IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jlands/v11y2022i11p2076-d976800.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Stakeholders’ Perceptions towards Land Restoration and Its Impacts on Ecosystem Services: A Case Study in the Chinese Loess Plateau

Author

Listed:
  • Hao Chen

    (Institute of Soil and Water Conservation, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, Xianyang 712100, China
    Soil Physics and Land Management Group, Wageningen University, 6700 AA Wageningen, The Netherlands
    Institute of Soil and Water Conservation, Chinese Academy of Sciences & Ministry of Water Resources, Yangling, Xianyang 712100, China)

  • Luuk Fleskens

    (Soil Physics and Land Management Group, Wageningen University, 6700 AA Wageningen, The Netherlands)

  • Simon W. Moolenaar

    (Commonland Foundation, Kraanspoor 26, 1033 SE Amsterdam, The Netherlands)

  • Coen J. Ritsema

    (Soil Physics and Land Management Group, Wageningen University, 6700 AA Wageningen, The Netherlands)

  • Fei Wang

    (Institute of Soil and Water Conservation, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, Xianyang 712100, China
    Institute of Soil and Water Conservation, Chinese Academy of Sciences & Ministry of Water Resources, Yangling, Xianyang 712100, China)

Abstract

To combat land degradation and deterioration issues, the Grain to Green project (GGP) was implemented on the Chinese Loess Plateau in 1999 and substantially altered the land cover by converting slope farmland into forest and grassland. To effectively achieve sustainable land restoration management and avoid stakeholder conflicts, this study aimed to understand how local stakeholders perceived the current land restoration process and expectations for future land restoration policy, as well as how stakeholders assessed the GGP impacts on local ecosystem service changes. We investigated the perspectives of 150 stakeholders representing five stakeholder groups including farmers, governmental officers, citizens, tourism operators and forestry practitioners using questionnaires administered in 2021 in the Yan’an area of the Chinese Loess Plateau. The survey results indicated a 72% support rate of stakeholders for the current GGP, with government officers reporting the highest value and tourism practitioners reporting the lowest. The support rate for future land restoration decreased to 51%. While majority of the stakeholders considered that the GGP had stimulated regulation and cultural ecosystem services, they also perceived negative impacts on grain production, livestock production, water yield and water quantity. Factors influencing farmers’ decision-making on recultivating the restored forest in the future were found to be economically driven. We recommend policy makers to improve the compensation standards and duration for farmers and increase the diversity of restoration tree species, and the involvement of participatory processes is suggested for future land restoration policy-making.

