The natural resource assessment is the basis of the assessment of the ecological civilization construction and the ecological compensation and performance. The Three-River Headwater Area of China is chosen as an example to define clearly the concepts and to quantify the methods for measuring the economic value of the products in the ecosystem. The classification and its connotation of the products in the ecosystem are analyzed. The accounting methods for the assessment indicators of the ecosystem products are established based on the point of view of the material production and the economic value. The products of the ecosystem are evaluated by using the methods of the market price and the alternative cost. It is shown that the total value of ecosystem products for the Three-River Headwaters Area is 198.643 billion RMB in 2012, which is 8.27 times of the GDP, and the per ha value of the ecosystem products provided by the natural ecosystems is 5093 RMB. The economic value of the agricultural products in the Three-River Headwaters Area is 32.75 billion RMB in 2012. The value of the clean water is 109.856 billion RMB. The value of the fresh air is 56.037 billion RMB. The ecosystem products play an important role in the natural resource assets for the Three-River Headwaters Area and its economic value far exceeds the value of the economic production. It is important to the establishment of the evaluation mechanism for the ecological protection and the outgoing audit system of the natural resource assets to include the value of the ecosystem products in the system of the national economic accounting and to build up a new performance evaluation mechanism based on ecosystem product accounting.

ecosystem goods  /  fresh air  /  clean water  /  value  /  the Three-River Headwaters Area