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Apr.  2019
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YU Shuling, CUI Baoshan, XIE Chengjie, MA Xu, MAN Ying, NING Zhonghua. Ecological Offsetting in China's Coastal Wetlands: Existing Challenges and Strategies for Future Improvement[J]. Chinese Geographical Science, 2019, 20(2): 202-213. doi: 10.1007/s11769-019-1024-4
Citation: YU Shuling, CUI Baoshan, XIE Chengjie, MA Xu, MAN Ying, NING Zhonghua. Ecological Offsetting in China's Coastal Wetlands: Existing Challenges and Strategies for Future Improvement[J]. Chinese Geographical Science, 2019, 20(2): 202-213. doi: 10.1007/s11769-019-1024-4
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Ecological Offsetting in China's Coastal Wetlands: Existing Challenges and Strategies for Future Improvement

doi: 10.1007/s11769-019-1024-4

  • State Key Laboratory of Water Environment Simulation, School of Environment, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China

Funds:  Under the auspices of the Chinese Academy of Engineering Advisory Project (No. 2018-XZ-14-03), Key Project of National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 51639001), National Key Basic Research Program of China (No. 2013CB430406)
  • Received Date: 2018-03-22
  • Publish Date: 2019-04-01
  • Land-use changes in coastal wetlands have led to a worldwide degradation of marine coastal ecosystems and a loss of the ecological services they provide. Ecological offsetting is a popular strategy and an effective mitigation measure for ecosystems that have been degraded, damaged, or destroyed and is critical for habitats where natural recovery is hindered. However, the current understanding of the theory and practice of ecological offsetting for coastal wetlands is extremely limited in many developing countries. We conducted a review of ecological offsetting for coastal wetlands projects and studies in China in 1979-2017 to explore the application and limitations of ecological offsetting theory. It was found that China's coastal ecological offsetting regime has recently entered a rapidly developing stage, with an increasing number of different types of offsetting projects conducted, but theoretical research lags behind practical applications. Considerable governmental, social, technological and ethical challenges remain to resolve. Coastal ecological offsetting schemes have been inconsistent in meeting conservation objectives or preventing net losses because of the challenges of ensuring they are fully consistent in practice (mainly in-kind offsets) and theory (mainly out-of-kind offsets). Ecological offsetting projects were primarily implemented by government, developers, and non-profit organizations. The available funding of coastal ecological offsetting projects is insufficient, which makes ecological offsetting a risky operation. Therefore, we propose strategies for improvement that integrate the consideration of theoretical and practical challenges in the offsetting process, while providing a scientific basis and directional guidance for the future practice of biodiversity conservation and environmental management.
  • [1] Ali M, Kennedy C M, Kiesecker J et al., 2018. Integrating biodi-versity offsets within Circular Economy policy in China. Journal of Cleaner Production, 185:32-43. doi:10.1016/j. jclepro.2018.03.027
    [2] Barbier E B, Hacker S D, Kennedy C et al., 2011. The value of estuarine and coastal ecosystem services. Ecological Mono-graphs, 81(2):169-193. doi: 10.1890/10-1510.1
    [3] Barter M, 2002. Shorebirds of the Yellow Sea:Importance, Threats and Conservation Status. Canberra, Australia:Wetlands International, Oceania.
