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Payments for ecosystem services (PES) are one kind of important tool for environmental protection, and have been widely studied by international scholars and conservationists. Based various definitions of PES from recent articles, we have outlined four principles for PES: parity, measurability, additionality and conditionality, and then have used these principles to develop a formula to calculate a standard for PES. Finding a way to use PES to achieve a win-win relationship between economic growth and environmental protection in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Region (BTHR) is a key task for Chinese government. Synergetic development of BTHR has become a national strategy, like The Belt and Road Initiative. This article employed the formula we developed to calculate the net horizontal PES amounts that each provincial government within BTHR should pay. Our findings show that Beijing should have paid 10.44×109 Yuan (0.4% of Beijing's GRP) and Tianjin 16.56×109 Yuan (0.93% of Tianjin's GRP) to Hebei in 2016.

Wetland nature reserves are one of the main networks of China′s nature reserves system.A protection management system is gradually taking shape.However,the current system of wetland nature reserves was established based on the idea of saving and preserving specific natural wetland areas,a method which lacked a reasonable level of system-wide oversight and planning.The system used to establish nature reserves lacked an effective assessment methodology to help provide for the management,planning and delineation of the wetland nature reserves in China.Therefore,one prerequisite involved in reforming this system was to develop a logical and workable method of evaluating wetland nature reserves which focused on the planning,establishment,and management of those reserves. Wetland birds are important indicator species and the presence or absence of wetland bird species has been used as an important standard to justify upgrading the status of nature reserves.Wetland nature reserves established for these waterbirds provide good habitat and food sources as well as breeding,migration and overwintering areas.We present here a wetland nature reserve evaluation method based on a thorough analysis of the existing wetland nature reserve system using waterbird information and geographical/ecological information with a focus on waterbird protection.It may be used to evaluate the existing different administrative levels of the wetland nature reserve system. An evaluation index system is proposed for wetland nature reserves based on scientific research and planning information related to wetland nature reserves.The indicators of this index system were identified by consultation with experts and the use of conferences;a hierarchical model was established using the analytic hierarchy process(AHP).The four tiered index system consisted of 1 object layer,5 system layers,11 criteria layers and 26 index layers.The nature reserves were classified into three broad types based on relevant national criterion to facilitate the analysis of this application and evaluation method,1) nature reserve for ocean and seacoast ecosystem,2)nature reserve for inland wetlands and water area ecosystem,and 3) nature reserve for wildlife types.The three wetland types within the nature reserve wetland system were further divided into four smaller types 1) offshore and coastal wetlands,2) riverine,3)lacustrine wetlands,and 4) marsh wetlands. Meanwhile,the Golden section method was used to assign indicators.Each set of indicators was calculated using frequency percentiles,with the values of 62%,38%,and 0% representing the high,medium,low value by threshold,respectively.The assignment method was(62%—100%) as the high value niche section assignment 1,(38%—62%) as interval assignment 0.62,and(0—38%) as low range assignment 0.38.The final results were calculated from the nature reserve conservation value index formula. In this paper,8 nature reserves were analyzed from the offshore and coastal wetlands as the main body of ocean and seacoast ecosystem type,13 nature reserves of marsh wetlands were analyzed as the main body of inland wetlands and water area ecosystem type and 6 nature reserves of riverine wetlands were analyzed as the main body of wildlife type and classified for each type of protection index on a case-by-case basis,respectively. The results showed the evaluation method used to classify wetlands on the basis of waterbird protection may objectively and fairly reflect the value of wetlands needed to protect water birds.Furthermore,this evaluation index system may be used to classify the wetland nature reserve system using a protection index and provides the foundation to plan and reconstruct the wetland ecosystem nature reserves and change their protection status.