The evaluation of the ecological value in Guizhou Province was performed earlier than most of the other provinces, which provided a good working basis and experience. In 2014, the Asian Development Bank provided funding for studies on the establishment of a scientific and feasible evaluation system for the ecological compensation performance and the local government’s achievements in ecological protection by selecting different provincial, municipal and county levels in Qinghai, Guizhou and Yunnan. This effort established an index system and technical method for calculating the total value of ecological products and ecological assets according to ecological compensation. Thus, it provided a scientific basis and technical support for the validity of ecological compensation performance appraisal, government performance appraisal for the key ecological function regions, and the implementation of ecological compensation policies. In addition, China’s practice and experience in evaluating ecological compensation policies by calculating the total value of ecological products and ecological assets was shared with the international community (Song, 2020). For evaluating the values of different types of SONRAs, the evaluation of the forest resource asset value has been conducted in Guizhou Province, which involved the aspects of both economic value and ecosystem service value.

In April 2017, Guizhou Province issued the Implementation Plan for the Pilot Program on Unified Ownership Confirmation and Registration of Natural Resources, indicating that the pilot work on the unified ownership confirmation and registration of natural resources in Guizhou had entered the implementation phase. Ten counties (cities or districts) in Guizhou Province, including Chishui, Suiyang, and Zhongshan, were selected for the pilot work on the unified ownership confirmation and registration of natural resources. In this program, four main activities were performed: technical investigation specifications were formulated; methods for delimiting the boundaries of natural resources were explored; the unified system for ownership confirmation and registration of natural resources was established; and the real situations of natural resources in 10 pilot counties were assessed, thus laying a solid foundation for establishing a sound property rights system for SONRAs and strengthening the protection and supervision of natural resources.

Among all the provinces of China, Guizhou Province has taken the lead in the exploration and compilation of balance sheets of its natural resources. After the reform task of “exploring and compiling balance sheets for natural resources” was proposed, Guizhou Province began to study, explore and compile the balance sheets. In 2014, Chishui City and Libo County were selected to be the leaders in implementing pilot projects at the county level in China. The physical scale of the project focused on the natural resources in Chishui City and Libo County, and it considered the ecological characteristics of Guizhou. After it was completed, the Regulations on the Promotion of Ecological Civilization Construction in Guizhou Province was issued, and Guizhou became the leader in auditing the responsibility for natural resource assets nationwide, which clarified the task of compiling balance sheets and noting that the work of compiling balance sheets had gone into the legalization phase. In 2015, Chishui City was designated as one of the five pilot areas for compiling the balance sheets of natural resources, and it was the only pilot site at the county level in China. Through the pilot research, valuable opinions and suggestions were proposed for modifying and improving the statistical survey system and the program for compiling natural resources, and they were later accepted and adopted by the relevant ministries and commissions in China. The System for Compiling Balance Sheets of Natural Resources in Guizhou Province (Trial) was released at the Annual Meeting of the Guiyang International Forum in 2018. It focused on the systematic arrangement of index setting, technological path, and work requirements for compiling the balance sheets on land resources, forest resources, and water resources in various states and cities. Accordingly, it provided system specifications and exploration guidance for compiling the balance sheets of natural resources in the province (International Communication Office of CPC in Guizhou Province, 2021).

The inventory work on the SONRAs is an important basis for promoting the ecological civilization construction in Guizhou. In June 2020, the Guizhou Provincial Department of Natural Resources issued the Program for Pilot Inventory Work of Natural Resources Assets with State Ownership in Guizhou and Technical Guide for the Inventory Work of SONRAs in Guizhou (Trial), which officially launched a pilot inventory effort on SONRAs in Guizhou. Based on a detailed investigation, the Zhongshan District of Liupanshui City, the Guizhou Baili Rhododendron National Forest Park and the Sinan Wujiang Karst National Geopark were selected as pilot areas for the inventory work. The inventory tasks included five aspects: 1) Establishing inventory regulations and technical guides for SONRAs; 2) Exploring and establishing a price standard system for the inventory of natural resource assets; 3) Collecting and supplementing data on the SONRAs; 4) Performing economic value assessments, and the analysis and application of results; and 5) Establishing inventory databases for the natural resource assets (Feng, 2020).

