A Review of Ecological Assets and Ecological Products Supply: Implications for the Karst Rocky Desertification Control

Abstract

Ecological assets refer to natural resource assets that can provide ecological products and services for human beings. Researching ecological assets and the supply of ecological products contributes to the sustainable development of natural–social–economic complex systems. This study conducts a literature search and statistical analysis based on the Web of Science, CNKI and Foreign Journal Resource Service System of Guizhou Normal University Library literature databases. We review 117 publications on the studies of ecological assets and ecological products supply. Based on summarizing the landmark results, the key scientific issues that need to be solved are proposed, and their implications for karst rocky desertification control are discussed. The results show that: (1) the number of publications each year from 2001 to 2020 shows a fluctuating growth trend. (2) The research concentrates on four dimensions: theoretical, evaluation, mechanism, and strategies research. Among them, evaluation research is the focus and hotspot of the research. (3) It is necessary to expand the research on the definition and distinction of ecological assets, services and products; the evaluation system of ecological products; the supply mechanism of ecological products from the perspective of resource endowment and the research of ecosystem coherence at different scales. (4) The karst rocky desertification control should focus on ecological assets’ management to promote the supply capacity of ecological products, pay attention to the quality assessment of ecological assets, explore the influencing mechanism of ecological assets and its optimization and promotion paths and strengthen the research on village ecosystems under karst rocky desertification control.