Author(s)

Siyuan Ye¹, Edward A. Laws^2*, Robert Costanza³, Hans Brix⁴

¹Key Laboratory of Coastal Wetland Biogeosciences, China Geological Survey, Qingdao Institute of Marine Geology, CGS, Ministry of Land and Resources, Qingdao, China.
²Department of Environmental Sciences, School of the Coast and Environment, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, USA.
³Crawford School of Public Policy, The Australian National University, Canberra, Australia.
⁴Department of Bioscience, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark.

The largest reed field in the world, with an area of 1000 km² in 1953, is located in the Liaohe Delta, which lies in the five-point-in-a-line economic strategic zone of northeastern China. However, the area of reeds has declined dramatically in recent years to accommodate oil field infrastructure and societal developments. Although the direct and indirect services provided by such wetlands make valuable contributions to human welfare, wetlands are often given little weight in policy decisions, because ecosystem services are not fully “captured” in commercial markets or adequately quantified in terms comparable with the values of economic services and manufactured capital. In this study the value of 10 of 17 ecosystem services provided by the reed wetlands in the Liaohe Delta was estimated by using market pricing, shadow projects, and benefit transfer methods. The value of the 10 services provided by the 800 km² of reed wetland totaled approximately US $2.68 billion. Remarkably, aquaculture and the production of pulp from reeds accounted for only 19% of the total value of the reed wetland services. About 32% of the value of the ecosystem services was attributed to non-consumptive recreation, an easily perceived service that may act as a powerful incentive for sustainable management of this wetland ecosystem. The results of this study should help not only to guide management decisions with respect to this particular wetland but also to serve as an example of the approach to be taken with respect to valuation of similarly endangered wetlands throughout China.

China, Common Reeds, Ecosystem Services, Liaohe Delta, Valuation

Ye, S. , Laws, E. , Costanza, R. and Brix, H. (2016) Ecosystem Service Value for the Common Reed Wetlands in the Liaohe Delta, Northeast China. Open Journal of Ecology, 6, 129-137. doi: 10.4236/oje.2016.63013.