    [4] Bayraktarov E, Saunders M I, Abdullah S et al., 2016. The cost and feasibility of marine coastal restoration. Ecological Ap-plications, 26(4):1055-1074. doi: 10.1890/15-1077
    [5] Bottrill M C, Walsh J C, Watson J E M et al., 2011. Does recovery planning improve the status of threatened species? Biological Conservation, 144(5):1595-1601. doi:10.1016/j.biocon.2011. 02.008
    [6] Bull J W, Suttle K B, Gordon A et al., 2013. Biodiversity offsets in theory and practice. Oryx, 47(3):369-380. doi:10. 1017/S003060531200172X
    [7] Bull J W, Gordon A, Watson J E M et al., 2016. Seeking conver-gence on the key concepts in ‘no net loss’ policy. Journal of Applied Ecology, 53(6):1686-1693. doi: 10.1111/1365-2664.12726
    [8] Cao W Z, Wong M H, 2007. Current status of coastal zone issues and management in China:a review. Environment International, 33(7):985-992. doi: 10.1016/j.envint.2007.04.009
    [9] China Coastal Waterbird Census Group, Bai Q Q, Chen J Z et al., 2015. Identification of coastal wetlands of international im-portance for waterbirds:a review of China Coastal Waterbird Surveys 2005-2013. Avian Research, 6(1):12. doi:10.1186/s 40657-015-0021-2
    [10] Chalmers D, 2015. Biobanking and privacy laws in Australia. The Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics, 43(4):703-713. doi: 10.1111/jlme.12313
    [11] Cui Baoshan, Xie Tian, Wang Qing et al., 2017. Impact of large-scale reclamation on coastal wetlands and implications for ecological restoration, compensation, and sustainable ex-ploitation framework. Bulletin of Chinese Academy of Sciences, 32(4):418-425. (in Chinese)
    [12] Curran M, Hellweg S, Beck J, 2014. Is there any empirical support for biodiversity offset policy? Ecological Applications, 24(4):617-632. doi: 10.1890/13-0243.1
    [13] Favaro B, Olszynski M, 2017. Authorized net losses of fish habitat demonstrate need for improved habitat protection in Canada. Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences, 74(3):285-291. doi: 10.1139/cjfas-2016-0480
    [14] Gibbons P, Evans M C, Maron M et al., 2016. A loss-gain calcu-lator for biodiversity offsets and the circumstances in which no net loss is feasible. Conservation Letters, 9(4):252-259. doi: 10.1111/conl.12206
    [15] Gong Peng, Niu Zhenguo, Cheng Xiao et al., 2010. China's wet-land change (1990-2000) determined by remote sensing. Sci-ence China Earth Sciences, 53(7):1036-1042. doi:10.1007/s 11430-010-4002-3
    [16] He Q, Bertness M D, Bruno J F et al., 2014. Economic develop-ment and coastal ecosystem change in China. Scientific Reports, 4:5995. doi: 10.1038/srep05995
    [17] Hockings M, Stolton S, Leverington F et al., 2006. Evaluating Effectiveness:A Framework for Assessing Management Effec-tiveness of Protected Areas. 2nd ed. Gland, Switzerland:IUCN.
    [18] Hough P, Robertson M, 2009. Mitigation under Section 404 of the Clean Water Act:where it comes from, what it means. Wetlands Ecology and Management, 17(1):15-33. doi:10.1007/s 11273-008-9093-7
    [19] Joseph L N, Maloney R F, Possingham H P, 2009. Optimal allo-cation of resources among threatened species:a project priori-tization protocol. Conservation Biology, 23(2):328-338. doi: 10.1111/j.1523-1739.2008.01124.x
    [20] Justus J, Colyvan M, Regan H et al., 2009. Buying into conserva-tion:intrinsic versus instrumental value. Trends in Ecology & Evolution, 24(4):187-191. doi: 10.1016/j.tree.2008.11.011
    [21] Levrel H, Scemama P, Vaissière A C, 2017. Should we be wary of mitigation banking? Evidence regarding the risks associated with this wetland offset arrangement in Florida. Ecological Economics, 135:136-149. doi:10.1016/j.ecolecon.2016.12. 025
    [22] Liu Baiqiao, Meng Weiqing, Zhao Jianhua et al., 2015. Variation of coastline resources utilization in China from 1990 to 2013. Journal of Natural Resources, 30(12):2033-2044. (in Chinese)
    [23] Liu Z Z, Cui B S, He Q, 2016. Shifting paradigms in coastal res-toration:six decades' lessons from China. Science of the Total Environment, 566-567:205-214. doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv. 2016.05.049
    [24] MacKinnon J, Verkuil Y I, Murray N J, 2012. IUCN situation analysis on East and Southeast Asian intertidal habitats, with particular reference to the Yellow Sea (including the Bohai Sea). Occasional Paper of the IUCN Species Survival Commission, Switzerland and Cambridge, UK:IUCN.
