title: Assessment of private economic benefits and positive environmental externalities of tea plantation in China.
abstract: Tea plantations are rapidly expanding in China and other countries in the tropical and subtropical zones, driven by relatively high private economic benefit. However, the impact of tea plantations on the regional environment, including ecosystem services and disservices are unclear. In this study, we developed an assessment framework for determining the private economic benefits and environmental externalities (the algebraic sum of the regulating services and disservices) of tea plantations in China. Our results showed that tea plantations provided private economic benefits of 5,652 yuan ha(-1) year(-1) (7.6 yuan = 1 USD in 2007) for tea farmers, plus positive environmental externalities of 6,054 yuan ha(-1) year(-1) for the society. The environmental externalities were calculated as the sum of the value of four regulating services, including carbon sequestration (392 yuan ha(-1) year(-1)); soil retention (72 yuan ha(-1) year(-1)); soil fertility protection (3,189 yuan ha(-1) year(-1)) and water conservation (2,685 yuan ha(-1) year(-1)), and three disservices, including CO2 emission (-39 yuan ha(-1) year(-1)), N2O emission (-137 yuan ha(-1) year(-1)) and nonpoint source pollution (-108 yuan ha(-1) year(-1)). Before the private optimal level, the positive environmental externalities can be maintained by private economic benefits; if a social optimal level is required, subsidies from government are necessary.
authors.affiliation: College of Life Sciences, Zhejiang University, 866 Yuhangtang Road, Hangzhou, 310058, Zhejiang Province, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Hui
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Xue
authors.forename: Xiaoyi
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Ren
authors.forename: Shiyu
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Xu
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Hao
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Cheng
authors.forename: Bin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: Baojing
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Gu
authors.forename: Guofu
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Changhui
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Peng
authors.forename: Ying
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ge
authors.forename: Jie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Chang
mesh_terms: D000383:Agriculture / Q000191:economics* / Q000379:methods; D057965:Carbon Sequestration; D002681:China; D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources / Q000191:economics* / Q000379:methods / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D003362:Cost-Benefit Analysis; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D013662:Tea / Q000254:growth & development*; D014881:Water Supply / Q000706:statistics & numerical data
chemical_list: D013662:Tea