Is the “ecological and economic approach for the restoration of collapsed gullies” in Southern China really economic?
Collapsed gully erosion constantly plagues the sustainability of rural areas in China. To control collapsed gully erosion, an ecological and economic approach, which uses tree plantation to gain economic benefits and control soil erosion, has been widely applied by local governments in Southern China. However, little is known about the economic feasibility of this new method. The objective of this study was to determine the effectiveness and economic benefits of the new method. Based on a case study in Changting County, Southeast China, two farms were selected to represent a timber tree plantation and a fruit tree plantation, respectively. The Annual Capital Capitalization Method and Return on Investment (ROI) were selected to conduct cost-benefit analysis. In contrast to previous studies, we found that the new approach was far from economic. The value of the newly-built forestland in Sanzhou Village and Tufang Village is 2738 RMB ha -1 and 5477 RMB ha -1, respectively, which are extremely lower than the costs of ecological restoration. Meanwhile, the annual ROI is –3.60% and –8.90%, respectively, which is negative and also far poorer than the average value of forestry in China. The costs of conservation were substantially over the related economic benefits, and themore »
- Authors:
-
[1];
[2];
[2];
[3]
- Fujian Normal Univ., Fuzhou (China)
- Auburn Univ., Auburn, AL (United States)
- Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
- Publication Date:
- Grant/Contract Number:
- AC05-76RL01830
- Type:
- Accepted Manuscript
- Journal Name:
- Sustainability (Basel)
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Name: Sustainability (Basel); Journal Volume: 7; Journal Issue: 8; Journal ID: ISSN 2071-1050
- Publisher:
- MDPI
- Research Org:
- Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
- Sponsoring Org:
- USDOE
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES; economic feasibility; cost-benefit analysis; collapsed gully erosion; environmental conservation
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1213580