Research on Ecological Compensation Standard of
Dalian Jinshitan National Marine Park Based on CVM
Huijie Gao*
School of Economics and Management, Beijing Jiaotong University, China
*Corresponding author. Email: 20120724@bjtu.edu.cn
ABSTRACT
National marine parks play an important role in protecting the marine ecological environment and resources. Based on
the related theories of welfare economics and environmental economics, taking Dalian Jinshitan National Marine Park
as the research object and adopting CVM from the perspective of ecological protection and compensation, the marine
park's ecological compensation standard are accounted for. Taking willingness to pay (WTP) as the ecological
compensation standard of Jinshitan National Marine Park is finally determined to be 115.65yuan/year/person.
Secondly, the factors that affect WTP are studied marine parks is mainly affected by gender, age, income, education
level, work unit, number of trips and tourism satisfaction.
Keywords: National Marine Park, WTP, Ecological compensation standard, CVM, Dalian Jinshitan.
1. INTRODUCTION
The national marine park is an area that protects the
marine ecological environment, allows the public to
carry out appropriate recreational activities and
promotes marine ecological protection and the
sustainable development of coastal tourism [1]. The
influx of a large number of tourists and excessive
tourism development have led to an increase in marine
park pollution and biodiversity destruction, which has a
negative impact on the marine ecological environment
and the sustainable development of tourism. Residents
near the park must also give up some development
opportunities to protect marine ecology, resulting in
conflicts that are difficult to coordinate among relevant
stakeholders. The ecological compensation system has
advantages in coordinating the conflicts between
relevant stakeholders and balancing tourism
development and marine ecological environment
protection [2]. Ecological compensation also encourages
the behaviour of protecting and restoring the ecological
environment and internalizes external costs and uses
economic means to adjust the relationship between
relevant stakeholders, so as to protect the ecological
environment and promote ecological sustainable
development [3].
This paper takes Jinshitan National Marine Park as
the research object and applies the CVM method and
conducts a quantitative study on the standard of
ecological compensation for marine parks from the
perspective of the willingness of ecological protection
compensation. To a certain extent, it is a supplement to
the research on marine ecological compensation in
China and can be able to improve the research system of
ecological compensation and promotes the development
of national marine parks in the field of ecological
compensation research.
2. LITERATURE REVIEW
The concept of ecological compensation is
originated from ecological theory and specifically refers
to natural ecological compensation. Since the 1980s,
many scholars have begun to conduct extensive research
on ecological compensation. However, due to different
academic backgrounds, scholars have different
understanding of ecological compensation so that there
is no recognized concept of ecological compensation.
Payment for Ecological Services (PES) is a common
concept in existing foreign research, it is defined as the
need to pay a certain fee for the services provided by the
ecological environment and people are encouraged to
protect the environment in this way.
In China, scholars use "Ecological Compensation"
as a common concept. Wenhua Li believes that
ecological compensation includes not only
compensation for ecological resource protection
activities or compensation for losses caused by
Advances in Social Science, Education and Humanities Research, volume 610
Proceedings of the 7th Annual International Conference on Social Science and
Contemporary Humanity Development (SSCHD 2021)
Copyright © 2021 The Authors. Published by Atlantis Press SARL.
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ecological damage, but also fees for environmental
pollution activities [4]. Fen Xu et al. proposed that
ecological compensation is an economic measure that
the government guides various stakeholders to invest in
ecological environmental protection to reduce the
destruction of the ecological environment [5]. Tiantian
Guo believes that ecological compensation is a
coordination mechanism for the purpose of ecological
protection to reduce pollution and damage to the
ecological environment and to compensate the main
body of losses caused by environmental damage [6].
The standard of ecological compensation is the
compensation to the providers and protectors of
ecological environment and it is the key to the research
of ecological compensation. The determination of
ecological compensation standard affects the feasibility
and effectiveness of the implementation of ecological
compensation. However, due to the different research
ideas and methods of various scholars, the estimation
and calculation of ecological compensation standard
have not yet been unified.
