Causes of Environmental Pollution in China’s Yangtze River Basin and Corresponding Ecological Compensation Measures

Construction of numerous water conservancy and hydropower engineering and migration projects, increased regional population, and accelerated urbanization have seriously polluted the ecological environment of the Yangtze River Basin and upset coordinated development economy, society, and ecological environments. This study comprehensively analyses the ecological environment status of the Yangtze River Basin, explores causes of the regional environmental pollution, and provides countermeasures to improve the regional ecological environment through ecological compensation. Results suggest that construction of a large number of water conservancy projects, large-scale project-caused migration, extensive economic growth mode, and adoption of imbalanced development policies are the most important causes of environmental pollution in China's Yangtze River Basin. The ecological environment of the Yangtze River Basin can be improved in the following aspects: improving the government's transfer payment from the exchequer system and expanding the ecological compensation fund-raising channels; improving the environmental resource ownership system and actively developing the emission trading market; improving the legal system and strengthening government supervision; and vigorously developing environmentally-friendly industries and techniques, and sharpening the public's awareness of ecological compensation. All these findings can provide referential experiences for promoting coordinated ecological and economic development, and improving the ecological compensation mechanism in the Yangtze River Basin.