America's Eco-compensation System

As an important area of environmental protection system, Eco-compensation system has been attached importance to the governments around the world and has been put into practice. Jurists have different statements on this issue and there is no unified concept yet. From the views of judicial practice, more consistent recognition is that:Eco-compensation system is based on the purpose of conservation and sustainable use of ecological services, mainly by economic means, and regulates the relevant interests'arrangements. As the world's biggest economic power, the United States also faces many environmental problems in its socio-economic development, such as clean drinking water, marshes and wildlife habitat protection. In the United States legal system, the laws relate environmental protection, ecological compensation occupy an important position, especially for agricultural production, marshes to build and so on. They have formed a completed system. Drawing on United States'experience on ecological compensation system will improve China's ecological compensation in the initial stages and the legislative practice.The Eco-compensation system in the United States has a long time history of development, it adjusted the exports of agricultural products trade in agricultural depression to ensure the income and normal living expenses of farmers initially as a starting point, and then it was adopted in legislative by the form of government purchase as Conservation Reserve Program (CRP). After 30 years of empirical testing, the program achieved very good results, making U.S. agricultural production environment be fundamentally improved. With the socio-economic development and environmental protection movements, and also accompanied by the U.S. academic system's further studies, eco-compensation programs in more field were established. The most important representative is the compensation of wetland. This system is based on the destruction of wetlands off-site-compensation theory by marketing means. The vandals are responsible to build the projects, and it fully embodies the internationally accepted principles of "Beneficiary Pays Principle (BPP)" To meet the needs of building Eco-compensation system and practices, this paper analyzes the Eco-compensation system's establishment and development in United States, and combining the theories and practice of Eco-compensation system on agriculture and the banking system on wetland compensation, in order to supply policy design references on our country's ecological compensation's mechanism and fiscal frames. Additional, by comparing the CRP and some similar projects in China, this paper summarizes the different ways to deal with environmental problems in U.S and China. Only by drawing on America's experiences, China will get benefits but wrong explores.Ecological compensation system is a complex social activity, involving a large number of subjects. A comprehensive ecological compensation system needs the cooperation of many majors. From the perspective of law, improved legislation and mature theoretical support is the key to success. The research on Eco-compensation system on U.S should form a unified, systematic theory. By analyzing the individual cases and summarizing their internal systems theory and successful practice experiences, it should be the useful way to urge the Eco-compensation system in China and improve the legislation and practice development.