The calculation of ecological compensation standard
includes ecosystem service value, willingness survey
method and cost accounting algorithm, etc. Costanza
evaluated the value of global ecosystem service
functions for the first time and made a pioneering
contribution, which promoted the development of
ecosystem service value evaluation [7]. Fuguo Liu used
Nanshan National Park as the research area and
evaluated the three types of ecosystems in the area:
forest, grassland and wetland. The service function
value was used as the upper limit of the ecological
compensation standard and the opportunity cost of
ecological protection was used as the lower reference
limit of the ecological compensation standard [8].
Aiping Zha used the zonal travel cost method (ZTCM)
and the travel cost interval analysis method (TCIA) to
evaluate the domestic recreational value of Hangzhou
West Lake Scenic Area [9]. Taking Huangshan Scenic
Area as an example, Jinhe Zhang used the conditional
value method and used payment card questionnaire to
investigate the willingness to pay and influencing
factors of tourists [10].
At present, there are few studies on the ecological
compensation standard of marine parks in China, and
most of them draw on the methods of forest and
watershed ecological compensation standard. There are
still gaps in the ecological compensation standard of
national marine parks. Finally, the study of ecological
compensation standard accounting has not yet formed a
unified and standardized theory and method system and
it needs to be further deepened.
3. METHODS
3.1. Research Area
Dalian Jinshitan National Marine Park is located on
the coast of the Yellow Sea on the Liaodong Peninsula
in my country. It covers an area of 11,000 hectares with
a sea area of 5140 hectares and a coastline of 30
kilometres. The scenery of Jinshitan is beautiful, the sea
is not silted or frozen and it is suitable for coastal leisure
activities. Jinshitan was listed as a national marine park
in 2014. Jinshitan Marine Park attracts a large number
of tourists every year to experience seaside leisure
activities. However, the number of tourists is increasing
year by year and coupled with continuous development
and utilization, which has a certain impact on its
ecological environment, such as water pollution and
vegetation destruction.
3.2. Methodology
Conditional Value Method (CVM), as a method of
stated preference, is mainly used to assess the non-
market value of public goods and is currently widely
used. In 1963, Davis first used CVM to evaluate the
recreational value of forests [11]. Since then, CVM has
been more and more widely used to assess the value of
land resources, water resources and tourism resources.
Hailing Guan took Wutaishan National Forest Park as
an example and used CVM method to evaluate its
ecosystem service function [12]. Zhuquan Yang applied
CVM to investigate the willingness to pay in Yangshuo
County, Guilin and used non-parametric estimation and
multiple linear regression estimation methods to
measure tourist ecological compensation [13]. Aiping
Zha used the double-bounded dichotomous choice CVM
to evaluate the non-use value of West Lake tourism
resources [14].
CVM is the only method that can evaluate non-use
value and estimate the total economic value [15]. In
addition, most of the ecological compensation policies
implemented in our country are led by the government.
This method is used to investigate willingness to pay
(WTP), taking into account the ideas of other
stakeholders and emphasizing the participation of the
public, which is conducive to improving public's
enthusiasm and acceptance of ecological compensation
and promote better implementation of ecological
compensation [16].
3.3. Data Collection
This paper adopts a payment card questionnaire to
provide respondents with a series of orderly payment
prices and guide respondents to choose payment prices
according to their own wishes. The questionnaire is
divided into three parts. The first part introduces the
purpose of the survey and the concept of ecological
Advances in Social Science, Education and Humanities Research, volume 610
256
compensation and the background information of Dalian
Jinshitan National Marine Park to the interviewees. The
second part is the core part of the questionnaire. The
payment card questionnaire is used to ask tourists and
residents' WTP for marine ecosystem services, payment
methods and reasons for unwillingness to pay. The third
part includes the personal characteristics of the
interviewees, the number of trips, the degree of
awareness of ecological compensation and the
satisfaction with the Jinshitan ecological environment
and tourism experience.
