Mechanisms and Typical Models for the Value Realization of Ecological Products in Mega-Cities: A Case Study of Beijing’ s Ecological Conservation Zone

As a new type of urban community, megacities serve as crucial carriers for implementing the policy of “expanding channels for realizing the value of ecological products in light of local conditions” . The present paper established an inter-embedded analytical framework of “urban socio-economic system and ecosystem” to interpret the inherent logic and primary mechanisms underlying the value realization of ecological products in megacities. Taking Beijing’ s ecological conservation areas as a case study, it summarized typical models formed by the integration of various mechanisms with local resources. The study argued that the value realization of ecological products in megacities needed to address the issues of supply-demand mismatch, functional complementarity and value increment arising from the inter-embedding of socio-economic systems and ecosystems. Ecological compensation, ecological property rights trading, ecological industrialization, and ecological financialization constituted the four major mechanisms for realizing the value of ecological products in megacities. Furthermore, the innovative practices in Beijing’ s ecological conservation areas demonstrated that megacities possessed scale, resource, and policy advantages in realizing the value of ecological products. It’ s experiences in quantifying ecological service values, clarifying property rights, empowering industries, and innovating financial instruments provided a reference for other megacities to promote the value realization of ecological products.