Half of China's forests and grasslands included in the eco-compensation scheme
(ECNS) -- Nearly half of China's forests and grasslands are now covered by the ecological protection compensation mechanisms, according to the National Development and Reform Commission.
As of November 2024, China has established 28 basin-wide compensation mechanisms for ecological conservation across 24 provinces, municipalities, and autonomous regions.
About one-third of counties receive transfer payments for national key ecological function areas and more than 200 million farmers and herders have benefited from these compensation policies.
So far, China's central ecological compensation funds have grown from an annual average of several billion yuan to nearly 200 billion yuan ($27.6 billion), while local compensation funds have reached nearly 100 billion yuan.
Ecological protection compensation is an incentive mechanism that the government mobilizes resources to reward entities and individuals engaged in ecological protection through financial payments and industrial collaboration.
New regulations governing ecological protection compensation took effect on June 1, 2024. It is China’s first administrative regulation on ecological protection compensation and the world’s first legislation of its kind.