Study On Ecological Compensation System Of Financial Transfer Payment In Watershed

The ecological compensation in the watershed refers to the act of regulating the interests of all parties in the upper and lower reaches of the river basin through certain economic measures so as to achieve the purpose of maintaining the water environment and water resources in the watershed boundary.It embodies not only the fair and equitable legal concept,but also the affirmation of functional value.The watershed ecological compensation system aims to establish a bridge of mutual benefits between the main body of ecological contribution and the main body of ecological benefit,establish and balance the rights and obligations between two parties,encourage the public to provide ecological services,and achieve long-term stability of the whole watershed to provide the community with quality ecological services.Financial transfer payments will be the major means of realizing ecological compensation in the watershed for a long time at present and in the future.The financial transfer payment refers to the compensation for ecological contributors in the watershed through the exchange and interaction of financial funds between governments at all levels,and between government and enterprises,between government and citizens.Through the redistribution of the interests of such stakeholders,ecological compensation can be implemented to support environmental protection and achieve ecological fairness among watersheds and ease contradictions between residents' rights of achieving development and maintaining environmental rights.Since the tax-sharing reform in 1994,China has conducted many exploration and practice of the fiscal transfer payment system for ecological compensation in the watershed and has achieved certain kind of success.It is conductive to adjusting funds distribution and clarifying the responsibilities and tasks of environmental management,and it has become the main means by which our government thoroughly solve the crisis of water resources.However,up to now,there are still many drawbacks.The main points are as follows: Firstly,the vertical transfer payment system of watershed ecological compensation stands for the major means for ecological compensation in the watershed,but the limitation of the vertical transfer payment system does not fit perfectly into all the watersheds in our country,thus the actual compensation effect of some watersheds is not ideal,and the vertical transfer payment system itself also has some room for improvement.Inaddition,although the horizontal compensation system of watershed ecological compensation has undergone a certain degree of theoretical discussion,and also begins bold attempts in practice,but so far it has not yet been able to form a institutionalized system that runs counter to the principle of ‘beneficiary compensates and polluter pays' for ecological compensation.In view of the above two issues of ecological compensation system of financial transfer in river watersheds,this paper tries to make efforts from following three aspects.First,the definition of the scope of rivers basing on their characteristics to which vertical transfer payments and horizontal transfer payments are applicable The second suggestion is to establish a framework of fiscal transfer payment system for watershed ecology,which also includes the improvement of the existing vertical transfer payment system and the construction of a systematic horizontal transfer payment system.Finally,relevant supporting measures should be complemented,as the establishment of a watershed ecological compensation financial information network platform,the supervision of the use of funds and the assessment of the effect of ecological compensation,so as to ensure that the system operates under a fair and efficient environment.