PS 57-218 - The dynamic assessment and management of urban ecological assets: A case in Zengcheng City, Guangzhou, China

Friday, August 12, 2016
ESA Exhibit Hall, Ft Lauderdale Convention Center
Xiao Sun and Feng Li, State Key Laboratory of Urban and Regional Ecology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
Background/Question/Methods

The products and services provided by ecosystems are important assets for the survival and development of human beings. A comprehensive accounting of a region's ecological assets value will not only help people understand the importance of ecological resources, but also provide a scientific basis for the effective management of regional resources. To evaluate the values of ecological assets, an indicator system which contains ecological service values and natural resource values was established. Taking Zengcheng, Guangzhou as an example, we classified the land use into seven categories, which includes forest, grassland, cropland, water bodies, buildings, traffic land and bare areas. Through establishing remote sensing measurement model, we used the obtaining ecological parameters to calculate the physical quantity of ecological service and natural resource. Finally, the values of ecological assets from 2003 to 2013 were reflected by market price.

Results/Conclusions

The area of construction land and traffic land increased from 2003 to 2013, and they were mainly transformed from agricultural land. However, forest land and farmland were still the most important land use types in this district by 2013. The total value of ecological assets in Zengcheng showed a gradual upward trend from 2003 to 2013. And the values were 26.45, 27.32 and 27.94 billion yuan, respectively. However, the ratio of ecological assets value to GDP had a significant decline. For each type of ecological asset, the values of different natural resources all increased during ten years. However, the values of all ecosystem services showed a decreasing trend. According to the status of ecological assets in Zengcheng, we put forward some specific ecological assets management recommendations which include ecological service management, natural resource management, ecological assets appreciation and the property management of ecological assets.