Estimation and analysis of forest ecosystem services value: Case study in Baishuijiang National Nature Reserve in Gansu, western China

The forest ecosystem as a major part of global ecosystems, attracts wide concerns from the inter-disciplinary community of ecology and economics in estimation of its services value. Based on the Forest Ecosystem Function Evaluation Criterion (LY/T 1721—2008), the field data of the Baishuijiang national forest ecosystem and land use data acquired by GIS and RS technologies, we assessed the forest ecosystem services value of the Baishuijiang Nature Reserve in Gansu, western China. The total value of forest ecosystem of the reserve is RMB 17.89 billion yuan per year, with the order of service value of each item as biodiversity (43.08%) carbon fixation and oxygen (19.35%) soil conservation (16.17%) water conservation (13.11%) forest products (5.16%) air purification (1.55%) nutrient accumulation (0.96%) forest recreation (0.62%). In terms of the utilization type of service value, the order is value of indirect utilization (51.14 %) value of non-utilization (43.08%) values of direct utilization (5.78%). Estimation of forest ecosystem services value could provide in-depth understanding of the importance of forest ecosystem service value for policy makers. A comparison of other studies reveals could not only check the accuracy of the estimation, but also could find the law between the forest ecosystem service functions. Results of our paper could help the local environment policy makers to develop appropriate forest ecological compensation and other environmental policies, and at the same time such evaluation is also conducive to promoting the government to establish a sustainable environment and economic comprehensive green GDP system that covers the ecosystem. Future research on forest ecosystem services value should be focused primarily on its service function mechanisms, dynamic assessment, spatial distribution and their applications in policy-making.