While China harbors 10% of the world's plant and animal species, it is also home to 1.3 billion people (nearly one out of every 5 people on Earth) with needs that exert high pressure on resources. There is now corresponding pressure to find and embrace innovative solutions that make the link between nature and human well-being a central tenet of land and water use policy. The Natural Capital Project is working in China to map and value ecosystem services, communicate the essential linkages between people and the critical life-support systems that nature provides, and cultivate on-the-ground demonstrations of natural capital approaches to conservation at local, regional, and national scales.  

The most ambitious new policy designates 24% of China's land area in new reserves, called Ecosystem Function Conservation Areas (EFCAs). EFCAs are designed to secure biodiversity, soils, and water resources, and to mitigate floods and prevent sandstorms. The EFCAs also have a major social goal of alleviating poverty, particularly in the rural areas of China. Our partner, the Chinese Academy of Sciences' Research Center for Eco-Environmental Science (RCEES) is leading this effort.

Researchers are improving and deploying our InVEST software to visually map and measure ecosystem services. Notably, the Chengdu Institute of Mountain Hazards and the Environment has spearheaded the extansive use of InVEST in Baoxing County (Sichuan Province) to quantify ecosystem services in a poverty-stricken region with high biodiversity. China has designated this region an Ecosystem Function Conservation Area and our partners have used InVEST models to estimate and map delivery of services ranging from mushroom and medicinal plant production (key parts of the local economy) to water retention (for flood security and hydropower production efficiency) and carbon sequestration (for climate security). Resulting maps are overlaid with a biodiversity map to identity areas suitable for development and those where conservation of Giant pandas and other species would yield high return-on-investment to society.

In close collaboration with the Natural Capital Project, RCEES is also using InVEST to assess a new payment for ecosystem service program that aims to preserve water quality in Beijing's surface water reservoir. Home to over 500,000 households north of Beijing, this watershed is also tasked with providing drinking water to Beijing's 20 million urban residents. This program pays farmers to transition from paddy-land rice agriculture to dry-land row-crop agriculture in order to reduce surface water nutrient runoff and promote less water-intensive agriculture. By quantifying the program's impacts on natural capital and its value, a clearer assessment of the associated costs and benefits are helping inform future management of the program.   

Scenarios describe what the future could look like. Scenarios enable forward-looking, comparative assessments of how ecosystem services are likely to change under different possible futures.  In our applications of InVEST with partners around the world, the Natural Capital Project has found that scenarios are critically useful. They can make ecosystem service assessments more relevant to specific decisions and involve stakeholders in a powerful learning process.

To help InVEST users, the Natural Capital Project has just published two reports on scenario development:

• The Scenarios Primer provides a quick introduction to scenarios and how they can be used with InVEST. It includes short case studies and highlights important considerations including characteristics of effective scenarios, methods for developing scenario storylines and maps, and experiences using scenarios to inform different decision contexts.

• The Scenarios Guidance and Case Studies is a detailed resource for practitioners. Drawing on case experiences, it provides guidance on scenario types and methods, engaging stakeholders, and creating scenario maps. It highlights issues and questions for reflection, along with practical tools, full case studies, and links to further resources.