Before the formal survey, in order to ensure that the
questionnaire is scientific and reasonable, 100
questionnaires were distributed on the online platform
for pre-survey and the questionnaire was finally
designed after continuous modification. This study
conducted a random sampling survey from April 2nd to
April 25th, 2020. Take the form of online survey and
publish the questionnaire on the online platform. A total
of 400 questionnaires were distributed in this survey and
42 invalid questionnaires were eliminated. 358 people
were willing to pay.
4. RESULTS
4.1. Demographic Analysis
The socio-economic characteristics of the samples are
analysed by SPSS 26.0. Among the 358 respondents in
this survey, men accounted for 49.1% of the total
sample; women accounted for 50.9% and the overall
proportion showed a balanced structure. In terms of age,
the samples were mostly under 35 years old, accounting
for 74.6%; respondents aged 36-55 accounted for 20.4%
and samples over 55 years old accounted for 5%. In
terms of education level, the respondents generally have
a higher level of education. Most of the interviewees'
income is more than 60,000 yuan, accounting for 55.6%
of the overall sample. Enterprise employees account for
the majority of respondents and their work units are
state-owned enterprises, the number of foreign-funded
enterprises and private enterprises accounted for 52.3%
and the number of employees working for
environmental protection organizations was the least,
only 0.9%. In terms of the place of origin of the
interviewees, more than 70% are from outside Dalian
and the interviewees are mainly concentrated in the
three northeast provinces and other surrounding
provinces. Regarding the number of trips to Jinshitan,
more than 55% of tourists visited Jinshitan once. 11.2%
of the respondents have visited more than 3 times and
most of them are from Dalian, as shown in Table 1.
According to the survey, 31.8% of the interviewees
said they did not know much about ecological
compensation and 38.4% of the interviewees said that
they had a fair understanding of ecological
compensation which means they are not familiar with
the concept of ecological compensation and related
Table 1 Variable coding and demographic analysis
Variables
Code
Meanings
Ave
SD
Gender
GEN
Male=1;Female=2
1.51
0.501
Age
AGE
18-25 years old=1;26-35 years old =2;36-55 years old =3;Over 55 years old =4;
2.00
0.839
Education level
EDU
High school and below =1;Post-secondary =2;Undergraduate =3;Master degree
and above =4
2.65
1.676
Annual income
INC
Less than 20,000 = 1;20,000-40,000 =2;40,000-60,000 =3; 60,000-
80,000=4;80,000-100,000=5;More than 100,000 =6
3.65
0.823
Work unit
WU
Government=1;School=2;State-owned enterprise=3;Institutions =4;Foreign
company =5;Private enterprise =6;Farmer =7;Environmental organizations =8;
3.92
1.963
Permanent
residence
PR
In Dalian city =1;Outside Dalian city =2
1.73
0.444
Number of trips
NOT
Once =1;Twice =2;Three times and above =3
1.62
0.766
Understanding of
ecological
compensation
UEC
Not understand very well=1;Not understand=2;Fair =3;Understand=4;Understand
very well=5
2.91
0.978
Propaganda power
PRO
Very weak =1;Week=2;Fair=3;Strong=4;Very strong=5
3.00
1.008
Satisfaction of
ecological
environment
SEE
Very dissatisfied =1;Dissatisfied =2;Fair =3;Satisfied =4;Very satisfied =5
3.50
0.828
Tourism
satisfaction
TS
Very dissatisfied =1;Dissatisfied =2;Fair =3;Satisfied =4;Very satisfied =5
3.61
0.821
Advances in Social Science, Education and Humanities Research, volume 610
257
policies. By asking the interviewees about the
government’s current propaganda efforts on ecological
compensation, it was learned that nearly 70% of the
interviewees believed that the Chinese government’s
propaganda efforts on ecological compensation were
average or below, indicating that local governments
have not started the popularization of ecological
compensation. In terms of ecological environment
satisfaction, 11.6% of the respondents said they were
dissatisfied with the ecological environment of
Jinshitan, 35.6% said the ecological environment was
fair and 52.8% of the respondents said they were
satisfied with the ecological environment. Regarding the
tourism satisfaction of Jinshitan, 8.7% of the
respondents were dissatisfied, 31.6% thought it was fair,
and the remaining 59.7% were satisfied with the
Jinshitan tourism experience.
