Integrating ecological damages into the user charge for land reclamation: a case study of Xiamen, China

Land reclamation has become one of the great concerns of many coastal states for its serious environmental and ecological effects. User charge is an effective market-based approach for regulating land reclamation. The user change should be designed to reflect the full effect of converting sea to land to ensure sustainable use of marine resources. In this paper, we present an ecological-economic framework to estimate the user charge that covers both the ecological damages and the rent associated with the reclaimed land. We apply the framework to Xiamen's West Sea. Results of the case study suggest that the rents of reclaimed land for industrial and commercial uses are 49 yuan/m(2) and 1,066-2,704 yuan/m(2), respectively. The unit value of ecological damages of land reclamation is 605 yuan/m(2). The present user charge is too low to regulate excessive land reclamation. The user charge for land reclamation in the study area should be modified to 653 yuan/m(2) for industrial uses and 35-40% of adjacent land prices for commercial uses.