Current Status of Evaluations on Ecological Benefits of Urban Forest: Surveying on Urban Forestry Administrative Authorities

Scientific evaluation on ecological benefit of urban forest is the foundation of effective management of urban forest. This paper chooses urban forest management agencies as respondents, and uses the method of mailed-in questionnaires. The investigation includes urban forest coverage rate, most- concerned indexes of ecological benefits of urban forest, and progress of ecological benefits evaluation. Feedbacks from 95 cities are analyzed together with other collected statistical data to identify main factors that affecting the implementation of evaluation. The results show that evaluations on ecological benefits of urban forest in China are still at a beginning stage. The indexes including good climatic and geographical conditions, abundant natural tourism resources, and government participation in the election of environmental rewards have significant influences on the evaluation. While the socio-economic condition has less effects. Meanwhile, there is a high consistency on the concern of ecological benefits of urban forest between urban forestry administrative authorities and researchers. Recommendations are given to deal with the identified problems, and to improve the assessment of ecological benefits of urban forest.