Evaluation on Values of Zhalong Wetland
Cui Lijuan
(Forestry Institute, Chinese Academy of Forestry,Beijing 10091)
Abstract: Zhalong Wetland seats at the lower reaches of the WuyuerRiver, which is in the west of SongnenPlain, Heilongjiang Province.Wetland values of Zhalong contain direct use values (products and serve from wetland), indirect use values (environmental values), and current non-use values. Use values of Zhalong Wetland include direct and indirect use values. The selected valuation objects cover most plants and animals in Zhalong, and we use direct market value method to finish the evaluation task. Value of tourism was gotten by TCM method. Value of carbon fixing was calculated by tax rate of Sweden. Researching value, waste disposing value and habitat value were gotten by Robert Constanza method. Non-use values of wetland are uncompetitive; it is to say that when valuing non-use values, market doesn’t work. In order to reserve natural resources better, we’d better to pricewetland. Price is the reflection of objective things through one’s mind, so Willingness to Pay (WTP) can reflect the price of wetland values.
Keywords: Zhalong Wetland, value, evaluation
- Analyses on value component of Zhalong wetland
- Analyses on value component of wetland
Value componentanalyzingis necessary for value assessment. According to characteristics, benefits and functions of wetland, based on comprehensive analysis of natural resources classification methods abroad and domestic, value component of wetland was summarized in the following[1][2][3]:
1.2Evaluation on valuesof Zhalong wetland
Zhalong wetland lies in Songnen Plain, west of Heilongjiang province, southeast of Qiqihaer city. Geographic coordinate is 46°52´-47°32´N, 123° 47´-124 ° 37´E. WuyuerRiver waters in the lower stream lost their way and formed a large area of swamps, which is made up of many shallow lakes and meadows. Zhalong wetland of the total area 2100km2 was formed by those swamps, lakes and meadows. The deepest depth of the wetland is 75cm while lake is 5m. Zhalong wetland and surrounded area developed lately, where was untraversed before 19th, village inhabited there after 1950s.
According tothe components ofwetland valuediscussed in Fig. 1, Zhalong wetland value contain direct products value and service value; indirect use value as well as eco-environmental value; current unusable value includes selective and semi-selective value, existence value, heritage value.
- Evaluation on the use value of Zhalong wetland
- Evaluation on the direct use value of Zhalong wetland
(1)Evaluation on the value of animal products
Two main kinds of animal, fish and crane, were considered. Fish is evaluatedas the delegate of economic animal for its importanceand the largest productivity, value of fish is:
Fish Production Value=Area of fish producing× yield × price/kg
=1.6325million Yuan
As to rare animals, crane was evaluated in this research, which includes red-crowned crane, white crane, white head crane, and white neck crane. The amount of the four kinds of crane was investigated by aviation in brood time (April) [4]. Price of crane is determined bythe price of the cranesold to zoo or other reserves.
Table 1.Value of cranes
Name / Amount / Price（Yuan） / Value (ten thousands Yuan)Red-crown crane / 346 / 8000 / 276.8
White crane / 828 / 8000 / 662.4
White neck crane / 39 / 6000 / 23.4
White head crane / 359 / 6000 / 215.4
Total / 1178
(2)Evaluation on thevalue of plant products
Value of plant products weremainly made up ofvalue of reed and fern brake, only direct use value of plant products is calculated, the value of products after processing is uncalculated.
Table 2 Value of plant products
Product / Quality / Area(km2) / Yield(kg/m2) / Price(Yuan/kg) / Total value(ten thousands Yuan)Reed / common / 385 / 0.189 / 0.32 / 2.33
super / 715 / 0.379 / 0.5 / 13.55
Fernbrake / common / 315 / 0.379 / 0.2 / 2.39
super / 135 / 0.189 / 0.6 / 1.53
Total / 19.8
(3) Evaluation on the value of tourism
Direct incomefrom tourism includes tickets, hotel income, tourism goods and parking fee, summed up to 0.97 million Yuan.