4.2. Analysis of WTP
In the 358 questionnaires surveyed on WTP, the
number of people who chose to pay 0 yuan accounted
for 5.6%. The remaining nearly 95% of the interviewees
are willing to pay for the protection of the ecological
environment, which fully shows that people have a
strong concern for ecological protection. Respondents'
willingness to pay are mainly distributed in bid values
of 100 yuan, 50 yuan, 200 yuan, 20 yuan and 10 yuan.
About 2-3% of the people who choose 501 yuan and
above account for about 2-3%, of which the largest bid
value is 1000 yuan, as shown in Figure 1.
Figure 1 Proportion of WTP.
Regarding the donation methods of environmental
protection funds, 57.5% of the respondents choose to
donate to foundations or environmental protection
organizations. 16.2% choose to pay for the funds
through taxation and 21.5% hope to increase the ticket
price for ecological compensation. The remaining 0.8%
chose other methods, such as donating directly on the
official website and directly donating the funds to the
person in charge of the local management agency.
The main reason why respondents who choose 0 yuan is
that they worry that the payment amount will not be
used for ecological protection, accounting for 33.3% of
the total, which also reflects people's distrust of
environmental protection agencies. 22.2% of people
said that ecological compensation is the main
responsibility of the government for ecological
compensation funds. 16.7% of respondents are
unwilling to pay because of their low income and
inability. 16.7% of respondents said they have already
paid tickets to the park. 8.3% of the interviewees believe
that this is the responsibility of the ecological
environment destroyer. 2.8% believe that this is the
responsibility of the local residents of Dalian and has
nothing to do with them.
4.3. Nonparametric Estimation of WTP
In this paper, the nonparametric estimation method
is used to calculate the WTP of Jinshitan marine
ecosystem services. This method directly uses the
average value to estimate the willingness to pay and
obtains the result by calculating the product of each bid
value and its probability. The expected value of WTP is
calculated using Equation (1):
(1)
In the formula: Ai represents the ith bid value of the
willingness to pay selected by the respondent; Pi
represents the probability that the respondent chooses
the ith bid value.
Putting the value into Equation (1), the per capita
annual WTP is obtained. Therefore, the ecological
compensation standard of Jinshitan National Marine
Park is determined to be 115.65 yuan/year/person.
4.4 Analysis of Influencing Factors of WTP
The factors influencing WTP are studied through
multiple linear regression models. Respondents will be
affected by subjective and objective factors when
choosing bid values, such as gender, age, annual
income. This article takes the WTP as the dependent
variable and the respondent’s socio-economic attributes,
the degree of understanding of Jinshitan, the
government’s promotion of ecological compensation
and tourism satisfaction as independent variables.
Constructing the logarithmic linear regression model of
WTP for marine park ecological compensation standard,
as shown in Equation (2).
(2)
In the formula: Y is the WTP of the surveyed person;
X1, X2, X3... are the characteristic attributes of the
surveyed person; μ is the random error term.
Before regression analysis, the independent variables
are processed first. Because there are categorical
variables in the independent variables, the categorical
variables are converted into dummy variables and
substituted into the model. Gender is referenced to
Advances in Social Science, Education and Humanities Research, volume 610
258
females; academic qualifications are referenced to high
school and below; work units are referenced to
government; permanent residence is referenced to in
Dalian City and the number of trips is referenced to
once. Age and income are treated as continuous
variables with the median value of the interval and other
numerical independent variables.
The research uses SPSS26.0 software to conduct
multiple linear regression analysis on the WTP for
ecological compensation in the Jinshitan National
Marine Park and uses OLS to estimate the relationship
between the WTP and other variables.
The results show that the main factors affecting the
WTP are gender, age, income, education level, travel
times, work unit and tourism satisfaction. The
regression results are shown in Table 2. After removing
insignificant variables, the regression model of WTP is
finally obtained, which is shown in Equation (3).
