Quantifying the net benefit of land use of fruit trees in China

Fruit trees are an important forest resource because they simultaneously produce huge ecological and economic benefits. However, many estimates of these benefits have neglected the costs of providing these services, leading to ineffective planting of these trees and, consequently, reduced economic and ecological benefits. To understand the difference between the total and net benefits of ecosystem services, we used government statistics and data from published papers to calculate the total benefits, costs, and net benefits (= total benefits – costs) of land use of fruit trees in China. The fruit trees had a high value of ecosystem services (VES), at 643.2×109 RMB·yr−1, and a high value of products (VP), at 1399.4×109 RMB·yr−1 in 2014, and the total benefits (VES plus VP) of land use of fruit trees totaled 2042.6×109 RMB·yr−1. After accounting for the costs of establishing, maintaining, and protecting the fruit trees, as well as the opportunity costs of not using the land for other purposes, the net benefits provided by the fruit trees were 955.7×109 RMB·yr−1 (53.2% less than the total benefits). Due to regional differences in the geographic and economic environments, the benefits and costs of the fruit trees differed among China’s regions, leading to large differences in the net benefits from the fruit trees. Because fruit tree cultivation is essential to farmer livelihoods, the government must plan the establishment and management of the fruit trees based on the results of cost–benefit analysis to achieve the win-win goal of combining ecological restoration with poverty alleviation.