China's major conservation projects to fix its worsening ecosystem that has come in the wake of the nation's economic boom are paying off, results from the first China ecosystem assessment (CEA) showed Thursday.

"The results of the CEA show that improving ecosystem services and economic growth can coexist," first author Zhiyun Ouyang, deputy director of the Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, part of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, told Xinhua.

"It is possible to increase the provision of key ecosystem services with economic growth through intelligent policy design," Ouyang said.

The findings, published in the widely respected U.S. journal Science, came from a team of scientists led by Ouyang, Stanford University's Gretchen Daily, Stephen Polasky of the University of Minnesota and Jianguo Liu of the Michigan State University.

50-BILLION-DOLLAR INVESTMENT

Since the "reform and opening up" began in the late 1970s, China has succeeded in lifting hundreds of millions of people out of poverty, but this feat, based largely on heavy industry and manufacturing, came at high environmental and public health costs, Ouyang said.

China first awoke to its ecological problems in 1998, when severe flooding along the Yangtze River, China's largest river, killed thousands of people, rendered 13.2 million homeless, and caused about 36 billion U.S. dollars in property damage.

The devastating flooding prompted creation around 2000 of the world's largest government-financed payment for ecosystem services programs: the Natural Forest Conservation Program (NFCP) and the Sloping Land Conversion Program (SLCP).

By 2009, more than 120 million farmers in 32 million households have been enrolled in the SLCP alone, which compensates farmers for restoring forests and grassland.

In total, China poured in an impressive more than 50-billion-dollar investment in the two programs in roughly the first decade.

SIGNIFICANT SUCCESS

In order to determine the impact of these programs, the new study examined how China's ecosystem services -- food production, carbon sequestration, soil and water retention, sandstorm prevention, flood mitigation and biodiversity -- are doing, and what trends have emerged.

The assessment, the first of its kind in the nation, involved a staggering amount of data from all of mainland China, including from satellite images, field studies and historical records.

The results revealed that all ecosystem services evaluated over the decade from 2000 to 2010 increased, with the exception of habitat provision for biodiversity.

Food production had the largest increase (38.5 percent), followed by carbon sequestration (23.4 percent), soil retention (12.9 percent), flood mitigation (12.7 percent), sandstorm prevention (6.1 percent), and water retention (3.6 percent), whereas habitat provision showed a slight decrease of 3 percent.

These changes varied by region, with some areas experiencing decreases in certain ecosystem services, despite overall increases nationwide.

Collectively, priority areas such as Changbai Mountains, Loess Plateau and Nanling Mountains, accounted for a majority of ecosystem services provided, although they made up only 37 percent of the area of China.

"This study demonstrates that our conservation policies and measures including the NFCP and SLCP have achieved significant success, contributing to improvement in ecosystem services and ecological quality in China," said Ouyang.

But he was quick to point out that serious environmental challenges remain, including deteriorating air, soil and water pollution that has caused great concern in China.

CHINESE EXPERIENCE FOR OTHER COUNTRIES

Co-author Jianguo Liu, director of Michigan State University's Center for Systems Integration and Sustainability, said the findings indicate that effective government policies can play crucial roles in achieving global environmental sustainability and enhancing human well-being.

"It is hopeful that the experiences from increasing China's ecosystem services can help address China's enormous environmental challenges such as air pollution, water pollution, and resource shortages," Liu said in a statement.

"They may also offer useful insights into environmental and poverty problems in other parts of the world," he said.

A statement from Stanford University, which also took part in the study, echoed similar views, saying that China's massive efforts to restore forests and grassland have established itself as "a global environmental leader."

"China is providing a case study for the world, showing how with funding and government leadership, ecosystem services can be restored, while also improving people's livelihoods and creating greater security for businesses who hope to operate there," the Stanford statement added. (Xinhua)