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Economic Valuation Assessment and Sustainable Management of Ecosystem Services: From...
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Economic Valuation Assessment and Sustainable Management of Ecosystem Services: From Theory to Policy Applications

A special issue of Land (ISSN 2073-445X). This special issue belongs to the section "Land Use, Impact Assessment and Sustainability".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 June 2026 | Viewed by 3877

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Chi-Ok Oh

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Graduate School of Culture, Chonnam National University, Gwangju 61186, Republic of Korea
Interests: human dimensions of natural resources; economic valuation of ecosystem services; assessment of cultural services
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Hyun No Kim

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Division for Green Transition, Korea Environment Institute, Bldg B, 370 Sicheong-daero, Sejong 30147, Republic of Korea
Interests: environmental and resource economics; integrating the environment into economic analysis; environmental valuation; applied econometrics
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Ecosystem services (ESs) are the benefits that humans derive from nature—including provisioning, regulating, supporting, and cultural services—and valuing these services accurately is essential for informed policy decisions, effective environmental management, and balancing development with conservation goals. Despite growing academic and policy attention, challenges remain in operationalizing ES valuation, integrating it into decision-making, and translating theoretical insights into practical applications. This Special Issue addresses these critical gaps, highlighting the role of interdisciplinary research in enhancing the visibility, measurement, and governance of ecosystem services.

The aim of this Special Issue is to collect original studies and review articles that advance our understanding of how ecosystem services can be assessed, economically valued, and sustainably managed across various ecological and institutional contexts. The topic aligns closely with Land’s scope by focusing on the sustainable use and governance of land and natural resources, and by exploring how ES-based frameworks can contribute to land use planning, policy-making, and community development.

We welcome theoretical contributions, empirical case studies, and policy-oriented papers that address, but are not limited to, the following themes:

  • Economic valuation techniques for ecosystem services;
  • The integration of ES valuation into land use and spatial planning;
  • The assessment and valuation of different types of ecosystem services (provisioning, regulating, supporting, and cultural);
  • Trade-offs and synergies among ESs in land management;
  • ES assessments in coastal, rural, or urban contexts;
  • Institutional frameworks for ES-based policy;
  • Applications of stated preference, revealed preference, and hybrid methods;
  • Policy instruments for sustainable ES governance.

Article types may include original research articles, methodological papers, policy reviews, and case-based analyses.

Prof. Dr. Chi-Ok Oh
Dr. Hyun No Kim
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Land is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • ecosystem services
  • economic valuation
  • land use policy
  • sustainable management
  • environmental decision-making
  • non-market valuation
  • environmental policy
  • land use conflicts
  • ES trade-offs
  • land use planning

Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue

  • Ease of navigation: Grouping papers by topic helps scholars navigate broad scope journals more efficiently.
  • Greater discoverability: Special Issues support the reach and impact of scientific research. Articles in Special Issues are more discoverable and cited more frequently.
  • Expansion of research network: Special Issues facilitate connections among authors, fostering scientific collaborations.
  • External promotion: Articles in Special Issues are often promoted through the journal's social media, increasing their visibility.
  • Reprint: MDPI Books provides the opportunity to republish successful Special Issues in book format, both online and in print.

Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

32 pages, 4551 KB  
Article
Spatial Inequality in Grassland Ecosystem Service Values and Fiscal Allocation Mismatch: A Meta-Regression Analysis of China
by Danning Fu and Airu Zhang
Land 2026, 15(2), 321; https://doi.org/10.3390/land15020321 - 13 Feb 2026
Viewed by 401
Abstract
China possesses 400 million hectares of grasslands that provide regulating ecosystem services (ESs), including wind erosion control, water conservation, and carbon sequestration. The central government implemented the Grassland Ecological Protection Subsidy and Reward Policy (GERCP) in 2011, allocating 150 billion yuan (approximately $23 [...] Read more.
China possesses 400 million hectares of grasslands that provide regulating ecosystem services (ESs), including wind erosion control, water conservation, and carbon sequestration. The central government implemented the Grassland Ecological Protection Subsidy and Reward Policy (GERCP) in 2011, allocating 150 billion yuan (approximately $23 billion) through 2020, while national vegetation coverage increased from 51.0% in 2011 to 56.1% in 2020. Existing valuation studies emphasize total economic value but rarely quantify the concentration of ES values across space or their alignment with fiscal allocation. We compiled 734 grassland ES valuation observations from 186 studies published between 2000 and 2024, and estimated a multi-level mixed-effects meta-regression model for benefit transfer. We projected standardized county-level ES values, decomposed spatial inequality using the Gini coefficient and Theil index, and assessed the mismatch between value-informed allocation weights and observed GERCP transfers. Predicted values exhibit high concentration (Gini coefficient = 0.58), and between-zone differences explain 52% of total Theil inequality. The mismatch analysis identifies 94 high-value and low-compensation counties concentrated in southern Qinghai and northern Tibet, where per-hectare values are 180 to 240% above national medians, and compensation is 35 to 55% below the median. The results support value-informed targeting and redistribution of fiscal weights across regions, while payment levels require pricing benchmarks based on opportunity cost or conservation cost rather than total economic value. We propose calibrating compensation rates through a tiered schedule based on ESV quantiles or standardized ecosystem-service bundles, and implementing county-level differentiated payments with periodic updating tied to monitoring and evaluation. As a minimum viable step, we recommend piloting this scheme in counties with high ESV yet low current compensation, and integrating it into existing ecological compensation funding channels to reduce administrative frictions. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Economic Valuation Assessment and Sustainable Management of Ecosystem Services: From Theory to Policy Applications)
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21 pages, 2081 KB  
Article
Evaluation of Perceived Effectiveness in Ecological Products Value Realisation: A Case Study of the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei (BTH) Region
by Shuo Lei, Xinting Gao, Qin Qiao, Yongwei Han, Jin Huang and Wenting Zhang
Land 2025, 14(11), 2269; https://doi.org/10.3390/land14112269 - 17 Nov 2025
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 814
Abstract
A scientifically robust evaluation system for ecological products value realisation is urgently needed in China. Approaches that rely solely on objective indicators face significant challenges due to data limitations and regional heterogeneity. This study innovatively constructed an experts’ perceived effectiveness evaluation scale for [...] Read more.
A scientifically robust evaluation system for ecological products value realisation is urgently needed in China. Approaches that rely solely on objective indicators face significant challenges due to data limitations and regional heterogeneity. This study innovatively constructed an experts’ perceived effectiveness evaluation scale for ecological products value realisation, establishing a dual mechanism of “objective data + expert experience calibration” and covering the entire chain of “ecological background–economic conversion–social well-being–benefit feedback”. This framework was applied to the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei (BTH) region, with results indicating that the perceived effectiveness index for value realisation of material-supply-oriented ecological products (MSEPs), regulatory service-oriented ecological products (RSEPs), and cultural service-oriented ecological products (CSEPs) was 0.7054, 0.6482, and 0.6052, respectively. Significant regional differences exist. Beijing holds a central and leading role, while effectiveness in the northern mountainous areas of Hebei Province is stronger than in the central and southern regions. Regions with weaker performance should prioritise leadership strategies over comprehensive development, as disparities arising from regional differentiation call for more sophisticated coordination mechanisms. The study offers new insights for policy decision-making and optimisation, enhancing both the applicability and precision of evaluation methods. Nonetheless, the designed scales remain exploratory and warrant verification through a broader empirical basis. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Economic Valuation Assessment and Sustainable Management of Ecosystem Services: From Theory to Policy Applications)
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15 pages, 403 KB  
Article
Estimating the Value of Recreation and Ecotourism Using Meta-Regression Analysis
by Namhee Kim and Hyun No Kim
Land 2025, 14(7), 1504; https://doi.org/10.3390/land14071504 - 21 Jul 2025
Viewed by 1645
Abstract
Estimating the economic value of recreation and ecotourism is essential for sustainable ecosystem management and informed environmental policymaking. However, values derived from individual studies often vary because of subjective preferences and contextual variability, making it challenging to obtain generalizable estimates. To address this [...] Read more.
Estimating the economic value of recreation and ecotourism is essential for sustainable ecosystem management and informed environmental policymaking. However, values derived from individual studies often vary because of subjective preferences and contextual variability, making it challenging to obtain generalizable estimates. To address this issue, this study employed a meta-regression analysis synthesizing 179 willingness-to-pay (WTP) observations obtained from 48 individual valuation studies conducted across various recreational and ecotourism sites in the Republic of Korea. Focusing specifically on national parks, which are prominent providers of cultural ecosystem services, we examined how site characteristics, study design factors, and valuation methodologies influenced estimated WTP values. Outliers were systematically identified and treated using statistical methods, with the random-effects model utilizing studentized residuals yielding the most robust results. Our findings revealed that national parks and studies employing the travel cost method (TCM) were associated with significantly higher WTP values. By applying the developed meta-regression model, we estimated that the total value of recreational and ecotourism services provided by national parks in the Republic of Korea was approximately USD 865.0 million in 2020. These results highlight the effectiveness of meta-regression analysis in synthesizing heterogeneous valuation studies, facilitating more accurate benefit transfers, and offering empirical insights to guide ecosystem service policy and management decisions. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Economic Valuation Assessment and Sustainable Management of Ecosystem Services: From Theory to Policy Applications)
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