Emergy-based valuation of glacier ecosystem services: A case from the Tibetan Plateau

Can Zhang; Bo Su; Michael Beckmann; Shiming Fang; Yao Xiao; Heng Ma; Ningyu Yan; Martin Volk

doi:10.1016/j.jenvman.2024.123966

Emergy-based valuation of glacier ecosystem services: A case from the Tibetan Plateau

J Environ Manage. 2025 Jan 6:374:123966. doi: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2024.123966. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Can Zhang¹, Bo Su², Michael Beckmann³, Shiming Fang⁴, Yao Xiao⁵, Heng Ma⁶, Ningyu Yan⁷, Martin Volk⁸

Affiliations

¹ Department of Land Resource Management, School of Public Administration, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan 430074, China; Department of Computational Landscape Ecology, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ, 04318 Leipzig, Germany.
² State Key Laboratory of Earth Surface Processes and Resource Ecology, School of Enviroment, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China; Stockholm Resilience Centre, Stockholm University, Stockholm 10691, Sweden; Department of Earth Sciences, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg 40530, Sweden. Electronic address: [email protected].
³ Chair of Environmental Planning, Brandenburg University of Technology, 03046 Cottbus, Germany.
⁴ Department of Land Resource Management, School of Public Administration, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan 430074, China; Key Labs of Law Evaluation of Ministry of Land and Resources of China, Wuhan 430074, China.
⁵ School of Geography and Ocean Science, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210023, China.
⁶ National Institute of Natural Hazards, Ministry of Emergency Management of China, Beijing 100085, China.
⁷ Guangdong Basic Research Center of Excellence for Ecological Security and Green Development, Key Laboratory for City Cluster Environmental Safety and Green Development of the Ministry of Education, School of Ecology, Environment and Resources, Guangdong University of Technology, Guangzhou, 510006, China.
⁸ Department of Computational Landscape Ecology, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ, 04318 Leipzig, Germany.

PMID: 39765063
DOI: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2024.123966

Abstract

Glaciers provide multiple ecosystem services (ES) to human society. Due to the continued global warming, the valuation of glacier ES is of urgent importance because this knowledge can support the protection of glaciers. However, a systematic valuation of glacier ES is still lacking, particularly from the perspective of ES contributors. In this study, we introduce the concept of emergy to establish a methodological framework for accounting glacier ES values, and take the Tibetan Plateau (TP) as a case study to comprehensively evaluate the spatiotemporal characteristics of glacier ES during the early 21st century. The results show that the total glacier ES values on the TP increased from 2.36E+24 sej/yr in the 2000s to 2.40E+24 sej/yr in the 2010s, with an overall growth rate of 1.6%. The values of the various services in the 2010s are ranked in descending order: climate regulation (1.59E+24 sej/yr, 66.1%), runoff regulation (4.40E+23 sej/yr, 18.4%), hydropower generation (1.88E+23 sej/yr, 7.8%). Significantly higher glacier ES values were recorded in the marginal TP than in the endorheic area. With the exception of climate regulation and carbon sequestration, all other service values increased during the study period, partially cultural services, which have experienced rapid growth in tandem with social development. The results of this study will help establish the methodological basis for the assessment of regional and global glacier ES, as well as a scientific basis for the regional protection of glacier resources.

Keywords: Ecosystem services valuation; Emergy analysis; Mountain Glacier; Sustainability; Tibetan plateau climate change.