Photo by Wenjie Zhu (2025)
As urbanization and resource consumption intensify, the imbalance between the supply and demand of ecosystem services (ES) is becoming increasingly pronounced. ES are vital links between natural systems and human well-being, and are essential for supporting sustainable regional development. However, the spatial distribution of ES supply often does not align with areas of high demand, which poses significant challenges for resource allocation, ecological governance and policy coordination.
Traditional research has largely focused on the static spatial distribution of ES supply and demand. Although this is informative, this overlooks the dynamic processes by which services are transferred from the ecosystems that generate them to the human communities that rely on them. In this context, the concept of ecosystem service flows has received increasing attention. Ecosystem service flows describe the spatial connections between areas that provide services and areas that benefit from them, offering a more comprehensive understanding of how ecological value is produced, transmitted and realized across space. Such an understanding is essential for the design of effective ecological compensation strategies. By identifying the origins and destinations of these flows, flow-based analysis can inform the development of fair and targeted compensation mechanisms that are based on actual ecological interactions. Rather than relying solely on administrative boundaries or land area, compensation schemes can reflect the real ecological contributions and dependencies between regions.
Urban agglomerations, as concentrated zones of ES consumption, are critical for implementing differentiated ecological compensation. Cities within these regions act as suppliers, beneficiaries, or intermediaries in ES flows. Clarifying these roles is key to balancing ecological responsibility and development needs. In our lab, we adopt a flow-based analytical framework to reveal the spatial dynamics of ES generation and transfer, providing scientific support for designing equitable compensation strategies and promoting coordinated regional sustainability.