Study On Reducing Double Counting In Wetland Ecosystem Services Valuation

Wetland ecosystem services valuation is an important basis for managers to makemanaging and protecting decisions, and is one of hot research areas. Double counting can makeevaluation results error, which is not conducive to the public to correctly realize the value ofwetland ecosystem services, and is not conducive to managers to make right decisions toprotect and manage wetland ecosystem. This paper analyzed the causes to double counting inwetland ecosystem services valuation through literature review and other methods, and thensome solutions were proposed. Taking2011as the base year, we collected the evaluationrelated date of Zoige Wetland and Zhalong Wetland by remote sensing interpretation, fieldsampling, questionnaires and other methods, and then the market price method, replacementcost method, contingent valuation method, and other environmental economic methods wereused to assess the values of ecosystem services of these two wetlands, and discussed doublecounting value in the evaluation process. Main results obtained as follow:1. Causes to double counting in wetland ecosystem services include five aspects, they arecomplexity between wetland functions and services, causal relationship among wetlandecosystem services, fuzzy service indicators, repeated valuation parameters, and inappropriatevaluation methods. Measures for reducing double counting in wetland ecosystem servicesvaluation are proposed as follow: valuing the final services, identifying service indicator andvaluation parameters, selecting more appropriate valuation methods for the study context, andestablish model for reduce double counting.2. The total value of final services either bigger than that of intermediate services orsmaller. Final services in wetland include substance production, water supply, soil conservation,carbon fixation, gas regulation, flood protection, climate regulation, recreation, and scientificresearch, while intermediate services include Net primary productivity(NPP), waterconservation, nutrient cycling, biodiversity maintenance, and waste treatment. The value of final services of Zoige wetland was9.718billion Yuan in2011year, much smaller than that ofintermediate services with25.796billion Yuan. Final services of Zhalong wetland includesubstance production, flood protection, climate regulation, carbon fixation, gas regulation, soilconservation, recreation, scientific research, water treatment and pollination, whileintermediate services include NPP, water conservation, nutrient cycling, biodiversitymaintenance, and groundwater recharge. The value of final services of Zhalong wetland was67.939billion Yuan in2011year, bigger than that of intermediate services with47.147billionYuan.3. There are double counting in one service evaluation or several services evaluation, dueto the fuzzy service indicators and evaluation parameters, and inappropriate valuation methods.For double counting caused from fuzzy service indicators and evaluation parameters, doublecounting value should be removed through nature of wetland ecosystem services andecological point. For double counting caused from inappropriate valuation methods, doublecounting value should be removed through selecting appropriate methods based on studycontext. Double counting in evaluation process maybe much smaller than that caused fromclassification of ecosystem services, but precise quantification of wetland ecosystem servicesvalue is essential.