Payout for tourism includes traveling fee, room and board fee, see table 3.
Table3 Annual travel cost to Zhalong Wetland
Customer origins / Traveling fee（Yuan） / Room and board fee（Yuan） / Number（ten million persons） / Total traveling fee （ten millionYuan）Qiqihaer city / 6*2 / 50 / 6.4 / 396.8
Northeast region / 55*2 / 225 / 0.8 / 268
Other region / 340*2 / 333 / 0.8 / 810.4
Total / 1475.2
Note: Fee is coordinate with the practical price of 1999
Value of time for traveling
Time value for traveling=wage criterion per hour × total hours of tourism × 40%[2], see table 4.
Table4 Value of time for traveling to Zhalong
Customer origins / Average incoming of city workers（Yuan） / Population of tourist（ten thousands） / Time for tour （h） / Value of chance wage per hour（Yuan/h） / Tour time value（ten thousands Yuan）Qiqihaer city / 5475 / 6.4 / 24 / 2.69 / 413.18×0.4
Northeast region / 6487 / 0.8 / 60 / 3.19 / 153.12×0.4
Other region / 12451 / 0.8 / 88.8 / 6.13 / 435.48×0.4
Total / 8 / 400.07
Note: Data is accordance with Statistic Annual of Heilongjiang province (Statistic bureau of Heilongjiang province, 1999), 1999 Statistic Annual of China (State statistic bureau, 1999)
Total value of tourism
Total value of tourism=direct income + traveling fee + value of time used for tour
=19.7391 million Yuan
2.2Evaluation on theindirect use value of Zhalong wetland
(1)Evaluation on the value of fixing carbon
Plant annual pure productivity is the base, we use equation of photosynthesis to calculate the amount of CO2being fixed, then conversing it to the amount of carbon, multiplied by Sweden Tax Rate of Carbon, the value of fixing CO2 generated.
Table5 Value of fixing CO2 of plant in Zhalong Wetland
Area（km2） / Biomass（g/m2） / CO2 being fixed（t/a） / Carbon equivalent（t/a） / Tax rate of Carbon（Yuan/t） / Value of Carbon fixing（ten thousands Yuan/a）1680 / 878.0 / 2404315.2 / 656137.6 / 1245 / 81689
(2)Value of maintaining watersource
Value of maintaining watersource was calculated by shadow engineering method.First, we acquired the totalwater amount, and then multiplied the engineering price for containing per unit water.
Value of maintaining watersource= total water amount × engineering cost for containing per unit water
=402million Yuan
(3)Value of erosion control
The function of erosion control embodied in two aspects, one, reducing water and soil losing, two, reducing fertilitydegrading.
First we calculated the amount of soil erosion reduced by Zhalong wetland, using the mean value of erosion differences between wetland area and wetland destructed area multiplying area of Zhalong wetland. The value of maintaining soil can be replaced by chance value of land abandoned. In other words, we supposed land would be degenerated and abandoned when wetland is destroyed.
Value of soil erosion reducing=equal abandoned land areamean benefits of wetland productivity
=(total amount of erosion reducing /depth of surface soil)mean benefits of wetland productivity
=28.969 million Yuan/a
The value of fertilizer losing reducedby wetland could be replaced by the value ofN, P and K fertilizerin soil. Content of N, P and K in soil and bulk density should be tested. Price of N, P and K fertilizer refers to the stable price in 1990, so:
Value of reducing fertilizer losing=area of land abandoned per yeardepth of surface soilbulk densityN, P and K content in per unit weight soilfertilizer price of N,P and K
= 1.1168 108 Yuan/a
(4) Evaluation on the value of habitat and waste disposing
Value of waste disposing and habitat was calculated by the method studied by Robert Costanza[8][9]. Result is:
Waste deposing value= 7280.51 million Yuan/a
Value of habitat for creatures=529.87 million Yuan/a
2.3 Total useable value of Zhalong wetland
Total useablevalue of Zhalong wetland equals direct use value adds indirect use value.
