Method for Determining Ecological Compensation Standards for Water Sources under the Background of National Water Network Construction

Focusing on the innovation of the ecological compensation mechanism for the national water network project, this paper systematically identifies the multiple stakeholders in the water source areas and along the water transmission routes, with the ecological protection costs, benefits from ecological service value, and demands for rights and interests in regional development deeply analyzed. Meanwhile, a method for determining the ecological compensation standard based on game theory is proposed, which takes the total ecological protection cost of the water source areas as the lower compensation limit and the incremental value of ecological system services in the water source areas as the upper compensation limit. The bargain game model among multiple stakeholders is introduced to determine the final ecological compensation standard value. During the construction period of the project, the focus of the game is concentrated on the dispute over the discount rate of intertemporal cost sharing. During the operation period, the game equilibrium is complicated due to technological substitution and demand fluctuations. Therefore, a dynamic game mechanism is introduced to transform the process of determining the compensation standard into strategic interaction among multiple stakeholders. As a result, this ensures the basic ecological investment while stimulating the positive externality transformation of ecological protection, thereby promoting the Pareto improvement of ecological compensation and providing theoretical support and practical approaches for the sustainable operation of the national water network project. Additionally, it is recommended that an accurate cost accounting system should be established, the market-oriented path to realizing the value of ecological products should be investigated, and the coordinated evolution of water resource protection and regional development should be promoted by the establishment of a dynamic adjustment mechanism for ecological compensation standards.