title: Impacts of conservation and human development policy across stakeholders and scales.
abstract: Ideally, both ecosystem service and human development policies should improve human well-being through the conservation of ecosystems that provide valuable services. However, program costs and benefits to multiple stakeholders, and how they change through time, are rarely carefully analyzed. We examine one of China's new ecosystem service protection and human development policies: the Relocation and Settlement Program of Southern Shaanxi Province (RSP), which pays households who opt voluntarily to resettle from mountainous areas. The RSP aims to reduce disaster risk, restore important ecosystem services, and improve human well-being. We use household surveys and biophysical data in an integrated economic cost-benefit analysis for multiple stakeholders. We project that the RSP will result in positive net benefits to the municipal government, and to cross-region and global beneficiaries over the long run along with environment improvement, including improved water quality, soil erosion control, and carbon sequestration. However, there are significant short-run relocation costs for local residents so that poor households may have difficulty participating because they lack the resources to pay the initial costs of relocation. Greater subsidies and subsequent supports after relocation are necessary to reduce the payback period of resettled households in the long run. Compensation from downstream beneficiaries for improved water and from carbon trades could be channeled into reducing relocation costs for the poor and sharing the burden of RSP implementation. The effectiveness of the RSP could also be greatly strengthened by early investment in developing human capital and environment-friendly jobs and establishing long-term mechanisms for securing program goals. These challenges and potential solutions pervade ecosystem service efforts globally.
authors.affiliation: School of Economics and Finance, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an 710061, China;
authors.forename: Cong
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Urban and Regional Ecology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China; Joint Center for Global Change Studies, Beijing 100875, China;
authors.forename: Hua
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Zheng
authors.affiliation: Institute for Population and Development Studies, School of Public Policy and Administration, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an 710049, China;
authors.forename: Shuzhuo
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Henan Polytechnic University, Jiaozuo 454000, China;
authors.forename: Xiaoshu
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Institute for Population and Development Studies, School of Public Policy and Administration, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an 710049, China;
authors.forename: Jie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Institute for Population and Development Studies, School of Public Policy and Administration, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an 710049, China;
authors.forename: Weihong
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Zeng
authors.affiliation: Hunan Hi-Tech Venture Capital Management, Co., Ltd., Changsha 410015, China;
authors.forename: Yicheng
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Liang
authors.affiliation: Institute on the Environment and Departments of Applied Economics and Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN 55108;
authors.forename: Stephen
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Polasky
authors.affiliation: Morrison Institute for Population and Resource Studies, Department of Biology.
authors.forename: Marcus W
authors.initials: MW
authors.lastname: Feldman
authors.affiliation: Natural Capital Project, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305;
authors.forename: Mary
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ruckelshaus
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Urban and Regional Ecology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China; Joint Center for Global Change Studies, Beijing 100875, China; gdaily@stanford.edu zyouyang@rcees.ac.cn.
authors.forename: Zhiyun
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Ouyang
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, Natural Capital Project, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305; Woods Institute for the Environment and Center for Conservation Biology, Global Economic Dynamics and the Biosphere, Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, Stockholm SE-104 05, Sweden; and Stockholm Resilience Centre, University of Stockholm, Stockholm SE-106 91, Sweden gdaily@stanford.edu zyouyang@rcees.ac.cn.
authors.forename: Gretchen C
authors.initials: GC
authors.lastname: Daily
mesh_terms: D002681:China; D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources / Q000191:economics* / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D003362:Cost-Benefit Analysis; D017753:Ecosystem; D004641:Emigration and Immigration / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D004777:Environment; D058735:Environmental Policy; D006078:Government Programs; D006801:Humans
keywords: human well-being; payment for ecosystem services; relocation; social–ecological systems; sustainable household livelihoods