Toward a National Eco-Compensation Regulation in the People's Republic of China

Eco-compensation in the PRC is mainly a public mechanism to promote environmental protection and restoration, including through the payment for ecological services. It is a package of different mechanisms that employ monetary subsidies as an integral part of project support.

The PRC intends to use the new national regulation to introduce market-based mechanisms in this transaction. The PRC sees a national regulation for eco-compensation as an essential prerequisite for implementing crucial environmental safeguards. It is also an important policy measure for promoting the coordinated development of basic public services across the country. However, regulating eco-compensation is no small task. It requires a fundamental rethinking of the existing economic development model and educating people to create a resource-conserving and environment-friendly society in all parts of the country.

To spur that rethinking process, the NDRC, with support from the Asian Development Bank (ADB), undertook a 3-year study to map out the scope and content of a national ecocompensation regulation. The NDRC published the results of that study in Chinese in 2013. In response to the interest from other developing member countries, ADB prepared an English version, which is this publication.