Suggested Citation

  • Hao Chen & Luuk Fleskens & Simon W. Moolenaar & Coen J. Ritsema & Fei Wang, 2022. "Stakeholders’ Perceptions towards Land Restoration and Its Impacts on Ecosystem Services: A Case Study in the Chinese Loess Plateau," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(11), pages 1-18, November.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jlands:v:11:y:2022:i:11:p:2076-:d:976800
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/11/11/2076/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/11/11/2076/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Emi Uchida & Jintao Xu & Scott Rozelle, 2005. "Grain for Green: Cost-Effectiveness and Sustainability of China’s Conservation Set-Aside Program," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 81(2).
    2. Xu, Zhigang & Xu, Jintao & Deng, Xiangzheng & Huang, Jikun & Uchida, Emi & Rozelle, Scott, 2006. "Grain for Green versus Grain: Conflict between Food Security and Conservation Set-Aside in China," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 34(1), pages 130-148, January.
    3. Emi Uchida & Scott Rozelle & Jintao Xu, 2009. "Conservation Payments, Liquidity Constraints, and Off-Farm Labor: Impact of the Grain-for-Green Program on Rural Households in China," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 91(1), pages 70-86.
    4. Xu, Xin & Zhang, Daojun & Zhang, Yu & Yao, Shunbo & Zhang, Jinting, 2020. "Evaluating the vegetation restoration potential achievement of ecological projects: A case study of Yan’an, China," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    5. Brett A. Bryan & Lei Gao & Yanqiong Ye & Xiufeng Sun & Jeffery D. Connor & Neville D. Crossman & Mark Stafford-Smith & Jianguo Wu & Chunyang He & Deyong Yu & Zhifeng Liu & Ang Li & Qingxu Huang & Hai , 2018. "China’s response to a national land-system sustainability emergency," Nature, Nature, vol. 559(7713), pages 193-204, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. repec:gat:wpaper:1509 is not listed on IDEAS
    2. Jennifer M. Alix-Garcia & Elizabeth N. Shapiro & Katharine R. E. Sims, 2012. "Forest Conservation and Slippage: Evidence from Mexico’s National Payments for Ecosystem Services Program," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 88(4), pages 613-638.
    3. Démurger, Sylvie & Pelletier, Adeline, 2015. "Volunteer and satisfied? Rural households' participation in a payments for environmental services programme in Inner Mongolia," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 116(C), pages 25-33.
    4. Lunyu Xie & Bohan Zeng & Li Jiang & Jintao Xu, 2018. "Conservation Payments, Off-Farm Labor, and Ethnic Minorities: Participation and Impact of the Grain for Green Program in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(4), pages 1-18, April.
    5. Qu, Futian & Kuyvenhoven, Arie & Shi, Xiaoping & Heerink, Nico, 2011. "Sustainable natural resource use in rural China: Recent trends and policies," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 22(4), pages 444-460.
    6. Yan, Youpei, 2017. "Unintended Land Use Effects of Afforestation in China," 2017 Annual Meeting, July 30-August 1, Chicago, Illinois 258280, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    7. Alix-Garcia, Jennifer & Wolff, Hendrik, 2014. "Payment for Ecosystem Services from Forests," IZA Discussion Papers 8179, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    8. Shuning Chen & Masaru Kagatsume, 2018. "Impacts of environmental conservation programs on regional economic structural change in Guizhou, China, from 2002 to 2012: an input–output analysis," Journal of Economic Structures, Springer;Pan-Pacific Association of Input-Output Studies (PAPAIOS), vol. 7(1), pages 1-18, December.
    9. Liu, Yue & Yao, Shunbo & Lin, Ying, 2018. "Effect of Key Priority Forestry Programs on off-farm employment: Evidence from Chinese rural households," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 24-37.
    10. Yibin, Wang & Fei, Li & Jian, Wang & Hongyu, Cao & Mengfei, Li, 2024. "The social-ecological benefits of grain for green program based on coupled coordination network: Taking the China’s Loess Plateau as an example," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 143(C).
    11. Sylvie Démurger & Haiyuan Wan, 2012. "Payments for ecological restoration and internal migration in China: the sloping land conversion program in Ningxia," IZA Journal of Migration and Development, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 1(1), pages 1-22, December.
    12. Han, Bo & Jin, Xiaobin & Sun, Rui & Li, Hanbing & Liang, Xinyuan & Zhou, Yinkang, 2023. "Understanding land-use sustainability with a systematical framework: An evaluation case of China," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 132(C).
    13. Yin, Runsheng & Zhao, Minjuan, 2012. "Ecological restoration programs and payments for ecosystem services as integrated biophysical and socioeconomic processes—China's experience as an example," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 56-65.
    14. Giefer, Madeline M. & An, Li & Chen, Xiaodong, 2021. "Normative, livelihood, and demographic influences on enrollment in a payment for ecosystem services program," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 108(C).
    15. Jing You, 2014. "Dietary change, nutrient transition and food security in fast-growing China," Chapters, in: Raghbendra Jha & Raghav Gaiha & Anil B. Deolalikar (ed.), Handbook on Food, chapter 9, pages 204-245, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    16. Sylvie Démurger, 2011. "Payments for ecological restoration and rural labor migration in China: The Sloping Land Conversion Program in Ningxia," Post-Print halshs-00673808, HAL.
    17. Bennett, Michael T. & Mehta, Aashish & Xu, Jintao, 2011. "Incomplete property rights, exposure to markets and the provision of environmental services in China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 22(4), pages 485-498.
    18. Arsel, M. & Dasgupta, A., 2010. "Structural change, land use and the state in China," ISS Working Papers - General Series 21528, International Institute of Social Studies of Erasmus University Rotterdam (ISS), The Hague.
    19. Liu, Zhen & Li, Qiuming & Lan, Jing & Abu Hatab, Assem, 2020. "Does participation in the sloping land conversion program reduce the sensitivity of Chinese farmers to climate change?," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 99(C).
    20. Kelly, Peter & Huo, Xuexi, 2013. "Do farmers or governments make better land conservation choices? Evidence from China's Sloping Land Conversion Program," Journal of Forest Economics, Elsevier, vol. 19(1), pages 32-60.
    21. Liu, Jingming & Chen, Haibin & Hou, Xianhui & Zhang, Daojun & Zhang, Hui, 2021. "Time to adopt a context-specific and market-based compensation scheme for a new round of the Grain for Green Program," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 108(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jlands:v:11:y:2022:i:11:p:2076-:d:976800. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.