With increasing population of the wild animals, conflict between the herbivorous wild animals (such as Tibetan Antelope, Kiangs, and Wild Yaks) and domestic animals for limited grassland resources is becoming increasingly significant in Changtang grassland of Tibet Autonomous Region. The ecological compensation scheme has been considered as one of the important approaches to deal with such problems. Therefore, assessment of the ecological value of wild animals could provide the basis for setting up ecological compensation standard.
In this research, we have collected relevant second data including statistics and documents to know current socio-economic conditions of the region, In 2008, a questionnaire survey concerning the protection of ecological environment was conducted among 115 full time government employees in Lasa and Nagqu and among 84 herdsmen in Nyima and Shuanghu Zone. Altogether 199 copies of the questionnaires have been distributed and completed, with 198 valid ones. Key questions designed include the willingness to pay for the protection of wild animals in Changtang area, which late were used for estimation of the non-use values.
In this paper we established the valuation system and methodologies for the assessment of ecological service value of the wild animals in Changtang grassland. The Tibetan antelope has been taken as indicative wild animal for the assessment. The value system consists of use value and non-use value. Use value includes direct use value (commercial value and recreational & entertainment value) and indirect use value (ecological value, cultural and educational value, and aesthetic value, and scientific research value). Non-use value includes existence value, choice value, and heritage value. We estimated the use value mainly through market valuation method and non use value using the contingent valuation method.
As there is no market trading for wild animals, so for no corresponding pricing system for valuing the wild animals. In this paper, we have used standard sheep units as the basis forassessment of animal carrying capacity of grasslands of China, and then converted other herbivorous animals such as horses, donkeys, and cows into standard sheep units, in order to facilitate the calculation. The standard sheep unit refers to a sheep that consumes 1.8 kg of hays per day. Based on the definition, we have converted Tibetan antelopes and Kiangs into standard sheep units accordingly. The sheep unit in the calculation of animal carrying capacity is defined as the adult female sheep that weighs 50 kg and consumes 1.8 kg of hays per day. The average weight of a male Tibetan antelope is 40 kg, and 24 to 28 kg for female Tibetan antelope. Judging from the weights, the amount of hays consumed by a Tibetan antelope is smaller than that of a standard sheep unit. Therefore, one Tibetan antelope equals to 0.8 sheep unit, one Kiang equals to 6 standard sheep units, and one Wild Yak equals to 8 standard sheep units.
The valuation results show that the total value of the Tibetan antelopes reached 0.751 billion RMB per year, in which the direct use value is about 0.635 billion RMB per year and non-use value 0.116 billion RMB per year. Apparently, the ecological service value of the Tibetan antelopes in Changtang grassland is higher than 0.479 billion RMB -the gross regional product of all the six counties in the Changtang Nature Reserve in 2007.