Improvements in ecosystem services from investments in natural capital.
In response to ecosystem degradation from rapid economic development, China began investing heavily in protecting and restoring natural capital starting in 2000. We report on China's first national ecosystem assessment (2000-2010), designed to quantify and help manage change in ecosystem services, including food production, carbon sequestration, soil retention, sandstorm prevention, water retention, flood mitigation, and provision of habitat for biodiversity. Overall, ecosystem services improved from 2000 to 2010, apart from habitat provision. China's national conservation policies contributed significantly to the increases in those ecosystem services.
State Key Laboratory of Urban and Regional Ecology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China. zyouyang@rcees.ac.cn gdaily@stanford.edu.
Zhiyun
Z
Ouyang
State Key Laboratory of Urban and Regional Ecology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China.
Hua
H
Zheng
State Key Laboratory of Urban and Regional Ecology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China.
Yi
Y
Xiao
Department of Applied Economics and Natural Capital Project, Institute on the Environment, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN 55108, USA.
Stephen
S
Polasky
Center for Systems Integration and Sustainability, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48823-5243, USA.
Jianguo
J
Liu
State Key Laboratory of Urban and Regional Ecology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China.
Weihua
W
Xu
Satellite Environment Center, Ministry of Environmental Protection, Beijing 100094, China.
Qiao
Q
Wang
State Key Laboratory of Urban and Regional Ecology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China.
Lu
L
Zhang
State Key Laboratory of Urban and Regional Ecology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China.
Yang
Y
Xiao
State Key Laboratory of Urban and Regional Ecology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China.
Enming
E
Rao
State Key Laboratory of Urban and Regional Ecology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China.
Ling
L
Jiang
State Key Laboratory of Urban and Regional Ecology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China.
Fei
F
Lu
State Key Laboratory of Urban and Regional Ecology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China.
Xiaoke
X
Wang
School of Geographic and Environmental Sciences, Guizhou Normal University, Guiyang 550001, China.
Guangbin
G
Yang
State Key Laboratory of Urban and Regional Ecology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China.
Shihan
S
Gong
Key Laboratory of Digital Earth Sciences, Institute of Remote Sensing and Digital Earth, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China.
Bingfang
B
Wu
Key Laboratory of Digital Earth Sciences, Institute of Remote Sensing and Digital Earth, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China.
Yuan
Y
Zeng
College of Environmental and Resource Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China.
Wu
W
Yang
Department of Biology, Natural Capital Project, and Woods Institute for the Environment, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA. zyouyang@rcees.ac.cn gdaily@stanford.edu.
Gretchen C
GC
Daily
D044822:Biodiversity; D057965:Carbon Sequestration; D002681:China; D057217:Economic Development; D052918:Environmental Restoration and Remediation / Q000191:economics*; D055868:Floods / Q000191:economics; D005523:Food Supply / Q000191:economics; D007449:Investments; D057766:Policy; D012987:Soil
D012987:Soil