The core content of green payment is that those who enjoy the fruits of protection pay compensation to those who provide protection services. A typical case is the project that new york paid farmers in the upper reaches of the Hudson River to ensure their clean water. 90% of new york's drinking water comes from the upper reaches of the Hudson River, a village in Delaware, 200 kilometers away from the city. There are more than 70,000 people living there, and there are about three dairy farms. The development pressure is great, and the river water quality is threatened. If the river is polluted, the New York City Government will have to build a water purification plant with a higher standard, which is estimated to cost 7 billion to 9 billion US dollars (including the operation fee in the first 1t year). The New York City Government weighed the pros and cons and decided to protect the water source by paying upstream farmers. During the period of 1993, new york established a non-profit watershed agriculture committee (WAC) to protect river ecology and water quality by guiding land use. Their main methods are: first, provide subsidies for land users who protect and restore forests; The second is to provide subsidies and services to farmers who operate pastures and farms in the recommended environmentally friendly way; The third is to restrict land development by purchasing land development rights. The main source of funds paid is 9% water surcharge, and a small amount comes from municipal bonds and trust funds.
Two. Costa Rica: National Forest Fund
Costa Rica has established a national payment system for environmental services since the Forest Law 1996. The Forest Law of Costa Rica stipulates that carbon fixation, water resources protection, biodiversity protection and sightseeing services provided by natural forests, afforestation and economic forest planting can be compensated. The compensation standard is based on the opportunity cost of land use, which is usually higher than the rent of pasture. The specific compensation standards are: the landowners who provide the above services by planting trees can get an average subsidy of 540 USD /hm2; Land owners who provide the above services through forest protection and restoration can get an average subsidy of US$ 265,438+00 /hm2 (the above two subsidies will be paid in five years); Land owners who provide the above services through economic forest planting can get a subsidy of $0.8 per tree; Every five years 1. Upon expiration, the next contract negotiation will be conducted according to the monitoring and evaluation results.
Costa Rica raises funds for ecological compensation through various channels. In addition to ensuring the internalization of ecological benefits through legislative means, Costa Rica also uses market means to subsidize the ecological benefits provided by private producers or provide financial support for the government to protect ecological benefits. Costa Rica Forest Law 1996 7575 stipulates that the sales tax levied on fossil fuels is one of the sources of compensation funds for ecological benefits. In addition, Costa Rica also uses the market means that can identify trade compensation to seek financial support for the ecological protection of the Costa Rican government from the international market. Confirmatory trade compensation (CTO) refers to a financial means that can transfer or sell greenhouse gas compensation rights in the international market. CTO stands for a certain amount of greenhouse gas emissions, expressed in terms of carbon equivalent reduced or absorbed. When a foreign investor buys a technology transfer (for example, through reforestation or forest protection), the investor provides additional financial support to Costa Rica. At present, 85% of the funds for environmental service payment projects come from fossil fuel tax, 8% from government finance, the World Bank, the Global Environment Facility and other national banks, and 7% from voluntary payment by enterprises and income from international carbon trading. There are also some river basins that provide compensation funds for upstream water resources protection through additional water charges.
The environmental service payment project is managed by Costa Rica National Forest Fund. The National Forest Foundation of China has signed project agreements with the Ministry of Environment and Energy, relevant non-governmental consulting organizations and non-governmental organizations, and other project executing agencies to implement the paid-for-environmental services project. The landowner in the protected area signed an agreement with the project executing agency, promised specific protection obligations and obtained corresponding compensation. These compensations improve the enthusiasm and ability of landowners to protect vegetation, and at the same time provide additional economic income for residents (mostly poor people) in the reserve and improve their lives.
Three. EU: Eco-label Certification
In order to encourage the production and consumption of "green products" in Europe, the EU introduced the eco-label system in 1992. The EU eco-label system is a voluntary system. The original intention of establishing eco-label system in the EU is to select the best products in the field of ecological protection, and to affirm and encourage them, so as to gradually push the manufacturers of various consumer goods in the EU to further improve ecological protection, so that the products will not harm the ecological environment from design, production, sales to use until final treatment. At the same time, eco-labels remind consumers that products meet the environmental protection standards stipulated by the European Union and are "green products" recognized and encouraged by the European Union. If the manufacturer wants to obtain the EU eco-label, he must apply to the management organization designated by the EU member states, complete the specified test procedures and submit the specified test data, so as to prove that the product has reached the award standard of eco-label. The European Union has stipulated corresponding environmental performance standards for each product, mainly about natural resources and energy saving, waste gas (liquid and solid) and noise emission.
