An Investigation into the Implementation of an Ecological Compensation Policy forTourism in the Western Ethnic Areas

Zhong+Jie

JOURNAL OF ETHNOLOGY，VOL.7，NO.1，3237，2015（CN511731/C，in Chinese）

DOI：10.3969/j.issn.16749391.2015.01.03 Abstract：The ethnic regions of Western China are rich in ecological and cultural tourism resources. At the same time， the regions are also ecologically vulnerable areas with large populations of ethnic groups who have lived for a long time in poverty. Based on years investigation， it is obvious that tourism development， even though it can promote local economic development， has had a significant negative impact on the ecology， environment and local communities. During the 18th and 17th National Congresses of the Communist Pary of China， a policy was announced to improve ecological compensation and accelerate the establishment of an ecological compensation mechanism. So far， both government and academia have mainly focused on the effects and necessities of building a mechanism for ecological compensation. Of special concern， even if governments at all levels sequentially enacted a series of policie with certain characteristics of ecological compensation， the public is still questioning the impartiality and legitimacy of the charges of such policy of ecological compensation. Thus， the task of implementing the ecological compensation policy faces many obstacles. At present， the core research issue on ecological compensation is no longer just the question of why it should be charged. This question was already clearly stated in official documents from central government. Up to now， the core issues that need clarification are： in practice， how the charge be made； what amount of money should be charged； how will the revenue from the charge be used； how will the revenue derived from the charge be audited； and whether or not this charge can help to achieve government objectives in such a way.

Based on the unique background of the ethnic regions of Western China， this paper deeply analyses issues of implementing policies such as ecological compensation for tourism， including the illegibility and legitimacy of who should pay， how much should be paid， and how to manage the funds impartially； and providing scientific and reasonable countermeasures to solve these practical problems. Compared with other industries， the tourism industry became the pioneer for the practice of ecological compensation as well as the research objective of ecological compensation studies. Some researchers defined ecological compensation for tourism as a system of regulating related ecological interests to protect the ecosystems of tourism destinations and promote sustainable development of the tourism industry （Zhang Yiqun， Yang Guihua， 2012）. Although such a definition is still fuzzy， at least it indicates that the research of ecological compensation for tourism involves interdisciplinary fields including Economics， Sociology， Ecology and Tourism， etc. Currently， the research of ecological compensation for tourism has insufficient first hand empirical research data. At the same time it has not yet had nationwide impact， either domestically or overseas.The research on implementing policies for the ecological compensation of tourism is at an early stage in China.

Obviously， it is hard to find sufficient research results or research methods for reference， which brings certain limitations to this paper. To demonstrate the scope of this study， this paper defined tourism ecological compensation as exploring the feasibility of spending fiscal revenue （paid by tourism enterprises， tourists or other stakeholders） on protecting natural ecological environment. Based on this definition， this paper generated three actual issues with regard to implementing policies of ecological compensation for tourism， including the vagueness of the charge，the lack of unified， standard levies， and the non-tranparency of fund management. Combined with analyzing the current special background of implementing policies of ecological compensation for tourism in the ethnic regions of Western China， and by especially emphasizing the local communities of the ethnic groups who should be compensated， this paper tries to provide scientific and reasonable countermeasures consisting of implementing corresponding national policy， formulating correlated policy in accordance with local conditions and standardizing and institutionalizing fund management. This paper not only attempts to support strongly implementing policies of ecological compensation for tourism at the institutional level， but also to coordinate the contradictions between tourism development and ecological protection， and local community self-development， hoping to achieve the win-win objectives of promoting an ecological compensation policy for tourism， tourism poverty alleviation and ecological civilization.

Key Words：ethnic regions of Western China；tourism； ecological compensation

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