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【Background and Objective】Ecological products, which are natural elements maintaining ecological security and providing a healthy environment, have both natural and humanistic values. However, the realization of their value is still imperfect, with issues like unclear property rights and inadequate financial support. Transforming ecological values into economic benefits is essential. Ecological compensation accounting helps clarify compensation standards and scope, but current policies face challenges like vague spatial scope and overly high compensation standards based on ecosystem service values. This study aims to assess the value of ecological products and the ecological compensation quota in Shaanxi Province, providing a reference for improving the regional ecological product value realization and compensation system.【Method】This study evaluates the value of ecological products in Shaanxi Province based on the Technical Guideline on Gross Ecosystem Product. It analyzes the ‘consumption-output’ of ecological resources in different cities using ecological footprint and carrying capacity models. The ecological compensation limit is then calculated by combining the ecological product value and resource utilization in different cities.【Result】In 2020, the total value of ecological products in Shaanxi Province was 2 154.694 billion yuan, with material production at 405.661 billion yuan, regulation services at 1 227.833 billion yuan, and cultural services at 521.20 billion yuan. The highest values were found in Hanzhong (312.474 billion yuan) and Yan’an (304.552 billion yuan). From a land-use perspective, forest, grassland, and water were in ecological surplus, while farmland, construction, and fossil energy land were in deficit. Ecologically, only Ankang and Shangluo showed surplus, while other regions had deficits. Based on the ecological protection and economic development balance, regions like Xi’an, Xianyang, and Yulin need to pay ecological compensation (e.g., 2 011.07 billion yuan for Xi’an), while areas such as Yan’an and Hanzhong are entitled to compensation. 【Conclusion】Combining ecological footprint, carrying capacity, and product values allows for a more rational and accurate calculation of ecological compensation at both provincial and municipal levels, improving the efficiency of ecological compensation systems.

The relationship between the value of grassland ecological products and the distribution of regional benefits is key to realizing the value of ecological compensation. This study is based on an improved emergy ecological surplus model to identify the supply and demand regions for grassland ecological products, and constructs an emergy ecological product flow model to determine the flow volume and range of ecological products. Combining the regional economic level, an ecological compensation model is established to calculate the ecological compensation amount and compensation paths for the Qinghai-Tibet region. The results show that: (1) From 2014 to 2024, the supply and demand region ratio of grassland emergy ecological products in the Qinghai-Tibet region decreased from 12:3 to 9:6, with the demand region for emergy ecological products spreading outward from provincial capital cities. (2) From 2014 to 2024, the number of emergy ecological product flow paths in the Qinghai-Tibet region increased from 12 to 17, and the average emergy ecological product flow increased from 87.3 sej/m 2 to 122.3 sej/m 2 . From the spatial distribution perspective, the flow of emergy ecological products shows a “west to east” characteristic. (3) From 2014 to 2024, the total amount of ecological compensation payments for grasslands in the Qinghai-Tibet region increased from 26.798 million yuan to 101.785 million yuan. The areas with higher payment amounts are mainly concentrated in provincial capitals across the Qinghai-Tibet region.

The level of marine environmental management is a key factor in the successful implementation of marine power strategies. The improvement in management levels of marine environments requires innovation in marine management. In other words, the transformation of marine environmental management into marine ecological environment management must be done in order to achieve sustainable development of the marine economy. As an environmental economic policy that combines both administrative and market measures, ecological compensation mechanisms have significant advantages in marine ecological environment management. Based on the study of the current development of ecological compensation mechanisms in China, through the analysis of the connotation of marine ecological civilization, existing marine ecological protection practices and marine environmental management methods, this paper posits that the current marine ecological environment management in China should be established on the basis of ecological compensation mechanisms. At present, a lack of laws and regulations for overall marine ecological environment management is the key factor restricting the practice of marine ecological environment management. Therefore, it is necessary to explore the current path of marine ecological environment management in China from the perspective of the construction of legal system of ecological compensation law, the establishment of ecological compensation fees, ecological taxes and ecological compensation fund systems, and the clear status for a marine ecological management and supervision body.

