The impact of globalisation on land use and payments for watershed services in China

This paper reviews the potential impacts on payments for environmental services in China of current globalisation processes. Particular attention is given to China’s membership of the World Trade Organization, and its involvement in major multilateral environmental agreements, specifically
the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Kyoto Protocol, the Convention on Biological Diversity, the UN Convention to Combat Desertification, and the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands. This paper addresses two main issues:
1. Will multilateral agreements on trade and the environment promote more active transactions involving payments for forest watershed environmental services in China?
2. Will these multilateral agreements promote a clearer definition of property rights over forest land and forest-derived watershed environmental services?