In April 2019, Guizhou was selected as one of the pilot sites for exploring and conducting the principal-agent institution for the ownership of SONRAs in China. In November 2019, Guizhou Province officially issued the Guizhou Joint Conference System for Coordinating and Promoting the Property Rights System Reform of Natural Resource Assets, which was combined with the actual detailed reform measures taken by Guizhou and was able to clarify the division of departmental responsibilities, which strengthened the overall promotion of reform that exhibited distinctive Guizhou characteristics. In 2020, Guizhou further promoted the principal-agent work for the ownership of SONRAs, and a pilot survey on the principal-agent institution was conducted successively in Liupanshui City, Tongren City, Zhongshan District, Sinan County, Suiyang County, Chishui City, and Puding County. Based on that effort, various laws and regulations on SONRAs have been sorted out and analyzed. In addition, the Implementation Plan Regarding Pilot Site of Principal-Agent Institution for Ownership of Natural Resources with State Ownership in Guizhou and Special Research on Market Allocation of SONRAs in Guizhou were compiled, providing directions for conducting the principal-agent pilot work comprehensively.

Although various surveys of natural resources were carried out in Guizhou Province over the years in order to obtain a solid foundation for asset inventory and clearly account for all SONRAs, there are still some gaps between the investigations and evaluation results, and the requirements for unified owner’s responsibilities in the SONRAs. First, investigation times for different types of natural resources are not unified, which is not suitable for comparative analysis. Second, the value attributes of resource assets are incomplete. Existing surveys of natural resources are mainly focused on the physical attributes (e.g., quantity, quality, use and distribution) and lack the value attributes (e.g., price, income and rights to use natural resource assets), which makes it difficult to fully understand the status of the natural resource assets (Jin, 2020). Third, it is difficult to comprehensively understand the conditions of the SONRAs due to a variety of factors, such as imperfections in the use and management system of natural resource assets, the insufficient market development of some resource assets, the unsound price system, the inconsistent price connotations, the incomplete spatial distribution, and the lack of a value verification institution.

The property rights system for SONRAs in Guizhou Province is relatively sound, yet it has problems and shortcomings in law, institution, management, etc., which is similar to the situations in other provinces in China. Clear legal provisions on the principal representatives for property rights of the SONRAs are lacking in China. The ownership boundaries of natural resources are not clear, as there are unclear boundaries between state ownership and collective ownership, as well as between state ownership exercised directly by the central government and that exercised by the local government acting as an agency. As a result, the property rights subjects of state-owned natural resources are ignored (Gu and Li, 2015; Ma et al., 2019). The management subjects of state-owned natural resources are indefinite, which can lead to overlapping functions of the natural resource management subjects. A situation can occur in which multiple departments manage the same resource, but their responsibilities are not clearly divided and appropriate management is lacking. For natural resources that are directly managed by the state or entrusted to governments at all levels in Guizhou Province, the management system is not perfect, and the boundary of ownership management and supervision rights are unclear due to the lack of clear management subjects (Xie and Shu, 2017). Additionally, the imperfections in the property right systems for SONRAs are reflected in the following three aspects: 1) The standards for the classification of natural resources are not unified and the statistical data are not consistent; 2) The various ecological red lines are not synchronously demarcated; and 3) The boundaries of various natural resource assets are vague. For example, the standards for the identification of forests and grasslands are inconsistent, and due to departmental interests, the phenomenon of “multiple certificates for one place” creates problems in ownership confirmation and registration.

The current structure used for the revenues from SONRAs in Guizhou Province is unreasonable, and it cannot fully reflect the ownership. First, there is a vacancy in the revenue setting and the owner’s equity is not fully reflected. Currently, with regard to the categories set for revenue from natural resource assets, other than the revenue from land transfer and other categories of ownership revenue stipulated by laws, regulations and administrative regulations, there is still a situation in which ownership revenue should be charged although no revenue items are actually set. Second, the current conditions of SONRAs are ambiguous, which makes it difficult to accurately evaluate the costs of performing the duties of the owners. At present, all types of natural resource management departments have established appropriate statistical systems for the revenue from SONRAs, with complete revenue data. However, the collection and management departments are not aligned with the user departments, and no comprehensive statistics on the corresponding cost, expenditure scale, structure, or direction have been performed, so the data are scattered in different departments with inconsistent calibers. As a result, the actual condition of revenue from the SONRAs remains unclear.

