There is a salary to protect the habitat of endangered species such as Shihu. Covers 2,000 hectares and can be paid without herbicide bait

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The government will pay "ecological salaries" for farmers to conserve endangered species and farmland as habitats. The Forestry Bureau today (22) announced two ecological service payment promotion schemes for "endangered species" and "important habitats". They can receive 80,000 to 30,000 yuan per hectare of farmland for four endangered species, namely, stone tiger, grass owl, otter and pheasant. The maximum reward for community patrol and monitoring is 110000 yuan. Important habitats include paddy fields, water terraces, land fish ponds and private security forests, with payments ranging from 30,000 to 70,000 per hectare.

The first phase of the program will last for three years and will be officially launched on January 1 next year. Chen Jizhong, chairman of the Council of Agriculture, said that it is expected to cover 2,000 hectares next year, with an annual budget of 200 million yuan, which is currently under review by the Legislative Yuan, and will decide whether to expand it according to the results in the future.

Chen Jizhong (Photo / Lin Yijun), chairman of the Council of Agriculture, is rich in species in shallow mountains and plains, and the government pays farmers to protect living things.

Lin Huaqing, director of forestry, explained that the shallow mountains and plains in China are not in the protected areas, but 64% of plant species and 55% of conservation animals live in them. These areas are also the areas most vulnerable to development pressure and customary agricultural farming methods, and the payment of ecological services is a key to enable farmers to take care of their lives and maintain biodiversity.

"this is the conversion of ecological behavior into money. Farmers are land managers and the government pays them." Lin Huaqing said that the land subsidy system in the payment of ecological services has been in practice in many European countries for many years. Since 2011, the Forestry Bureau has started a pilot program for Gongliao water terraces. In recent years, it has introduced subsidies for ecological maintenance services of water pheasants and stone tigers one after another. Last year, a pilot program was conducted in Miaoli for Shihu. After a year of review, it will be officially on the road in 2021.

Chen Jizhong, chairman of the Council of Agriculture, said that agriculture is by no means the only function of production. in the case of rice, the output value of 280000 hectares of paddy fields is about 40 billion yuan, but the ecological value of water conservation and as a biological habitat is more than 200 billion yuan.