(3)
Respondents’ WTP is significantly positively
correlated with gender and men’s WTP is higher than
women’s. There is a significant positive correlation
between income and WTP. The higher the income, the
higher the WTP for Marine Park. There is a significant
positive correlation between academic qualifications
and WTP. Compared with people with a high school
degree or below, those with a post-secondary,
undergraduate and master’s degree or above are more
willing to pay funds. This is because the higher the level
of education, the more extensive the knowledge and the
stronger the ability to accept new things. There is a
significant positive correlation between the number of
trips and WTP and the regression coefficient of three
times or more times is greater than the regression
coefficient of twice, indicating that the more trips, the
more willing to pay for the protection of National
Marine Park. The reason may be tourists who visit
Jinshitan more often are more satisfied with the
ecological environment, so they are more willing to pay
ecological compensation funds. Respondents’ tourism
satisfaction and WTP are significantly positively
correlated. The higher the travel satisfaction, the greater
the willingness to pay value.
There is a significant negative correlation between
age and WTP. The younger the age, the stronger the
WTP. Compared with elder people, young people have
stronger acceptance of environmental protection
concepts, higher environmental awareness and
willingness to participate in ecological protection
actions. In terms of work unit, compared with the
willingness to pay of respondents who work in the
government, respondents whose work units are state-
owned enterprises are less willing to pay ecological
compensation.
5. CONCLUSIONS
National Marine Parks play an important role in
protecting the marine ecological environment. However,
due to excessive tourism development activities, the
marine ecological environment is gradually destroyed
and the conflicts among stakeholders have intensified.
Ecological compensation is related to protecting the
marine ecological environment and regulating interests.
At present, China's research on ecological compensation
in marine parks is almost blank. The determination of
the marine park ecological compensation standard is the
core of the marine ecological compensation mechanism
and determines the effect and feasibility of the marine
ecological compensation. This paper takes Dalian
Jinshitan National Marine Park as the research object,
adopts the conditional value method to calculate the
standard of marine park ecological compensation and
hopes to supplement and perfect the research system of
Chinese national marine park ecological compensation.
Table 2 Multiple linear regression analysis
Variables
Coefficient
Sig
Variables
Coefficient
Sig
C
2.767
0.000
WU 5
-0.257
0.240
GEN
0.269
0.022*
WU 6
-0.007
0.992
AGE
-0.023
0.001**
WU 7
-0.301
0.782
INC
0.067
0.003**
PR
-0.127
0.511
EDU 1
0.462
0.027*
NOT 1
0.507
0.000**
EDU 2
0.746
0.000**
NOT 2
0.717
0.001**
EDU 3
0.913
0.000**
UEC
0.086
0.220
WU1
-0.223
0.385
PRO
0.113
0.073
WU 2
-0.463
0.045**
ECS
-0.084
0.335
WU 3
-0.373
0.131
TRS
0.315
0.001**
WU 4
-0.500
0.058
Adjust R2
0.248
(PS: ‘*’, ‘**’ express as 5% and 1% significance levels respectively
In this study, the conditional value method (CVM)
was used to conduct a questionnaire survey on the willingness to pay of tourists and residents of Dalian
Jinshitan National Marine Park. 358 valid samples of
Advances in Social Science, Education and Humanities Research, volume 610
259
willingness to pay and 66 valid samples of willingness
to accept were selected. The parameter estimation
method estimates that WTP for ecological compensation
is 115.65 yuan/year/person. Finally, it is concluded that
the ecological compensation standard of Jinshitan
National Marine Park is 115.65 yuan/year/person. At the
same time, multiple linear regression methods are used
to construct the model and it is concluded that the main
factors affecting WTP are gender, age, income,
education level, work unit, number of trips and tourism
satisfaction. This study selects payment card guidance
technology, but the guidance technology of CVM is
diverse, such as dichotomy, open type, etc. Each has its
advantages and disadvantages. In future research,
suitable guidance methods can be selected according to
the actual situation. At the same time, there are many
ecological compensation calculation methods, which
one is the most reasonable is the direction that should be
further studied in the future.
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