CNH: Impacts of Ecosystem Service Payments in Coupled Natural and Human Systems

为生态系统服务付费是向自然资源使用者支付的奖励，以减少其对这些资源的使用，并减少随之对提供资源的自然系统造成的压力和干扰。虽然有些支付制度已经实行了20多年，但支付在维持生态系统和人类福祉方面的成功尚未得到严格评估。 该项目将研究中国梵净山国家级自然保护区的支付系统，该保护区是濒危的贵州金丝猴的栖息地。 为了评估对生态系统的影响，研究人员将使用遥感技术来测量森林覆盖率的变化，并使用相机捕捉来测量哪些森林地区正在成为金丝猴的栖息地。 为了评估对当地人民的影响，研究人员将把联合收割机现有的人口普查数据与广泛的家庭调查和参与性绘图结合起来。 研究结果将显示，自支付开始以来，人口、对土地的依恋、决策和生计发生了怎样的变化，森林质量发生了怎样的变化，以及人类和自然系统的这些变化如何相互依赖，并可能在未来继续下去。 这些发现将评估梵净山生态系统服务付费的成功程度，展示如何评估其他付费系统，并提出如何提高付费效率的建议。该项目将帮助测试和完善一个重要的保护工具。 以前的工作表明，一旦付款结束，付款计划对生物保护和当地人口的好处通常不会持续，因为参与者往往会恢复到计划之前的行为。 该项目将具体审查这一问题，作为其总体目标的一部分，以提高计划，设计和实施支付方案的能力，从而提高税收在保护我们的环境方面的有效性。该研究将通过指导和课程开发来教育美国和中国的K-12学生和教师，为大学生课程的开发提供信息，并培养未来多学科的学术领袖。该项目将深入当地土著居民、管理人员、政策制定者和公众，增加对支付方案如何运作的了解，并提高保护意识、保护规划和设计以及政策执行。 除了定期的介绍和出版物外，还将制作一部记录项目多学科性质的电影和一个综合网站，以便在地方和全球范围内接触利益攸关方。所有这些努力将有助于提高对如何保护濒危物种和相关生态系统的认识。

Payments for ecosystem services are incentives paid to users of natural resources to reduce their use of these resources and the accompanying stresses and disturbances to the natural systems that provide the resources. Although some systems of payments have been in place for over two decades, the success of payments in maintaining both ecosystems and human well-being has not been critically assessed. This project will study the system of payments in Fanjingshan National Nature Reserve in China, the habitat of the endangered Guizhou golden monkey, Rhinopithecus brelichi. To assess effects on the ecosystem, researchers will use remote sensing to measure change in forest cover and use camera trapping to measure which forest areas are serving as habitat for golden monkeys. To assess effects on the local people, researchers will combine existing census data with extensive household surveys and participatory mapping. Results will show how human populations, attachment to the land, decisions, and livelihoods have changed since payments began, how the quality of the forest has changed, and how these changes in the human and the natural systems depend on each other and are likely to go on in the future. These findings will assess how well payments for ecosystem services have succeeded at Fanjingshan, show how to assess other systems of payments, and suggest how to improve the effectiveness of payments.The project will help test and hone an important tool for conservation. Previous work suggests that the benefits of payment programs to biological conservation and local populations are usually not sustained once payments end, because participants tend to return to their behaviors before the program. This project will specifically examine this issue as part of its general aim to enhance ability to plan, design, and implement payment programs, and thus to increase the effectiveness of tax dollars in protecting our environment. The research will educate K-12 students and teachers in both the United States and China through mentoring and curriculum development, feed into the development of curricula for university students, and train future academic leaders in multiple disciplines. The project will reach out to local indigenous populations, managers, policy-makers and the general public, increasing understanding of how payment programs work and leading to improvements in conservation awareness, conservation planning and design, and policy implementation. In addition to regular presentations and publications, a movie that documents the multidisciplinary nature of the project and a comprehensive website will be developed to reach stakeholders at local to global scales. All these efforts will contribute to increasing understanding about how to conserve endangered species and associated ecosystems.