First of all, the inventory system and technical methods should be established. Based on the pilot inventory work related to SONRAs, the establishment of an inventory and statistics system should be accelerated and the ways to establish a sound pricing system for the inventory of SONRAs should be explored. The purpose, content, objects, requirements, organizational management and other key aspects of the asset inventory should be clarified. Furthermore, systems covering project, technical and quality management, as well as the achievement of data management, should be formulated for the state-owned inventory of natural resource assets. Technical methods should be developed and technical specifications should be formulated for the integration of information on physical attributes, assessment of economic value, achievement of quality verification, database construction, production of an achievement atlas, etc., and a relatively perfect technical specification system for asset inventory should be established. An inventory system with relatively complete institutions should be gradually established by forming a systematic and scientific inventory technique and method. The system and methods will be verified and improved through the actual inventory work.

Second, the special program of inventory work should be comprehensively presented. Based on the inventory results of Third National Land Survey and unified technical standards for the extraction of physical quantities, information on the physical attributes of five natural resources (including land, mineral, forest, grassland and wetland) can be generated through superposition. The price system for the asset inventory in Guizhou Province should be established by using the existing prices of various natural resources to evaluate the economic value of the SONRAs. Finally, the preliminary inventory of five types of natural resource assets should be completed and the actual conditions of the SONRAs should be obtained, such as their quantity, quality, price, distribution, usage, rights of use and earnings. An inventory of water resource assets can be created at the right time, when the technology and methods are relatively mature. Based on the completed pilot inventory work of SONRAs, technical routes and methods should be verified and optimized, the organizational mode and coordination institution should be established and improved, and the inventory work on SONRAs in the county-level units and provincial natural protected areas in Guizhou should be completed.

A unified technical system for the accounting of the economic values of SONRAs should be established. Research should be underway to compile the Technical Standards for the Accounting of State-Owned Natural Resource Assets in Guizhou. Based on the pilot project for the accounting of state-owned land resources assets, the accounting methods for land assets should be further optimized. The verification methods and application approaches of the accounting results should be explored, forming the Technical Regulations on the Accounting of SONRAs in Guizhou, after further modification and improvement. In-depth accounting work should also be performed on other categories of state-owned natural resources, in addition to land resources, and corresponding research should be performed related to the accounting standards and technical regulations. Provincial pilot projects should be selected and used to conduct accounting of the main types of natural resource assets. The technical specifications for the accounting of SONRAs in Guizhou should be explored and established. Furthermore, the accounting of natural resource assets in the prefecture-level cities in the province should be carried out gradually within the technical specification framework.

The technical system for ecological value accounting of state-owned natural resources should be established. Regarding the ecological values of different categories of state-owned natural resources, it would be ideal to establish different categories of ecological value assessment standards, conduct ecological value accounting of different natural resources and guide the effective utilization and classified management of state-owned natural resources. Combined with the balance sheets of natural resource assets, off-office audits, compensation for environmental damage, ecological compensation and other requirements for ecological civilization system construction, the index systems for the value accounting of different ecological products should be established. Moreover, the Technical Specifications/Standards for the Accounting of State-Owned Natural Resource Assets in Guizhou should be explored and compiled, and the ecological value accounting should be incorporated into the national economic and accounting system. A relatively perfect technical specification for ecological value accounting should be formed. Guided by the technical specifications, the ecological value accounting will be gradually conducted for the gross ecosystem product, as well as for different ecosystem types, and different areas of ecological function (e.g., red line of ecological protection, natural protection area, key ecological function areas, etc.) of the prefecture-level cities in Guizhou. Furthermore, research should be done to incorporate ecological value accounting into the national economic and accounting system, thus building a “fourth industry” with ecological products at the core.

An effective system for value realization of the ecological products should be established. Provincial experience should be deeply summarized in order to promote the continuous transformation of ecological advantages into economic advantages. The paths for the value realization of ecological products, such as ecological market, ecological industry and ecological extension, should be explored. On this basis, the decision makers should establish the paths and policy systems for the value realization of ecological products with Guizhou characteristics, and develop a mode that can be replicated and promoted.

