Assessing Grassland Degradation through Habitat Equivalency Analysis
生态等值分析法在草地资源损坏评估中的应用

Habitat equivalency analysis (HEA) has been widely used for assessing land degradation at home and abroad. This paper reviewed the methodology in terms of conceptual framework, components of the method and summarized the factors affecting the method application. A case study was conducted to test the methodology. In the case study, data in terms of start period of grassland restoration, duration for grassland restoration and maximum level of the grassland restoration was tested through the application of the method. The discussions on the method use in operational, technical and economic aspects were conducted to determine its potential application in China. It is concluded that the method cannot be used to accurately assess the grassland degradation in a number of cases in China because of the great disparities in terms of technical condition, ownership and economic background between China and other countries. A series of further studies on the method use is imperative with the deepening of ecological compensation research.