A new indices system for evaluating ecological-economic-social performances of wetland restorations and its application to Taihu Lake Basin, China

Establishment of an indices system for evaluating the ecological-economic-social performances of wetland restoration projects (WRPs) is of significant importance for finding the WRPs achieving successful conservation outcomes and guiding financial investments on ecological restorations. In this study, two different indices systems were developed for WRPs I (with wetland park) and WRPs II (without wetland park) respectively. For WRPs I, the ecological performance were measured by 7 indexes: water quality, aquatic vegetation coverage, aquatic botanic biodiversity, plant community integrity, achievement of buffer function, habitat protection and improvement, and intensity of anthropogenic disturbance activities, while habitat protection and improvement and aquatic botanic biodiversity were excluded for measuring the ecological performances of WRPs II. Output value of wetland products, wetland tourism value, and increase of house price in the surrounding area of wetlands were used to measure the economic performance of WRPs I, while only one index of output value of wetland products was used for WRPs II. Integrity of management operating system, public awareness on wetland protection, public satisfaction, scientific education service, and job provision were applied to measure the social performance of WRPs I, while only one index of integrity of management operating system was used for WRPs II. By using weighted linear combination (WLC), the ecological-economic-social performances of WRPs were obtained. This new indices system was applied to 8 WRPs in Taihu Lake Basin, China. The results showed that among the 8 WRPs, 4 of them (Shangxianhe Wetland, Changguangxi Wetland, Lianghong Wetland, Daxigang Estuary Wetland) gained good grade in ecological-economic-social performance, whereas the Shibawan Lakeside Wetland, Daxigang Estuary Wetland, Dapugang Wetland, and Taihu Lake Shore Wetland were regarded as poor or very poor. In summary, only 50% of the WRPs gained good performance after implementation.