Total use values=fish value+crane value+plant value + tourism value + research and cultural value + value of carbon fixing + value of water head maintaining + value of erosion controlling + value of waste deposing + value of being habitat
=10712.7696 million Yuan/a
3. Evaluation on thenonuse value of Zhalong wetland
3.1 Method used for evaluation
Nonuse value of wetland is uncompetitive, in other words, market is invalidated when evaluating. There haven’t trade and prices for nonuse value of wetland, functions of wetland can not be priced by marketneeds. For protection, it is needed to price nonuse value of wetland. West economists have done a lot of exploring work in this field. They think that value is people’s attitude, opinion, belief and taste for objects, and the results of people’s subjective ideas in acknowledging things, so, willingness to pay can be the indicator to express value of people’s needs. CV method is wide spread and popular used method for indicating WTP value. It is a method of inquiring questions’ answers to evaluate things value. In this investigation, 282 questionnaires, each of which contain 12 items, of individual WTP for nonuse value of Zhalong wetlandwere scattered to 28 provinces (cities or municipalities), 209 sheets from 22 provinces (cities or municipalities) were collected, feedback rate is 74.1%. Generally,feedback rate is high and data have good representative.
3.2 Evaluation on theWTP value
The statistic of people’s willingness and the WTP value of 208 effective questionnaires showed that 141 will pay for the eternity of Zhalong wetland, taking 67.79% of total.The value of willingness to pay and frequency distribution is listed in table 6. By statistic, accumulated middle frequency equals 40 Yuan.it’s the middle value of total samples. Mean value of total sample is 100.05 Yuan.
Table6 Ratio distribution of WTP value
WTP（Yuan） / Absolute frequency(%) / Relative frequency（%） / Justified frequency (%) / Accumulated frequency（%）0.01 / 2 / 0.96 / 1.42 / 1.42
1.00 / 4 / 1.92 / 2.84 / 4.26
2.00 / 3 / 1.44 / 2.13 / 6.39
3.00 / 1 / 0.48 / 0.71 / 7.10
4.00 / 4 / 1.92 / 2.84 / 9.94
5.00 / 2 / 0.96 / 1.42 / 11.36
8.00 / 1 / 0.48 / 0.71 / 12.07
10.00 / 23 / 11.06 / 16.31 / 28.38
20.00 / 11 / 5.29 / 7.80 / 36.18
30.00 / 3 / 1.44 / 2.13 / 38.31
50.00 / 24 / 11.54 / 17.02 / 55.33
60.00 / 4 / 1.92 / 2.84 / 58.17
80.00 / 1 / 0.48 / 0.71 / 58.88
100.00 / 35 / 16.83 / 24.81 / 83.69
200.00 / 14 / 6.73 / 9.92 / 93.61
300.00 / 1 / 0.48 / 0.71 / 94.32
400.00 / 1 / 0.48 / 0.71 / 95.03
500.00 / 4 / 1.92 / 2.84 / 97.87
1000.00 / 3 / 1.44 / 2.13 / 100.00
Refusing / 67 / 32.21
Total / 208 / 100.00 / 100.00
Middle located value：40 .00 Yuan Mean value：100.05 Yuan
For the big variance of the value of WTP, mean value may make big error, middle located data is popular used in West which can present 67.79% of total sample.
Zhalong natural reserve is state owned reserve; the population radix for analysis should be national wide. Taking 5 different population radices to analysis, result is in the following table 7.
Table 7 Total WTP value of Zhalong Wetland
sample / population（ten thousands） / WTP value per person（Yuan/a） / WTP total value（ten thousands Yuan/a）Total population of state / 124810 / 40 / 4992400
City (county) population / 37942 / 40 / 1517680
Workers in city / 12336 / 40 / 493440
Workers in state owned company / 28094 / 40 / 352360
Workers in the third industry / 69957 / 40 / 2798280
From above, based on 5 population radices, we calculated 5 WTP value: 499.24×108 Yuan, 151.77×108 Yuan, 49.34×108 Yuan, 35.24×108 Yuan, 279.83×108 Yuan. In this research, we used the WTP value based on the population radix of city workers because they have stable incoming, certain degree of education, will pay the money, and tourists to Zhalong wetlands main made up of them.