    [25] Maron M, Hobbs R J, Moilanen A et al., 2012. Faustian bargains? Restoration realities in the context of biodiversity offset policies. Biological Conservation, 155:141-148. doi: 10.1016/j.biocon.2012.06.003
    [26] Maron M, Ives C D, Kujala H et al., 2016. Taming a wicked problem:resolving controversies in biodiversity offsetting. BioScience, 66(6):489-498. doi: 10.1093/biosci/biw038
    [27] Maron M, Brownlie S, Bull J W et al., 2018. The many meanings of no net loss in environmental policy. Nature Sustainability, 1(1):19-27. doi: 10.1038/s41893-017-0007-7
    [28] McGillivray D, 2012. Compensating biodiversity loss:the EU Commission's approach to compensation under Article 6 of the Habitats Directive. Journal of Environmental Law, 24(3):417-450. doi: 10.1093/jel/eqs007
    [29] Meng W Q, Hu B B, He M X et al., 2017. Temporal-spatial varia-tions and driving factors analysis of coastal reclamation in China. Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science, 191:39-49. doi: 10.1016/j.ecss.2017.04.008
    [30] Moilanen A, van Teeffelen A J A, Ben-Haim Y et al., 2009. How much compensation is enough? A framework for incorporating uncertainty and time discounting when calculating offset ratios for impacted habitat. Restoration Ecology, 17(4):470-478. doi: 10.1111/j.1526-100X.2008.00382.x
    [31] Murray N J, Clemens R S, Phinn S R et al., 2014. Tracking the rapid loss of tidal wetlands in the Yellow Sea. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, 12(5):267-272. doi: 10.1890/130260
    [32] Quétier F, Lavorel S, 2011. Assessing ecological equivalence in biodiversity offset schemes:key issues and solutions. Biolog-ical Conservation, 144(12):2991-2999. doi:10.1016/j. bio-con.2011.09.002
    [33] Quigley J T, Harper D J, 2006. Compliance with Canada's Fish-eries Act:a field audit of habitat compensation projects. Envi-ronmental Management, 37(3):336-350. doi:10.1007/s 00267-004-0262-z
    [34] SFA (State Forestry Administry), 2003. The Investigation of Wet-land Resources in China. Available at http://xzsp.forestry.gov.cn/. (in Chinese)
    [35] SFA (State Forestry Administry), 2014. The Second Investigation of Wetland Resources in China. Available at http://xzsp.forestry.gov.cn/. (in Chinese)
    [36] Stroud D A, Baker A, Blanco D E et al., 2008. The conservation and population status of the world's waders at the turn of the millennium. In:Boere G C, Galbraith C A, Stroud D A (eds). Waterbirds Around the World. Edinburgh, UK:The Stationary Office, 643-648.
    [37] Sullivan S, Hannis M, 2015. Nets and frames, losses and gains:value struggles in engagements with biodiversity offsetting policy in England. Ecosystem Services, 15:162-173. doi: 10.1016/j.ecoser.2015.01.009
    [38] Sun Z G, Sun W G, Tong C et al., 2015. China's coastal wetlands:conservation history, implementation efforts, existing issues and strategies for future improvement. Environment International, 79:25-41. doi: 10.1016/j.envint.2015.02.017
    [39] Ten Kate K, Bishop J, Bayon R, 2004. Biodiversity offsets:views, experience, and the business case. Gland, Switzerland:IUCN.
