College of Geology and Environment, Xi'an University of Science and Technology, Xi'an 710054, China.
College of Geology and Environment, Xi'an University of Science and Technology, Xi'an 710054, China.
Sci Total Environ. 2020 Jun 1;719:137436. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.137436. Epub 2020 Feb 20.
Several studies reported that conservation programs worldwide have profoundly reshaped participants' livelihoods and influenced other socio-economic processes. A fully understanding of how such conservation programs influence human lives is, therefore, crucial for their success. There, however, is little robust evidence of the effect of China's grain-for-green program (GGP), the largest conservation program in the world, on participants' livelihoods. That is, we do not know whether the program fulfills its goal of, at the very least, doing no harm to the lives of participants while simultaneously enhancing their environmental perception. To help fill this gap, we used a sustainable livelihood approach and structural equation modeling, based on household survey data from China's northern Shaanxi province, to compare the livelihood components of participants and non-participants in the GGP. We then characterized the interactions and pathways between their livelihood components and environmental perception. We found that the GGP indeed does no harm to participants' lives. Although participants suffer from a small reduction in natural capital due to a sharp decrease in their landholdings, they have much more off-farm income, subsidies, and financial and social assets than non-participants. Respondents commonly held positive attitudes toward the program's environmental benefits, but they had weak perceptions of the social and direct economic benefits of the GGP. Respondents' environmental perceptions of the GGP were significantly influenced by the number of available laborers, their education and health levels, off-farm income, subsidies, and the accessibility of transportation. Therefore, further resources should be dedicated to improving education as well as rural health care and infrastructure in order to create more off-farm job opportunities for GGP participants. In addition, decision makers should carefully redesign supporting policies, such as payments for ecosystem services, to help poor participants rebuild their livelihoods.
一些研究报告称，全球的保护计划深刻地改变了参与者的生计，并影响了其他社会经济进程。因此，全面了解这些保护计划如何影响人类生活对于它们的成功至关重要。然而，关于中国世界上最大的保护计划——退耕还林还草计划（GGP）对参与者生计的影响，几乎没有强有力的证据。也就是说，我们不知道该计划是否至少实现了不损害参与者生活，同时增强他们的环境意识的目标。为了帮助填补这一空白，我们使用可持续生计方法和结构方程模型，基于中国陕北的家庭调查数据，比较了 GGP 参与者和非参与者的生计组成部分。然后，我们描述了它们的生计组成部分和环境感知之间的相互作用和途径。我们发现 GGP 确实没有损害参与者的生活。尽管由于耕地锐减，参与者的自然资本减少，但他们的非农收入、补贴、金融和社会资产远远超过非参与者。受访者普遍对该计划的环境效益持积极态度，但对 GGP 的社会和直接经济效益的认识较弱。受访者对 GGP 的环境感知受到可用劳动力数量、教育和健康水平、非农收入、补贴以及交通便利性的显著影响。因此，应进一步投入资源，改善教育以及农村医疗保健和基础设施，为 GGP 参与者创造更多的非农就业机会。此外，决策者应仔细重新设计支持政策，如生态系统服务支付，以帮助贫困参与者重建生计。