3.3 Analyzing WTP value
By investigation, we got the total nonuse value of Zhalong wetland including existence value, heritage value, and selective value. From the questionnaires, 61.2% population wanted wetland eternal exist, 27.6% wanted leave it to offspring, 11.2% wanted select Zhalong to use in the future. The nonuse value of Zhalong wetland is showed in table 8.
Table 8 Non-use value of Zhalong Wetland
Value type / Potion of payment（%） / value（ten thousands Yuan）Existence value / 61.2 / 30.19
Heritage value / 27.6 / 13.62
Selective and semi-selective value / 11.2 / 5.53
Sum / 100 / 49.34
4. Evaluation on the total value of Zhalong wetland
4.1 Total value of wetland
(1) Direct use value
Direct use value
Value of fish products: 1.6325million Yuan;
Value of crane products: 11.78million Yuan;
Value of plant products:0.198million Yuan;
Total value: 13.6105 million Yuan
Direct service function value
Total value of tourism is 19.7391million Yuan
Value of culture and scientific research is 153.558 million Yuan
Total: 155.53191 million Yuan
Total value of direct use: 156.89296 million Yuan
Indirect use value:
Value of fixing carbon: 0.81689 million Yuan;
Value of maintaining watersource: 0.40200 million Yuan;
Value of controlling erosion: 0.11457 million Yuan;
Value of waste disposing: 7.28051 million Yuan;
Value of habitat: 0.52987 million Yuan;
Total: 9.14384 million Yuan
(2) Nonuse value
Value of selective and semi-selective: 0.553 million Yuan;
Value of heritage: 1.362 million Yuan;
Value of existence: 3.019 million Yuan;
Total: 4.934 million Yuan
(4) Total value
The total value of Zhalong wetland is the summation of all kinds of values as above
4.2 Analyses on the total value of Zhalong wetland
(1) Analyses on the structure of value
In the total value of Zhalong wetland, the direct value account for 10.07 percent, the indirect value is 58.38 percent, and the nonuse value is 31.55 percent. It is obvious that all the three value magnitude is in the same level, the indirect value is the highest and the direct value is the lowest in the total value of Zhalong wetland, the tiptop value is 5.8 times of the lowest.
(2) Analyses on the characteristics of Zhalong wetland value
In all the values, direct use value is the smallest one. On one hand, it can be seen that we have an incompletely statistic on those direct use value, on the other hand, it shows that Zhalong wetland has multi-used value in the world; the direct value of serving for people is not the most important one. Furthermore, in all kinds of value in Zhalong wetland, those non-consuming service function value is 113 times of those consuming direct use value, it illuminated that non-consuming direct used value is the main form in the direct benefit of Zhalong wetland, and incarnate the direct used character of Zhalong wetland.
Indirect use value is the largest one. It is shown that the ecosystem of Zhalong wetland has right ecology function, and exerts well ecologicalservice. As the important characteristic of natural ecosystem, the value of environment is a large one, furthermore, the main reasons people want these ecosystems have nice future. The value level and amount of eco-environment reflectthe character of commonweal value in nature.
Currently, the nonuse value is an obvious larger one. This kind of value is a conjecture and wish on possible value of wetland in future; it is the WTP of people’s preference on Zhalong wetland. Amount of this value depends on people’s consciousness, thus, the survey result is only a reference. The larger current nonuse value makes out that Zhalong wetland is an important heritage of nature,and with large latency value.
(3) Development situation of total value of Zhalong wetland
Every evaluationon Zhalong wetland is produced eachyear, moreover, every value based on the currency value in 1998 or 1999. Therefore, the total value can be changed as time goes by, the changing orientation lies on the amount of social requirement on those comfort goods, furthermore, it also lies on the fluctuating of people’s average wage and the changing of people’s requirement of life quality.
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This paper is published in Journal of Natural Resources