    [40] Wang Y X, Yao Y, Ju M T, 2008. Wise use of wetlands:current state of protection and utilization of Chinese wetlands and recommendations for improvement. Environmental Manage-ment, 41(6):793-808. doi: 10.1007/s00267-008-9072-z
    [41] Yu S L, Cui B S, Gibbons P et al., 2017. Towards a biodiversity offsetting approach for coastal land reclamation:coastal man-agement implications. Biological Conservation, 214:35-45. doi: 10.1016/j.biocon.2017.07.016
    [42] Yu S, Cui B, Gibbons P, 2018. A method for identifying suitable biodiversity offset sites and its application to reclamation of coastal wetlands in China. Biological Conservation, 227:284-291. doi:10.1016/j.biocon.2018.09.030ve the status of threatened species? Biological Conservation, 144(5):1595-1601. doi:10.1016/j.biocon.2011. 02.008
    [43] Bull J W, Suttle K B, Gordon A et al., 2013. Biodiversity offsets in theory and practice. Oryx, 47(3):369-380. doi:10. 1017/S003060531200172X
    [44] Bull J W, Gordon A, Watson J E M et al., 2016. Seeking conver-gence on the key concepts in ‘no net loss’ policy. Journal of Applied Ecology, 53(6):1686-1693. doi: 10.1111/1365-2664.12726
    [45] Cao W Z, Wong M H, 2007. Current status of coastal zone issues and management in China:a review. Environment International, 33(7):985-992. doi: 10.1016/j.envint.2007.04.009
    [46] China Coastal Waterbird Census Group, Bai Q Q, Chen J Z et al., 2015. Identification of coastal wetlands of international im-portance for waterbirds:a review of China Coastal Waterbird Surveys 2005-2013. Avian Research, 6(1):12. doi:10.1186/s 40657-015-0021-2
    [47] Chalmers D, 2015. Biobanking and privacy laws in Australia. The Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics, 43(4):703-713. doi: 10.1111/jlme.12313
    [48] Cui Baoshan, Xie Tian, Wang Qing et al., 2017. Impact of large-scale reclamation on coastal wetlands and implications for ecological restoration, compensation, and sustainable ex-ploitation framework. Bulletin of Chinese Academy of Sciences, 32(4):418-425. (in Chinese)
    [49] Curran M, Hellweg S, Beck J, 2014. Is there any empirical support for biodiversity offset policy? Ecological Applications, 24(4):617-632. doi: 10.1890/13-0243.1
    [50] Favaro B, Olszynski M, 2017. Authorized net losses of fish habitat demonstrate need for improved habitat protection in Canada. Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences, 74(3):285-291. doi: 10.1139/cjfas-2016-0480
    [51] Gibbons P, Evans M C, Maron M et al., 2016. A loss-gain calcu-lator for biodiversity offsets and the circumstances in which no net loss is feasible. Conservation Letters, 9(4):252-259. doi: 10.1111/conl.12206
    [52] Gong Peng, Niu Zhenguo, Cheng Xiao et al., 2010. China's wet-land change (1990-2000) determined by remote sensing. Sci-ence China Earth Sciences, 53(7):1036-1042. doi:10.1007/s 11430-010-4002-3
    [53] He Q, Bertness M D, Bruno J F et al., 2014. Economic develop-ment and coastal ecosystem change in China. Scientific Reports, 4:5995. doi: 10.1038/srep05995
    [54] Hockings M, Stolton S, Leverington F et al., 2006. Evaluating Effectiveness:A Framework for Assessing Management Effec-tiveness of Protected Areas. 2nd ed. Gland, Switzerland:IUCN.
