Design and measurement of small-scale regional ecological compensation model

Ecological compensation is essential to implement regional ecological protection rights and responsibilities, mobilize all parties to participate in ecological management, and achieve regional green recovery and sustainable development. Previous studies on the theory, calculation methods, and compensation basis related to large-scale regional ecological compensation have made great achievements. However, the research on small-scale regional ecological compensation is still inadequate. This study established a regional ecological compensation economic conversion mechanism by constructing a mathematical model, combining a series of impacts brought by natural and economic environments, and using externality theory to design an ecological compensation model that can solve regional ecological imbalance at a small scale. Then, the ecological compensation amounts of three county-level administrative regions in the Qinghai Lake basin are measured based on the model design. The results revealed that the most extensive vegetation coverage in the Qinghai Lake basin is an alpine meadow, followed by a warm meadow and an alpine swamp. Moreover, influenced by the high altitude topography, severe cold climate conditions, and salt lakes, the grassland in the Qinghai Lake basin, represented by an alpine meadow and warm meadow, has a greater value of basic ecological value in the area and has the most significant regulating effect on the environment as well as the greatest economic and ecological value that can be created. Designing an ecological compensation model for small-scale regions and measuring the value equivalent of regional ecological compensation is conducive to timely monitoring and protecting the regional ecological environment and providing policy implications for achieving regional green recovery and sustainable development. & COPY; 2023 Economic Society of Australia, Queensland. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.