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Residents’ Perceptions and Willingness to Pay for Multifunctional Ecological Compensation in Watershed Forests: Evidence from the Jinghe River Basin, the Loess Plateau

Xiao Wang,Lixin Shu,Yanhui Wang

Published 2026 in Forests

ABSTRACT

As a critical institutional arrangement for regulating the distribution of ecosystem service benefits, the scientific setting of ecological compensation standards is particularly vital in cross-regional watershed governance. However, there is currently a lack of methods grounded in the multifunctionality of forests and residents’ preferences for determining compensation. Taking the Jinghe watershed as a case study, this research employed a contingent valuation questionnaire survey (n = 747 valid responses) to analyze residents’ perceptions and willingness for forest ecological compensation. The results show that (1) watershed residents generally understand the multifunctional services of forests (cognitive rate: 71.6%–96.4%), and most agree that upstream forest construction benefits downstream ecology, but 30%–40% remain unclear about specific compensation policies. (2) The average willingness to accept (WTA) compensation for upstream residents is 314.10 CNY/mu/year, while the average willingness to pay (WTP) for downstream residents is 289.59 CNY/mu/year. This translates to a compensation standard range of 4343.85 to 4711.5 CNY/ha/year, approximately twice the local afforestation cost but one-sixth of the estimated total ecosystem service value. (3) While over 60% of respondents prefer compensation via governmental funds, there is notable and growing acceptance for development-oriented mechanisms like industrial collaboration and joint park construction under fiscal constraints. (4) Regression analysis indicates that occupation, annual income, and ecological cognition positively influence willingness, whereas age and household size show negative correlations; formal education level showed no significant impact. This study provides empirical evidence and a preference-based framework for setting scientifically grounded and socially accepted multifunctional ecological compensation standards in cross-regional watersheds.

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