At the early stage of China’s 14th Five-Year Plan, pilot work should be performed regarding the principal-agent institution for ownership of SONRAs, including land, minerals, forests, wetlands (other than those within the scope of waters), grasslands, water, and other resource assets. The resource list, management system and income distribution system for entrusting agents to exercise ownership should be clarified. During the period of China’s 14th Five-Year Plan, an ownership principal-agent institution of “unified exercise, classified delegation, hierarchical agency, reciprocity of power and responsibility” should be established; property rights subjects should be comprehensively implemented; management responsibilities should be clarified; the actual conditions of assets should be determined; resource protection should be made more powerful; asset allocation should be made more efficient; income distribution and expenditure structure will be more reasonable; evaluation standards should be initially established; and the owner's equity should be effectively maintained. In addition, a repeatable and extendable summary of pilot results will be collated in order to accumulate the practical experience for the comprehensive implementation of uniformly exercising the responsibilities of owners and promoting the revision and improvement of relevant laws and regulations.

At the late stage of the China’s 14th Five-Year Plan, measures should be initiated to establish and improve the principal-agent institution of ownership and the list of resources. A resource inventory should be compiled based on pilot projects on the principal-agent system for SONRAs, in accordance with authorized laws and regulations and relevant document requirements, combined with the importance of natural resource assets in ecology, economy, military, national defense, diplomacy, etc., as well as the cross- regional characteristics of resource and management efficiency. This would include specific natural resource assets with provincial, municipal (prefecture) level, or county-level government agents that have been authorized by the laws and regulations, as well as a list of resources with the ownership exercised by provincial or municipal (prefecture) level government agents that should be authorized by the Central Government of China. Specific forms and the content of entrustment powers and responsibilities should be determined. In addition, the rights, responsibilities and obligations of the entrusted subjects should be clarified; the entrustment term should be determined; situational adjustments and relevant procedures should be proposed; and the principal-agent relationship should be established by signing a power of attorney, and issuing documents and other forms. Regarding the characteristics of various SONRAs and the prominent problems in ownership management, the mandatory management objectives and work priorities should be further clarified.

The market system of SONRAs should be standardized through marketization. A unified and standardized market system for SONRAs should be improved and perfected, and the compensated use of SONRAs should be promoted to gradually be incorporated into a unified platform for public resource trading (Li et al., 2020). The scope of compensated use could be expanded and a compensated transfer system involving various SONRAs should be established, thus encouraging the competitive transfer of natural resource assets, reducing and standardizing contractual transfer and supporting research of various forms of compensated use, such as assignment, transfer, lease, guarantee, and shareholding. Marketization should be taken as a guide for improving the transfer pricing institution for natural resource assets. The establishment of a pricing institution that reflects the market supply-demand relationship, resource scarcity, environmental damage cost and inter-generational relations should be promoted. At the same time, the phenomenon of gaining excess profits through monopoly or possession should be resolutely curbed in order to better achieve the optimal allocation of natural resource assets and reflect their economic and ecological values. The negative list system for market access of natural resource assets should be comprehensively implemented. The access conditions, ways and procedures for the compensated use of SONRAs should be determined. Various regulations and practices that impede the unified market and fair competition must be removed and abolished, and the information disclosure service system for the compensated use of SONRAs should be established and improved to ensure that the owner's equity is fully and effectively protected.

The revenue management system should be further improved. The income distribution ratio and the expenditure structure of SONRAs at the provincial, municipal, and county levels should be appropriately set and different ways to adjust the income distribution ratio at the central and provincial levels should be explored (Ma et al., 2018; Zhou and Yu, 2020). The rights and interests of governments at the municipal and county levels in the initial distribution of income from natural resource assets should be guaranteed in order to stimulate the enthusiasm of local governments for managing the income from their natural resource assets.

An improved and unified system for the allocation of SONRAs should be developed. Policies should be formulated for the allocation, transfer, leasing, and appraised values of SONRAs. Allocation policies and managing methods for the state-owned land assets should be further improved and implemented. Sets of rules for the market allocation of state-owned construction land should be integrated and extracted to meet the needs and duties of the owner in the new circumstances. Management methods for the allocation, transfer, leasing, and appraised value of state-owned construction land should be formulated. The basic concepts, principles and procedures for the allocation of different types of assets should be gradually unified, and the rights and obligations of owners and users should be clearly stipulated or agreed upon by written decisions on allocation or compensated use contracts, in order to promote the formation of an allocation system in which the rights systems and regulations of various resource assets will be consistent.