problem limiting the effective- PRC recognizes the importance of wetlands in solving the ness of ecological compensation schemes is the lack of scien- nation’s water resource dilemmas, and is implementing con- tific data on ecosystem services. In China ecological compen- servation policies to attempt to reverse wetland declines, such sation is a major policy initiative, but its success will depend as the: (1) National Wetland Conservation Plan (NWCP), (2) in part on credible and legitimate ecosystem service values. Pilot Functional Zoning Plan (PFZP), and (3) ecological com- Chinese decision-makers are asking scientists to develop pensation schemes. China possesses more than 20 laws and monitoring programs to determine the social and environmen- statutes related to wetland protection (e.g., Statute of Natural tal outcomes of conservation efforts to help guide compensa- Reserves, Protection of Wild Animals of China Law, Statute tion payments and management actions. For example, China of Extinction of Protection of Aquatic Wild Animals, etc.,), recently conducted its first national assessment of ecosystem however to date there is no single, comprehensive wetland law change (2000–2010) led by the Ministry of Environmental (Wen et al. 2005;Wangetal.2012). The lack of a national law Protection (MEP) and Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) poses significant challenges for ensuring the protection of - a $24 million effort to estimate China’s ecosystem services wetlands and wetland reserves. The primary Chinese policy for decision-making (Ouyang et al. 2014). The Chinese gov- on wetland conservation is the National Wetland Conservation ernment is trying to improve environmental protection by syn- Action Plan (NWCAP) issued by the State Council to serve as chronizing ecological protection with economic development a guideline for the wise use of wetlands. The policy steps and via ecosystem services, but moving ideas into practice will targets of the NWCAP are outlined in the NWCP (2002– require significant scientific advancements. 2030), which was approved in 2003. The NWCP aims to In recent years Chinese institutions have focused on ad- establish 713 wetland reserves to protect more than 90 % of vancing scientific research on wetland ecosystem services. natural wetlands (including marshes, rivers, lakes, and off- Chinese scientists are attempting to assess ecosystem services shore and coastal wetlands) by 2030 while restoring 14, at various spatial and temporal scales to forecast ecosystem 000 km2 of natural wetlands in China (Wang et al. 2012). services trends, and improve wetland valuation. The aim is to Complementing the NWCP is the PFZP, which is a major advise policymakers on wetland conservation in China as well policy initiative on creating a national zoning scheme to en- as provide examples to the international community on ana- sure the protection of key ecosystems for national security lyzing wetland ecosystem services at regional to national (Fan and Li 2009; Zhang and Bennett 2011; Fan et al. 2012; scales. The objective of this paper is to present a framework CCICED 2013;CCICED2014). The primary mechanism to on monitoring and valuing ecosystem services for wetlands. fund wetland conservation is ecological compensation, which First we present the current status of wetlands and the main uses ecosystem service values to adjust the relative benefits conservation policies in China. Next we outline the major and costs of environmental protection among stakeholders challenges threatening wetland protection and the science pol- (ADB 2011). Ecological compensation encompasses pay- icy needs on wetland ecosystem services. Lastly, we present a ments for ecosystem services and fiscal transfer schemes be- scientific framework on monitoring wetland ecosystem ser- tween provincial governments designed at improving the dis- vices to meet growing policy demands on ecosystem services tribution of funds and the clarification of management respon- in China. sibilities (Liu et al. 2008a;ADB2011;Lietal.2012). In 2012 the Ministry of Finance issued 30 billion CNY ($US 4.8 bil- lion) in subsidies to over 600 counties and cities to fund eco- Wetland Status in China logical compensation projects, mainly for watershed ecosys- tem services. Municipal and provincial governments are cur- According to the World Wildlife Fund for Nature (WWF), rently working to implement ecological compensation mech- China contains 10 % of the world’s wetlands (Lu and Jiang anisms to meet the wetland protection targets. 2004; Wang 2015), which supply local (e.g., water supply), Ecological compensation has attracted increased interest regional (e.g., flood protection), and global (e.g., critical hab- amongst decision-makers as a policy instrument to internalize itat for migrating birds) benefits to people. China has all 42 environmental externalities worldwide (Engel et al. 2008; Ramsar wetland types (RCS 2006) of which natural wetlands Farley and Costanza 2010; Schomers and Matzdorf 2013). occupy 4.9 % of the country’s terrestrial area with marshes, Examples include: (1) national-scale ecosystem services pro- rivers, and lakes being the dominant types (China News 2014) grams in Costa Rica (Pagiola 2008) and Mexico (Muñoz-Piña (Fig. 1). Wetlands are estimated to produce 54.9 % of China’s et al. 2008), (2) payments for watershed services in annual ecosystem service values (An et al. 2007) since they Pimampiro, Ecuador, (3) payments for