Description
To provide insights for policy makers in the People's Republic of China in the development of a national ecocompensation policy framework, this paper discusses the public sector’s role in payments for ecological services internationally.

This paper was originally produced for the “International Conference on Payments for Environmental Services,” held in Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region in China on 6–7 September 2009, and jointly hosted by the People’s Republic of China’s National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Environmental Protection, the government of Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, and the Asian Development Bank (ADB). It is part of the full volume of conference proceedings published by ADB in December 2010, entitled Payments for Ecological Services and Eco-Compensation: Practices and Innovations in the People’s Republic of China.

Contents

• Introduction
• Government as Buyer
• Government as Regulator of Ecosystem Services Markets
• Government as Enabler of Ecosystem Services Markets
• Looking to the Future: The Evolving Role of Government
• References