Benefit evaluation of wetlands resource with different modes of protection and utilization in the Dongting Lake region

AbstractWetlands together with forest and ocean are considered as the three most important ecosystems on our planet, which can provide the most valuable ecosystem services. But with the development of human society, overuse of wetland resource has lead to more and more environmental problems, such as resource degradation, losses of biodiversity, rapid decrease of habitat for endangered and important species and so on. People also developed some measures to alleviate the trends, but not all of them were helpful and effective. So it is a pressing task to evaluate the existent modes for wetland resource protection and utilization and find out the most effective ways to solve these problems. The Dongting Lake is the second biggest freshwater lake in china, which was once the first, and its wetland resources are facing severe degradation because of overuse, which is typical in China. In this paper, we selected this region as our study area, benefits evaluation of wetland resource in the region with 36 modes of wetlands protection and utilization, such as hydrophyte cultivation, fishery products aquaculture, cropland cultivation, natural reserves and so on, were conducted using economic evaluation methods. 12 indices were selected, including runoff adjustment and flood control, water resource supply, transfer and fixation of nutriments, toxicants and deposits, local climate regulation, habitat for endangered and important species, maintaining the existent ecosystem and natural processes, animal and plant products supply, places for tourism, research, and education, and species diversity conservation, which were the main functions, uses, and attributes of wetland resource. Experts Grading Method was used to decide if the benefits of the wetlands resources with different modes of protection and utilization could be fully realized, if it was, the mark was 1, if not, less than 1 and larger than or equal to 0. The evaluation results were expressed with monetary values and sorted by the values, which could clearly show direct use value, indirect use value and non- use value of different types of wetland resource pre ha. with 36 modes of wetlands protection and utilization in the Dongting lake region, we can compare these values directly and objectively, and find out the optimal modes for wetland protection and utilization easily. So the research will provide scientific references for the future plan of wetlands sustainable development