Gross ecosystem product accounting and realization pathways in a tropical rainforest County of Southwest China

Accounting for Gross Ecosystem Product (GEP) is important for achieving the alignment of conservation and development. However, the application of GEP in tropical rainforests is severely constrained by various methodological issues such as inadequate valuation of species conservation and cross-border services. This research aims to overcome these issues by conducting the first systematic GEP assessment in Mengla County—a tropical rainforest region of Southwest China and the core zone of the Indo-Burma biodiversity hotspot. Through the application of a new “stock-flow” accounting set up for 2022, we devised simultaneous ecological asset stock and ecosystem service flow accounts. Methodological advances include a species conservation valuation with cross-border protection costs, a dynamic linking stock changes to service flows and calibrated regional market prices. The findings show that the total inherent ecological asset stock was CNY 4,327.64 billion($643.04B), while the annual GEP was CNY 126.92 billion༈$18.86B༉, with a GEP to GDP ratio of 8.31. In addition, the conservation value of the species amounts to CNY 700.82 billion༈$104.13B༉.The remaining GEP (92.08%) was mainly due to Regulating Services, indicating the area’s strong capacity to regulate climate and water. This study measures the incredible ecological capital of tropical rainforests and develops a repeatable methodological framework that avoids essential constraints of existing accounting systems. It further proposes practical pathways such as digital eco-product trading platforms and cross-border ecotourism collaboration to convert ecological value into tangible economic benefits. This work sets a scientific paradigm for the realization of ecological product value in global tropical margins to support biodiversity conservation and sustainable development goals.