Comparative studies on the farmers' willingness to accept eco-compensation in wetlands nature reserve

Wetlands are unique habitats formed in the interactions between water and land. As one of the most productive ecological systems with richest biodiversity, it plays an irreplaceable role in the maintenance of ecological safety. Since the 1970s, wetland loss and degradation have sparked a series of environmental problems on a global scale, which have become a major threat to national or global sustainable development. Especially, rapid economic development combined with the lacks of wetland protection in China, have lead to serious imbalance between wetland protection and economic development. As a result of the above problems, decreased natural wetland and degradation of wetland function seem out of control. Now, wetland ecological compensation became more and more important because it is a choice for sustainable utilization of wetland resources. As an economic and policy means widely applied in developed countries, ecological compensation has been effectively used in the adjustment of natural resources conservation and resource utilization. Wetland ecological compensation study has always been a hot but difficult research spot. As an important ecological barrier in the western China, Crested ibis national Nature Reserve plays an important role in protection Crested ibis as well as its habitats. However, wetlands in Qinling Nature Reserve are typical ecological and environmental vulnerable zones. Excessive development and resource utilization makes the vulnerability of ecology and environment of this region increasing. It is necessary to take effective measures to develop a reasonable ecological compensation mechanism and policies for the coordination of ecological and economic development. As a basic unit in the implementation of ecological compensation, local farmers are key actors to give impetus to the ecological compensation. Understanding their willingness in cooperation and compensation is particularly important for improving farmers' ecological compensation enthusiasm, formulation and implementation of ecological compensation policies. Taking Crested ibis Nature Reserve in Shanxi Province as an example, this study applied Contingent Valuation Method (CVM) to measure ecological compensation amounts of rice loss of local farmers in 2008 and 2011. Firsthand information was collected through structured interview and questionnaire survey. Results indicate that the compensation amounts are, respectively, 3560.56 yuan/hm super(2) and 3679.83 yuan/hm super