Inter-regional ecological compensation in the Yellow River Basin based on the value of ecosystem services

Ecological compensation in the Yellow River Basin aims to improve its ecological and environmental management capacity. Based on data on land-use changes in the Yellow River Basin from 2010 to 2020, this study used the equivalent factor method to assess the value of ecosystem services in the basin. This was measured at three spatial scales in the upper, middle, and lower reaches, encompassing; nine provinces and 72 cities. The priority and amount of ecological compensation were determined for the Yellow River Basin regions. Results show that (1) The total value of ecosystem services in the Yellow River Basin increased from 1798.317 billion yuan in 2010 to 1838.259 billion yuan in 2020. Grasslands had the highest total ecosystem service value in 2020, accounting for 46.11%. (2) The value of ecosystem services in the Yellow River Basin region is upstream > midstream > downstream. Qinghai Province has the highest value of ecosystem services among the nine provinces, and the level of economic development in each region is inversely correlated with the value of ecosystem services. (3) The ecosystem service value and the economic development level of the cities in the Yellow River Basin are positively and negatively correlated with the priority of ecological compensation, respectively. Among them, the cities in the upper reaches are the most urgent targets for national ecological compensation. (4) The total ecological compensation in the Yellow River Basin in 2020 was approximately 122.63 billion yuan. Further, the amount of vertical ecological compensation to be paid by the state was approximately 114.673 billion yuan, and the horizontal compensation to be borne between provinces was approximately 7.957 billion yuan. The findings of this study provide novel insights into improving ecological compensation in the Yellow River Basin regions.