Abstract: It is well-known that forest provides public or quasi-public ecological services, which are often difficult to reflect its intrinsic economical value through market mechanism. It is necessary to develop and implement compensation systems to forest ecological services for sustainable management of forest ecosystems in the benefits for environment, economy and society. Previous efforts have been attempted to focus on one or some aspects of ecological compensation, but few attentions have been paid to the internal interconnections and interactions among the various factors of compensation mechanism. In this paper, recent research progresses of compensation to forest ecological services were reviewed. Key concepts and theoretical basis on ecological services were provided and the key elements dealing with ecosystem service function value, and modes, forms, standards and efficiency of compensation were analyzed. We thought that risk factors including wildfire, plant diseases and insect pests, and illegal logging should be taken into account when valuing forest’s services. It was proposed that designing the compensation pattern should combine with public goods attribute of the ecosystem services. Eco-compensation standard of forest at small scale and incentive compatibility mechanism of eco-compensation should be explored. The directions of research on eco-compensation of forest in the future were also suggested. This review would provide better understanding of ecosystem service function value and also a theoretical basis for compensation mechanism of forest ecological services.

Key words: Elaeagnus mollis, climate change., Maxent, suitable distribution