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Abstract

Title: Ecological services and their values by the traditional rice-fish agricultural area: a case study in qingtian county of Zhejiang Province, China

Authors: Min Qingwen1, Zhang Dan1,2, Xiao Yu1,2, Liu Moucheng1,2, Sun Yehong1,2, Zhang Biao1,2

  1. Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, CAS, Beijing, 100101, P. R. China
  2. Graduate School of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, P. R. China

Abstract: According to FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization of United Nations), GIAHS (Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems) are defined as “remarkable land use systems and landscapes which are rich in globally significant biological diversity evolving from the co-adaptation of a community with its environment and its needs and aspirations for sustainable development.” Qingtian County of Zhejiang Province is well-known as its traditional rice-fish agricultural system and was selected by FAO as one of first pilot sites of GIAHS project in 2005. Generally, compared to the modern agricultural system depending upon a lot of modern techniques, the traditional agricultural system can produce less direct economic values. But, the traditional agricultural system can support multiple ecological services. In this paper, the Qingtian’s rice-fish agricultural system was taken as an example to examine the typical ecological services by the traditional agricultural system, and the direct and indirect values of the ecosystem services were also evaluated. The results showed that the total economic value of the ecosystem services by the Qingtian’s rice-fish agricultural system was estimated to be 2546.27 million RMB, not including its recreational and cultural benefits. It was showed that, among the ecosystem services, the indirect value was 4 times more than the direct value. Thus, the indirect value of the ecosystem services by the Qingtian’s rice-fish agricultural system was as important as (even more important than) the direct value. We should pay more attention to its indirect values by the ecological services to fairly evaluate the economic values by the traditional rice-fish paddies.