Classification of ecological compensation for soil and water conservation

Drawing on the relevant research at home and abroad (Yang, 2006), according to the implementation purpose, realization form, compensation flow direction, the role of government and market, and time scale, ecological compensation for soil and water conservation can be divided into the following categories.

First, according to the purpose of implementation.

According to the purpose of implementation, ecological compensation for soil and water conservation can be divided into two categories: loss suppression compensation and income compensation.

Compensation for loss suppression belongs to compensation for paid use of resources. Its purpose is to reduce the direct loss of ecological destruction and resource utilization, and to make up for the contradiction between part of the benefits brought by the scarcity of ecological environment resources and the sharing of resource costs by the whole society.

Obtaining compensation is an incentive compensation mechanism, that is, giving economic or other subsidies to ecological protection and builders to maintain and promote their enthusiasm for ecological protection and construction activities. Its purpose is to realize the positive acquisition of ecological environment resources through compensation.

Second, the form of division

According to the forms of compensation, ecological compensation for soil and water conservation can be divided into policy compensation, economic compensation, material compensation, intellectual compensation, employment compensation and other types.

Policy compensation is to provide a series of policy priority and preferential treatment to the compensated, which is often manifested in institutional resources and policy resources. In the ecologically fragile areas and economically underdeveloped areas in central and western China, policy compensation is often more favorable than direct economic compensation and in-kind compensation.

Capital compensation is the most direct and common form of compensation, which can be subdivided into the following categories: ① Financial transfer payment is a financial management method in which higher-level governments allocate, transfer and adjust finance for lower-level governments, including general transfer payment to make up for local governments' lack of financial resources and special transfer payment provided to local governments to solve a special problem. Financial transfer payment is the most important way of ecological compensation in China. ② Project support, including ecological construction and environmental protection projects, alternative industries and alternative energy development projects in key ecological protection areas, and ecological resettlement projects. (3) The collection of eco-environmental compensation taxes and fees refers to the establishment of a system of eco-environmental taxes and fees to form a fixed fund channel for environmental protection and ecological construction.

Compensation in kind refers to partially or completely solving the production and living factors needed by the compensated person, including material materials, labor, land, etc., in order to improve the living conditions of the compensated person and improve the productivity level of the compensated person.

Intellectual reward is to improve the productivity and organizational management level of the compensated person through intellectual services, including technical consultation and guidance.

Employment compensation, that is, the beneficiary areas with higher economic development level can compensate the beneficiary areas with underdeveloped economy by providing employment opportunities.

Third, according to the salary flow.

According to the compensation direction, ecological compensation for soil and water conservation can be divided into two categories: horizontal compensation and vertical compensation.

Horizontal salary can be divided into interregional salary and departmental salary. Interregional compensation is a form of compensation based on interregional fairness. The downstream economically developed areas "feed back" the upstream areas that undertake the tasks of environmental and ecological protection and construction, thus suffering from the limitations of development opportunities and development methods or the reduction of funds. This is the most typical case of interregional compensation. Departmental compensation, also known as industrial compensation, is a process in which when the investors and beneficiaries of environmental protection and ecological construction belong to different departments/industries, the beneficiaries pay for the inputs to realize the redistribution of interests between departments/industries.

Vertical compensation refers to compensation current from central to local. Vertical salary is a supplementary or alternative form of cross-regional salary and departmental salary. When it is too difficult to internalize the externalities of ecological environment, and the operability of interregional compensation and departmental compensation is reduced or even inoperable, it is a compensation method or a compromise method.

Four, according to the role of the government and the market.

According to the role of government and market in compensation, ecological compensation for soil and water conservation can be divided into two categories: government-led and market-led.

Government leading means that the government plays a leading role in promoting the implementation of ecological compensation for soil and water conservation from beginning to end. It mainly includes two aspects: first, the government directly provides compensation to the beneficiary areas, which can be full compensation or partial compensation; Second, the government clearly defines the subject and object of ecological compensation for soil and water conservation and their corresponding rights, obligations and responsibilities by formulating relevant laws, policies and systems to promote the realization of compensation.

Market dominance refers to the subject and object of ecological compensation for soil and water conservation, and compensation is realized mainly through market mechanism through negotiation.

Five, according to the time scale

According to the compensation time scale, ecological compensation for soil and water conservation can be divided into intergenerational compensation and intra-generational compensation. Intergenerational compensation refers to the compensation between different generations. The basis of intergenerational compensation is that ecological resources are the public wealth of present and future generations, and contemporary people should fully consider the survival and development of future generations when using resources.

Intra-generation compensation includes various forms of compensation between generations.