Study On The Legal System Of Wetland Ecological Compensation In China

Wetland is rich in economic values, ecological values and social values. There are many wetlands in China with all kinds of types. Traditional legislation in China puts much more emphasis on economic values than it do on ecological values, causing pollutions and degradation of ecosystem in wetland. Economic values are easy to determine, while ecological values is difficult to evaluate. That’s why economic values represent private interests but ecological values concern public interests. Wetland consists of economic values and ecological values at the same time, which makes the conflict between private interests and public interests particularly prominent.The revised Environment Protection Act of 2014 s requires Chinese government to establish the legal system of ecological compensation. The Act also classifies ecological compensation into government compensation mode and market compensation mode with guidance from the government, which guarantees the establishment and implement of the legal system of wetland ecological compensation in China. The government compensation mode is a compensation mode in public law since it is carried out by the government in the form of administrative order. Market compensation mode is legal act in private law since the compensation targets and compensation recipients are free to enter into a contract. Because the legal barriers in applying market rules, government compensation mode is the primary mode now in China, even though market compensation mode should be the principal ecological compensation mode in accordance with the theory of freedom. Therefore, the government compensation mode should be managed and monitored carefully now, but in the long run, market compensation mechanism should be actively promoted.Wetland is a complicated ecosystem that consists of land, water, plants, animals, etc. For this reason, it is quite difficult to clearly evaluate the ecosystem services of wetland, and this is the reason that ecological compensation mechanism and research regarding forests, watersheds and mineral products are much more successful. This article starts from ascertaining the different legal nature of government compensation and market compensation, accounting for the natural attributes and social attributes of wetland by utilizing the justice theory of distributive justice and exchange justice as principles, concerning the problem in central and local wetland ecological compensation legislation, adopting the experiences from developed countries, and finally trying to establish ecological compensation legal system in China.It has been proved that wetland ecological compensation is a crucial legal system in environmental law both in theory and in practice. To establish effective legal system of ecological compensation in China, we should take beneficiary pays principle as legal principle, emphasize the functionary necessity of limited freedom in market compensation and public participation in government compensation, make a distinction between the legal nature of government in the two compensation modes, take the direct cost and opportunity cost into account when considering the scope of ecosystem service, and unite the necessity of ecological civilization and the particularity of wetland.