Four. Germany: Inter-basin International Ecological Compensation and Regional Horizontal Transfer Payment
The ecological compensation policy of the Elbe River in Germany is a typical successful example of regional cooperation mechanism. The Elbe River runs through two countries, with the upper reaches in the Czech Republic and the middle and lower reaches in Germany. Before 1980, river basin regulation had never been carried out, and the water quality was declining. After 1990, Germany and the Czech Republic reached an agreement on the regulation of the Elbe River and established a bilateral cooperation organization. The purpose of regulation and control is to improve the irrigation quality of agricultural water for a long time, maintain the biodiversity of the basin and reduce the discharge of pollutants on both sides of the basin. Bilateral organizations are composed of eight professional groups: the action plan group, which determines and implements the target plan; Monitoring team, determine the monitoring parameter catalogue and monitoring frequency, and establish data network; A research group to study what economic and technical means to protect the environment; Coastal protection team to address the physical impact on the environment; Disaster team, solve chemical pollution accidents, early warning pollution accidents, so as to reduce the harm to a minimum; Hydrological group, collecting hydrological data; Public groups engaged in propaganda work issue an announcement every year to report the organization and research results of bilateral work.
According to the agreement, Germany has built seven national parks along the Elbe River basin, covering an area of 500km2. There are 200 nature reserves on both sides of the river basin, and it is forbidden to build houses, set up factories or engage in intensive agriculture and other activities that affect ecological protection in the protected areas. After the renovation, the water quality in the upper reaches of the Elbe River basically reached the drinking water standard.
The sources of funds for the renovation of the Elbe River Basin include the following parts: first, sewage charges (sewage charges of residents and enterprises are uniformly handed over to the sewage treatment plant, and the sewage treatment plant reserves some funds according to a certain proportion and then turns them over to the national environmental protection department); Second, financial loans; Third, research funding; The fourth is the compensation of the downstream to the upstream economy. For example, in 2000, the German Ministry of Environmental Protection provided the Czech Republic with 9 million marks for the construction of an urban sewage treatment plant on the border between the Czech Republic and Germany.
At present, only Germany has implemented the interstate horizontal transfer payment system in ecological compensation, and it has been fixed in the form of law. Its biggest feature is that the funds are in place and the accounting is fair. Horizontal transfer payment is a transfer payment directly from rich areas to poor areas. That is to say, the pattern of vested interests between regions can be changed by horizontal transfer, and the balance of public service level between regions can be realized. A set of complex calculation basis and determination standard of transfer payment amount are designed. The horizontal transfer payment fund in Germany consists of two parts: one part is that the value-added tax is shared by the States according to 1/4; Second, the subsidies allocated to poor States by the financially richer States according to the unified standard calculation results. The main purpose of implementing the interstate horizontal transfer payment system in Germany through the interstate fiscal balance fund is to maintain social stability.
Verb (abbreviation for verb) Australia: water evaporation credit
Mullay-Darling watershed in Australia is located in the east of Australia, and large-scale forest logging makes soil salinization increasingly serious. To this end, the downstream food and fiber association, composed of 600 irrigated farmers, reached an agreement with the upstream New South Wales Forest Service to support afforestation as a cost-effective strategy. According to the transpiration of the forest in the upper reaches of the basin 100hm2, the association purchased a salt loan from the State Forestry Administration, that is, the farmers who irrigated their land with water in the lower reaches paid the "transpiration service fee" to the Forestry Administration. Now it is paid at the price of 1 10,000 m3 of water 17, or compensated at the price of $85 per hectare of land 10 year. Using this fund, the Forestry Bureau can take measures such as planting desalted plants, planting trees or perennial deep-rooted plants in the upstream, which can effectively protect the water quality and avoid salinization.
Ecuador: Basin Soil and Water Conservation Fund
1998 established the watershed soil and water conservation fund in Quito. The fund's funds come from water charges, including the following sources: MBS-Cangahua Irrigation District, downstream farmers, HCJB Hydropower Company, Papallacta Hot Spring Company, Quito Water Supply Company (paying 1% of water sales) and national and international supplementary funds; The basin water and soil conservation fund is used to protect the water and soil of Cayambe-Coca basin with an upstream area of 400,000 hm2 and the upstream Antisana ecological reserve. Specific activities include purchasing land in ecologically sensitive areas, providing alternative livelihoods for upstream residents, demonstrating the best agricultural model, and education and training. The soil and water conservation fund is entrusted to a company (Enlace Fondos), which has a board of directors with members from local communities, hydropower companies, reserve management bureaus, local NGOs and the government.