Ecological compensation has recently gained significant attention as an economic incentive promoting natural resource management. However, there remain several challenges to its application. A key issue is the lack of a method clearly define the standard of ecological compensation. This study established an accounting methodology for the ecological compensation standard for the water-receiving area in an inter-basin water diversion in China. Beijing, a major water-receiving area of the South-to-North Water Diversion Project, was used as an example of the application of this approach. First, the evaluation index of ecosystem service value of the water-receiving area was selected, then, emergy theory was used to calculate the increment of ecological service value based on the characteristics of each indicator. The ecological service value due to the project was calculated to be 3.898 billion RMB, while the willingness-to-pay by the public was estimated at 915 million RMB. Therefore, the increment of ecological service value was the highest standard of compensation, and the public’s willingness-to-pay was the lower limit of ecological compensation. The final compensation standard can be determined through negotiation between suppliers and beneficiaries under the leadership of relevant governments and water-transfer authorities. Thus, this study aimed to provide a scientific basis for the construction of diversified ecological compensation mechanisms and promote sustainable development of the region.

The establishment of a complete carbon ecological compensation mechanism is of great significance for China to achieve “carbon peak and carbon neutrality” as soon as possible. From the perspective of land carbon budget accounting, this paper measures the carbon emissions and the value of carbon ecological compensation in 30 provinces in China from 2010 to 2019, by constructing a carbon ecological compensation model, and analyzes it from both time and space perspectives. The study found that: (1) during the period 2010–2019, China’s carbon absorption remained basically stable, and woodland and grassland were the main carriers of China’s land carbon absorption. The total carbon sequestration of woodland and grassland showed a pattern of being high in the west and low in the east, and the total carbon sequestration of cultivated land showed a pattern of being high in the east and low in the west. (2) Construction land is the main source of carbon emissions in China. Cultivated land carbon emissions mainly come from major agricultural provinces such as Henan and Heilongjiang, while construction land carbon emissions are mainly concentrated in energy-consuming provinces such as Shandong and Shanxi. (3) After revising the carbon compensation benchmark value, it is found that provinces such as Guangdong and Jiangsu should receive carbon ecological compensation, while provinces dominated by heavy industries such as Shanxi and Shandong need to pay corresponding carbon compensation fees. Finally, this article puts forward corresponding policy recommendations, such as that China should give full play to the role of the government and the market, accelerate the optimization and improvement of the ecological resource asset property rights system, and optimize the development and utilization of land.

Cultivated land ecological compensation (CLEC) is an important way to solve regional development imbalance and cultivated land problems, and the scientific quantification of the ecological value of cultivated land is the key to CLEC. This study quantified the total amount and urgency of CLEC in China’s main grain-producing region using the cropland ecological footprint (EF) and ecosystem service value (ESV) methods. Furthermore, this study analyzed the comprehensive zoning of CLEC considering natural and economic development. The results showed that the spatial distribution of EFs and the ecological carrying capacity of cultivated land in Henan Province are similar, presenting the spatial characteristics of being high in the southeast and low in the northwest; the cultivated land in most of the counties and districts is in a state of ecological surplus, and the cultivated land resources are sufficient to support their own consumption needs. Henan Province as a whole is an ecologically compensated region, with a compensation amount of CNY 1.39 billion, and the total amount of compensation is in a positive value of 94.94%. The Southwest Yu and North Yu economic zone of Henan are the areas of high and low values of cultivated land compensation. The priority compensation region is the most extensive and widely distributed type in the five regions of Henan Province, accounting for 55% of the counties and districts. The degree of compensation is most urgent in the Huanghuai, Southwest Yu, and North Yu economic zones. This study’s findings provide new ideas for the development of differentiated ecological compensation policies, and provide references for the participation of multiple market participants and the diversification of compensation forms.

