Assessment of private economic benefits and positive environmental externalities of tea plantation in China

• Published in: Environmental monitoring and assessment 2013-10, Vol.185 (10), p.8501-8516
• Main Authors: Xue, Hui, Ren, Xiaoyi, Li, Shiyu, Wu, Xu, Cheng, Hao, Xu, Bin, Gu, Baojing, Yang, Guofu, Peng, Changhui, Ge, Ying, Chang, Jie
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Agriculture; Agriculture - economics; Agriculture - methods; Animal and plant ecology; Animal, plant and microbial ecology; Applied ecology; Atmospheric Protection/Air Quality Control/Air Pollution; Biological and medical sciences; Carbon; Carbon dioxide emissions; Carbon Sequestration; China; Conservation of Natural Resources - economics; Conservation of Natural Resources - methods; Conservation of Natural Resources - statistics & numerical data; Conservation, protection and management of environment and wildlife; Cost-Benefit Analysis; Earth and Environmental Science; Ecology; Economic impact; Economics; Ecosystem services; Ecosystems; Ecotoxicology; Emissions; Environment; Environmental economics; Environmental Management; Environmental Monitoring; Externality; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Greenhouse gases; Internet resources; Monitoring/Environmental Analysis; Nitrous oxide; Nonpoint source pollution; Pallets; Plantations; Society; Soil erosion; Soil fertility; Studies; Subtropical zones; Synecology; Tea; Tea - growth & development; Terrestrial ecosystems; Water conservation; Water Supply - statistics & numerical data
• ISSN: 0167-6369; 1573-2959
• DOI: 10.1007/s10661-013-3191-6

Tea plantations are rapidly expanding in China and other countries in the tropical and subtropical zones, driven by relatively high private economic benefit. However, the impact of tea plantations on the regional environment, including ecosystem services and disservices are unclear. In this study, we developed an assessment framework for determining the private economic benefits and environmental externalities (the algebraic sum of the regulating services and disservices) of tea plantations in China. Our results showed that tea plantations provided private economic benefits of 5,652 yuan ha −1  year −1 (7.6 yuan = 1 USD in 2007) for tea farmers, plus positive environmental externalities of 6,054 yuan ha −1  year −1 for the society. The environmental externalities were calculated as the sum of the value of four regulating services, including carbon sequestration (392 yuan ha −1  year −1 ); soil retention (72 yuan ha −1  year −1 ); soil fertility protection (3,189 yuan ha −1  year −1 ) and water conservation (2,685 yuan ha −1  year −1 ), and three disservices, including CO 2 emission (−39 yuan ha −1  year −1 ), N 2 O emission (−137 yuan ha −1  year −1 ) and nonpoint source pollution (−108 yuan ha −1  year −1 ). Before the private optimal level, the positive environmental externalities can be maintained by private economic benefits; if a social optimal level is required, subsidies from government are necessary.