Monetary valuation of forest ecosystem services in China: A literature review and identification of future research needs

- We reviewed 12 monetary valuation studies on forest ecosystem services in China.
- Results show heterogeneous methodologies and wide variation in monetary values.
- More strengthened and standardized methodology is needed.
- Methods and insights from domestic and international literature are discussed.
- Expanding plantation forestry and benefit flow analysis offer research opportunities.

We propose a review of empirical studies dealing with the monetary valuation of forest ecosystem services in China. The analysis focuses on: assessing methodological differences between studies; highlighting the variation of monetary values across different ecosystem service types; and identifying and discussing future research needs. Based on a systematic search, our data set consists of 12 studies published in peer-reviewed journals in English, dealing with 72 forest ecosystem services. Our results suggest that domestic literature is affected by elusive categorization of ecosystem services and methodological inconsistencies. The wide variation in monetary values of Chinese forest ecosystem services, a phenomenon also observed in global level reviews, can be partially explained by the methodological heterogeneity of the studies. Future research could benefit from a strengthened and more standardized methodological approach, drawing from relevant methods and indicators employed in the reviewed domestic articles, as well as from insights and solutions proposed in the international empirical and conceptual literature. The exceptional forest restoration policy landscape coupled with the increasing establishment of commercial plantations offer important research opportunities for monetary valuation in China. Efforts should be directed towards assessing marginal values of ecosystem services in land-use changes over time, and benefit flows among different stakeholders.