Increasingly, government and corporate policies on ecological compensation (e.g., offsetting) are requiring “net gain” outcomes for biodiversity. This presents an opportunity to align development with the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity Post‐2020 Global Biodiversity Framework's (GBF) proposed ambition for overall biodiversity recovery. In this perspective, we describe three conditions that should be accounted for in net gain policy to align outcomes with biodiversity recovery goals: namely, a requirement for residual losses from development to be compensated for by (1) absolute gains, which are (2) scaled to the achievement of explicit biodiversity targets, where (3) gains are demonstrably feasible. We show that few current policies meet these conditions, which risks undermining efforts to achieve the proposed Post‐2020 GBF milestones and goals, as well as other jurisdictional policy imperatives to halt and reverse biodiversity decline. To guide future decision‐making, we provide a supporting decision tree outlining net gain compensation feasibility.

Watershed ecological compensation, as an important means to protect the environment and promote the sustainable and coordinated development of upstream and downstream has wide concern in China. At present, the compensation accounting method only assesses water quality. When applied to some northern rivers represented by the Yongding River, which are facing water shortage, the assessment of water quality indicators alone cannot effectively compensate the ecosystem service providers for their expenditure on the environment. This paper proposes a transboundary water quality and quantity ecological compensation standard model, which couples the water quality ecological compensation standard of pollutant reduction and the water quantity ecological compensation standard based on the restoration cost method. We set up two scenarios using the model to calculate the amount of compensation payable under the actual scenario in 2018, which is USD 68.2 million. The amount of compensation under the local environmental policy target scenario is USD 10.6–82.668–529 million. It was concluded that the funds obtained from this model can cover the rehabilitation cost and meet the benefits of the upstream and downstream, making compensation funds more reasonable. However, based on the cross-sectional assessment, there is still a lack of integrity and comprehensiveness for the river basin. The development of watershed ecological compensation should move from the game of upstream and downstream interests to a win–win situation.

Ecological compensation provides innovative ecological solutions for addressing land degradation and guaranteeing the sustainable provision of essential ecosystem services. This study estimated the ecosystem service value and the opportunity cost of land use in the Poverty Belt of China—around Beijing and Tianjin—from 1980 to 2015 on the small watershed scale, and thereafter estimated the rational range of ecological compensation in this ecologically fragile zone. Results showed that the total ecosystem service value in the study area gradually decreased from CNY 54.198 billion in 1980 to CNY 53.912 billion in 2015. Moreover, the annual total ecological compensation of the whole study area ranged between CNY 2.67 billion and 2.83 billion. More specifically, areas with higher ecological compensation standards are mainly concentrated in the northwestern and northern parts of the study area, with a lower economic development level, while areas with lower ecological compensation standards are mainly located in areas with a relatively high level of economic development, e.g., the southern and southeastern parts of the study area. These results can provide valuable decision-support information for the design and optimization of ecological compensation to address land degradation along with rapid urbanization in the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei region.

As an environmental policy that directly brings economic benefits to farmers, ecological compensation should achieve the dual goals of ecological environmental protection and rural poverty reduction. With the implementation of various ecological compensation projects, a large number of studies began to focus on the impact of ecological compensation projects on rural labor transfer employment. However, most of the existing studies focus on a specific project and fail to consider a comparative analysis of different types of projects. Therefore, this study used the survey data of 1279 rural laborers in the Yanqing District of Beijing to analyze the impact of different types of ecological compensation projects on the transfer employment of rural labor from the perspective of self-development capacity. The results show that post-based ecological compensation projects provide a low quality of posts and weaken the initiative of participants to further expand their employment channels. Land-based projects downsize agricultural production and reduce the agricultural production activities of participants, without significantly increasing their likelihood of transfer employment. In the long run, the current implementation of ecological compensation projects may cause problems regarding labor surpluses and land restoration. This study has certain practical application value and practical guiding significance for further improving the design of ecological compensation mechanisms.