Ecological benefit assessment of grassland restoration projectA case study of Maqu and Anxi County in Gansu province

The ecological benefits of grassland restoration project were discussed from the viewpoint of ecosystem service value changes, using Maqu and Anxi County in Gansu province as examples. In Maqu County, food production service values of forbidden and rest grazing project areas of subalpine meadows increased 44.24 yuan/hm2 and 266.84 yuan/hm2, total value increased 610.5 yuan/hm2 and 3 682.4 yuan/hm2, respectively. In swamp meadow, food production service values of the two areas increased 152.85 yuan/hm2 and 63.13 yuan/hm2; total value increased 2 172.0 yuan/hm2 and 897.1 yuan/hm2, respectively. In Anxi County, food production service values in prohibited grazing region in lowland halophytic meadows and desert grassland increased 16.25 yuan/hm2 and 7.75 yuan/hm2, and total values increased by 176.5 yuan/hm2 and 170.5 yuan/hm2, respectively. Therefore, ecological benefits of overall grazing prohibition and rest grazing in Maqu County would be 0.54109 yuan and 3.14109 yuan, respectively; while in Anxi County it will reach 0.49108 yuan.