Abstract
A primary cause of the loss of wetlands in China is the competition for water between wetlands and their surrounding areas. This study explores cost-effective policy options to reduce off-site water use to support the sustainable conservation of the Qixinghe Wetland in Sanjiang Plain. The cost-effectiveness of four policy options is assessed and compared using multi-criteria analysis. Option I is to reconstruct the irrigation systems in the surrounding areas of the wetland where agriculture competed with the wetland for water. This option is the government’s most favored strategy, but only the third most cost-effective. Option II is to construct a dam to store and control floodwaters to relieve seasonal water scarcity. This option is the most reliable in terms of saving water. It was also farmers’ most favored strategy, but it imposes a high cost on the local government and therefore did not receive strong support from the authorities. Option III is to promote the adoption of water-saving practices by providing farmers with training courses. This strategy is the most cost-effective, but is less effective in saving water. This option also did not receive strong support from farmers and the government and is therefore not likely to be selected. In Option IV, water saving is achieved by converting some paddy fields to dryland crops. This option turned out to be politically unfeasible because it was the least preferred strategy of the government and farmers. It was also the least effective in saving water. If equal weights are given to all four assessment criteria, Option I would have the best overall performance, while Option IV would be the least preferred strategy. Based on these conclusions, suggestions are offered on how the local government should tackle the wetland’s water shortage problem and how the central and provincial governments could tackle the problem at the macro-level.
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Wu, J., Wang, X., Niu, K., Li, S. (2015). Cost-Effectiveness of Policy Options for Sustainable Wetland Conservation: A Case Study of Qixinghe Wetland, China. In: James, D., Francisco, H. (eds) Cost-Benefit Studies of Natural Resource Management in Southeast Asia. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-287-393-4_14
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-287-393-4_14
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