From payments for ecosystem services to eco-compensation: Conceptual change or paradigm shift?

Huajun Yu; Wei Xie; Lan Yang; Anshu Du; Cecilia M V B Almeida; Yutao Wang

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.134627

From payments for ecosystem services to eco-compensation: Conceptual change or paradigm shift?

Sci Total Environ. 2020 Jan 15:700:134627. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.134627. Epub 2019 Oct 18.

Authors

Huajun Yu¹, Wei Xie¹, Lan Yang¹, Anshu Du¹, Cecilia M V B Almeida², Yutao Wang³

Affiliations

¹ Fudan Tyndall Center and Shanghai Key Laboratory of Atmospheric Particle Pollution and Prevention (LAP3), Department of Environmental Science & Engineering, Fudan University, Shanghai 200438, China.
² Paulista University, Graduate Program in Production Engineering, São Paulo, Brazil.
³ Fudan Tyndall Center and Shanghai Key Laboratory of Atmospheric Particle Pollution and Prevention (LAP3), Department of Environmental Science & Engineering, Fudan University, Shanghai 200438, China; Institute of Eco-Chongming (SIEC), No. 3663 Northern Zhongshan Road, Shanghai 200062, China. Electronic address: yutaowang@fudan.edu.cn.

PMID: 31693962
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.134627

Abstract

Payments for ecosystem services (PES) is an effective policy in conserving ecosystem services and is increasingly applied globally. The concept of PES was firstly defined in 2005, researches with various terminologies, concepts, and practices emerged since then. This paper analyzed the research patterns of PES studies through bibliometric methods, with a special focus on the trends of terminology, location (geographical research hotspot), types of PES, and PES effectiveness evaluation based on author keywords analysis. The results showed that PES started to receive considerable academic attentions from 2005, and the number of PES publications have relatively kept an increasing trend since then. The most influential journal, country, research organization, and author were Ecological Economics, USA, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS, China), and Dr. Wunder. Further analysis revealed that there were various terminologies in PES studies, notably "ecological compensation" and "eco-compensation" (EC) were primarily adapted by Chinese research community. China was the geographical research hotspot and developing countries (Vietnam, Mexico, and Brazil) have received growing academic interests in last decade. "Forest and Carbon" PES was the most concerned types of PES in last five years. There were 125 articles evaluated the effectiveness of empirical PES initiatives, and the majority focused on the social aspect. We proposed two suggestions for future research: (1) adapting EC as an alternative term for PES studies because of its inclusiveness and representation of empirical practices; (2) enhancing integrated evaluation of PES programs to achieve multiple benefits.

Keywords: Eco-compensation; Ecological compensation; PES; Payments for ecosystem services; Payments for environmental services.

Publication types

Review