    [55] Hough P, Robertson M, 2009. Mitigation under Section 404 of the Clean Water Act:where it comes from, what it means. Wetlands Ecology and Management, 17(1):15-33. doi:10.1007/s 11273-008-9093-7
    [56] Joseph L N, Maloney R F, Possingham H P, 2009. Optimal allo-cation of resources among threatened species:a project priori-tization protocol. Conservation Biology, 23(2):328-338. doi: 10.1111/j.1523-1739.2008.01124.x
    [57] Justus J, Colyvan M, Regan H et al., 2009. Buying into conserva-tion:intrinsic versus instrumental value. Trends in Ecology & Evolution, 24(4):187-191. doi: 10.1016/j.tree.2008.11.011
    [58] Levrel H, Scemama P, Vaissière A C, 2017. Should we be wary of mitigation banking? Evidence regarding the risks associated with this wetland offset arrangement in Florida. Ecological Economics, 135:136-149. doi:10.1016/j.ecolecon.2016.12. 025
    [59] Liu Baiqiao, Meng Weiqing, Zhao Jianhua et al., 2015. Variation of coastline resources utilization in China from 1990 to 2013. Journal of Natural Resources, 30(12):2033-2044. (in Chinese)
    [60] Liu Z Z, Cui B S, He Q, 2016. Shifting paradigms in coastal res-toration:six decades' lessons from China. Science of the Total Environment, 566-567:205-214. doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv. 2016.05.049
    [61] MacKinnon J, Verkuil Y I, Murray N J, 2012. IUCN situation analysis on East and Southeast Asian intertidal habitats, with particular reference to the Yellow Sea (including the Bohai Sea). Occasional Paper of the IUCN Species Survival Commission, Switzerland and Cambridge, UK:IUCN.
    [62] Maron M, Hobbs R J, Moilanen A et al., 2012. Faustian bargains? Restoration realities in the context of biodiversity offset policies. Biological Conservation, 155:141-148. doi: 10.1016/j.biocon.2012.06.003
    [63] Maron M, Ives C D, Kujala H et al., 2016. Taming a wicked problem:resolving controversies in biodiversity offsetting. BioScience, 66(6):489-498. doi: 10.1093/biosci/biw038
    [64] Maron M, Brownlie S, Bull J W et al., 2018. The many meanings of no net loss in environmental policy. Nature Sustainability, 1(1):19-27. doi: 10.1038/s41893-017-0007-7
    [65] McGillivray D, 2012. Compensating biodiversity loss:the EU Commission's approach to compensation under Article 6 of the Habitats Directive. Journal of Environmental Law, 24(3):417-450. doi: 10.1093/jel/eqs007
    [66] Meng W Q, Hu B B, He M X et al., 2017. Temporal-spatial varia-tions and driving factors analysis of coastal reclamation in China. Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science, 191:39-49. doi: 10.1016/j.ecss.2017.04.008
    [67] Moilanen A, van Teeffelen A J A, Ben-Haim Y et al., 2009. How much compensation is enough? A framework for incorporating uncertainty and time discounting when calculating offset ratios for impacted habitat. Restoration Ecology, 17(4):470-478. doi: 10.1111/j.1526-100X.2008.00382.x
    [68] Murray N J, Clemens R S, Phinn S R et al., 2014. Tracking the rapid loss of tidal wetlands in the Yellow Sea. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, 12(5):267-272. doi: 10.1890/130260
    [69] Quétier F, Lavorel S, 2011. Assessing ecological equivalence in biodiversity offset schemes:key issues and solutions. Biolog-ical Conservation, 144(12):2991-2999. doi:10.1016/j. bio-con.2011.09.002
    [70] Quigley J T, Harper D J, 2006. Compliance with Canada's Fish-eries Act:a field audit of habitat compensation projects. Envi-ronmental Management, 37(3):336-350. doi:10.1007/s 00267-004-0262-z
    [71] SFA (State Forestry Administry), 2003. The Investigation of Wet-land Resources in China. Available at http://xzsp.forestry.gov.cn/. (in Chinese)
    [72] SFA (State Forestry Administry), 2014. The Second Investigation of Wetland Resources in China. Available at http://xzsp.forestry.gov.cn/. (in Chinese)
    [73] Stroud D A, Baker A, Blanco D E et al., 2008. The conservation and population status of the world's waders at the turn of the millennium. In:Boere G C, Galbraith C A, Stroud D A (eds). Waterbirds Around the World. Edinburgh, UK:The Stationary Office, 643-648.
    [74] Sullivan S, Hannis M, 2015. Nets and frames, losses and gains:value struggles in engagements with biodiversity offsetting policy in England. Ecosystem Services, 15:162-173. doi: 10.1016/j.ecoser.2015.01.009
    [75] Sun Z G, Sun W G, Tong C et al., 2015. China's coastal wetlands:conservation history, implementation efforts, existing issues and strategies for future improvement. Environment International, 79:25-41. doi: 10.1016/j.envint.2015.02.017
    [76] Ten Kate K, Bishop J, Bayon R, 2004. Biodiversity offsets:views, experience, and the business case. Gland, Switzerland:IUCN.
    [77] Wang Y X, Yao Y, Ju M T, 2008. Wise use of wetlands:current state of protection and utilization of Chinese wetlands and recommendations for improvement. Environmental Manage-ment, 41(6):793-808. doi: 10.1007/s00267-008-9072-z
    [78] Yu S L, Cui B S, Gibbons P et al., 2017. Towards a biodiversity offsetting approach for coastal land reclamation:coastal man-agement implications. Biological Conservation, 214:35-45. doi: 10.1016/j.biocon.2017.07.016
    [79] Yu S, Cui B, Gibbons P, 2018. A method for identifying suitable biodiversity offset sites and its application to reclamation of coastal wetlands in China. Biological Conservation, 227:284-291. doi: 10.1016/j.biocon.2018.09.030
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Ecological Offsetting in China's Coastal Wetlands: Existing Challenges and Strategies for Future Improvement

doi: 10.1007/s11769-019-1024-4
  • State Key Laboratory of Water Environment Simulation, School of Environment, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
Funds:  Under the auspices of the Chinese Academy of Engineering Advisory Project (No. 2018-XZ-14-03), Key Project of National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 51639001), National Key Basic Research Program of China (No. 2013CB430406)
  • Received Date: 2018-03-22
  • Publish Date: 2019-04-01

Abstract: Land-use changes in coastal wetlands have led to a worldwide degradation of marine coastal ecosystems and a loss of the ecological services they provide. Ecological offsetting is a popular strategy and an effective mitigation measure for ecosystems that have been degraded, damaged, or destroyed and is critical for habitats where natural recovery is hindered. However, the current understanding of the theory and practice of ecological offsetting for coastal wetlands is extremely limited in many developing countries. We conducted a review of ecological offsetting for coastal wetlands projects and studies in China in 1979-2017 to explore the application and limitations of ecological offsetting theory. It was found that China's coastal ecological offsetting regime has recently entered a rapidly developing stage, with an increasing number of different types of offsetting projects conducted, but theoretical research lags behind practical applications. Considerable governmental, social, technological and ethical challenges remain to resolve. Coastal ecological offsetting schemes have been inconsistent in meeting conservation objectives or preventing net losses because of the challenges of ensuring they are fully consistent in practice (mainly in-kind offsets) and theory (mainly out-of-kind offsets). Ecological offsetting projects were primarily implemented by government, developers, and non-profit organizations. The available funding of coastal ecological offsetting projects is insufficient, which makes ecological offsetting a risky operation. Therefore, we propose strategies for improvement that integrate the consideration of theoretical and practical challenges in the offsetting process, while providing a scientific basis and directional guidance for the future practice of biodiversity conservation and environmental management.

YU Shuling, CUI Baoshan, XIE Chengjie, MA Xu, MAN Ying, NING Zhonghua. Ecological Offsetting in China's Coastal Wetlands: Existing Challenges and Strategies for Future Improvement[J]. Chinese Geographical Science, 2019, 20(2): 202-213. doi: 10.1007/s11769-019-1024-4
Citation: YU Shuling, CUI Baoshan, XIE Chengjie, MA Xu, MAN Ying, NING Zhonghua. Ecological Offsetting in China's Coastal Wetlands: Existing Challenges and Strategies for Future Improvement[J]. Chinese Geographical Science, 2019, 20(2): 202-213. doi: 10.1007/s11769-019-1024-4
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