IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jlands/v11y2022i5p712-d811520.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

How Eco-Efficiency Is the Forestry Ecological Restoration Program? The Case of the Sloping Land Conversion Program in the Loess Plateau, China

Author

Listed:
  • Yuanjie Deng

    (College of Economics and Management, Northwest A&F University, Yangling 712100, China
    Center for Resource Economics and Environment Management, Northwest A&F University, Yangling 712100, China)

  • Wencong Cai

    (College of Economics and Management, Northwest A&F University, Yangling 712100, China)

  • Mengyang Hou

    (School of Economics, Hebei University, Baoding 071000, China
    Research Center of Resources Utilization and Environmental Conservation, Baoding 071000, China)

  • Xiaolong Zhang

    (College of Economics and Management, Northwest A&F University, Yangling 712100, China)

  • Shiyuan Xu

    (College of Economics and Management, Northwest A&F University, Yangling 712100, China)

  • Nan Yao

    (College of Economics and Management, Northwest A&F University, Yangling 712100, China
    Center for Resource Economics and Environment Management, Northwest A&F University, Yangling 712100, China)

  • Yajun Guo

    (College of Economics and Management, Northwest A&F University, Yangling 712100, China
    Center for Resource Economics and Environment Management, Northwest A&F University, Yangling 712100, China)

  • Hua Li

    (College of Economics and Management, Northwest A&F University, Yangling 712100, China
    Center for Resource Economics and Environment Management, Northwest A&F University, Yangling 712100, China)

  • Shunbo Yao

    (College of Economics and Management, Northwest A&F University, Yangling 712100, China
    Center for Resource Economics and Environment Management, Northwest A&F University, Yangling 712100, China)

Abstract

The Forestry Ecological Restoration Program (FERP) aims to restore the world’s degraded forest landscapes to restore biodiversity and mitigate climate change. Scientific evaluation of eco-efficiency of forestry restoration programs (EEoFERPs) is the basis for developing and implementing inclusive and sustainable development policy measures. We take the world’s largest FERP—China’s Sloping Land Conversion Program (SLCP)—as an example. Using 314 county-level panel data in the Loess Plateau, the core area for the implementation of the SLCP, during 2002–2015, this study aims to evaluate the eco-efficiency of the Sloping Land Conversion Program (EEoSLCP) based on a DEA model and to measure the eco-efficiency dynamic changes through a Malmquist index model. The results show that: (1) The overall EEoSLCP of the Loess Plateau is at a low level, with an average efficiency of only 0.357 from 2002 to 2015. EEoSLCP is on an overall upward trend, mainly influenced by technical efficiency. (2) There are significant spatial differences in EEoSLCP among counties on the Loess Plateau, with an overall decreasing distribution trend from south to north and from southeast to northwest. (3) The Malmquist index of the EEoSLCP grew at an average annual rate of 17.7%, with technical efficiency changes being the most important factor driving its growth. Our results suggest that in the future, when implementing or designing FERPs, it is necessary not only to select the appropriate restoration plan precisely while respecting the laws of nature, but also to improve the management and technical level of FERPs accordingly.

Suggested Citation

  • Yuanjie Deng & Wencong Cai & Mengyang Hou & Xiaolong Zhang & Shiyuan Xu & Nan Yao & Yajun Guo & Hua Li & Shunbo Yao, 2022. "How Eco-Efficiency Is the Forestry Ecological Restoration Program? The Case of the Sloping Land Conversion Program in the Loess Plateau, China," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(5), pages 1-20, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jlands:v:11:y:2022:i:5:p:712-:d:811520
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/11/5/712/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/11/5/712/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Quariguasi Frota Neto, J. & Walther, G. & Bloemhof, J. & van Nunen, J.A.E.E. & Spengler, T., 2009. "A methodology for assessing eco-efficiency in logistics networks," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 193(3), pages 670-682, March.
    2. Gregory S. Amacher & Markku Ollikainen & Erkki A. Koskela, 2009. "Economics of Forest Resources," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 0262012480, April.
    3. Mi Sun Park & Hyowon Lee, 2014. "Forest Policy and Law for Sustainability within the Korean Peninsula," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 6(8), pages 1-25, August.
    4. Bennett, Michael T., 2008. "China's sloping land conversion program: Institutional innovation or business as usual?," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 65(4), pages 699-711, May.
    5. Xuehong Wang & Jeff Bennett, 2008. "Policy analysis of the Conversion of Cropland to Forest and Grassland Program in China," Environmental Economics and Policy Studies, Springer;Society for Environmental Economics and Policy Studies - SEEPS, vol. 9(2), pages 119-143, June.
    6. Yifei Wang & Tingting Zhang & Shunbo Yao & Yuanjie Deng, 2019. "Spatio-temporal Evolution and Factors Influencing the Control Efficiency for Soil and Water Loss in the Wei River Catchment, China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(1), pages 1-24, January.
    7. Lu, Gang & Yin, Runsheng, 2020. "Evaluating the Evaluated Socioeconomic Impacts of China's Sloping Land Conversion Program," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 177(C).
    8. A. Mirzabaev & M. Sacande & F. Motlagh & A. Shyrokaya & A. Martucci, 2022. "Economic efficiency and targeting of the African Great Green Wall," Nature Sustainability, Nature, vol. 5(1), pages 17-25, January.
    9. Wu, Xutong & Wang, Shuai & Fu, Bojie & Liu, Yu & Zhu, Yuan, 2018. "Land use optimization based on ecosystem service assessment: A case study in the Yanhe watershed," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 303-312.
    10. Wang, Shuhong & Zhao, Danqing & Chen, Hanxue, 2020. "Government corruption, resource misallocation, and ecological efficiency," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 85(C).
    11. Chen, Jiandong & Fan, Wei & Li, Ding & Liu, Xin & Song, Malin, 2020. "Driving factors of global carbon footprint pressure: Based on vegetation carbon sequestration," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 267(C).
    12. Grosjean, Pauline & Kontoleon, Andreas, 2009. "How Sustainable are Sustainable Development Programs? The Case of the Sloping Land Conversion Program in China," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 37(1), pages 268-285, January.
    13. R. D. Banker & A. Charnes & W. W. Cooper, 1984. "Some Models for Estimating Technical and Scale Inefficiencies in Data Envelopment Analysis," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 30(9), pages 1078-1092, September.
    14. Xueying Yu, 2016. "Central–local conflicts in China’s environmental policy implementation: the case of the sloping land conversion program," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 84(1), pages 77-96, November.
    15. Charnes, A. & Cooper, W. W. & Rhodes, E., 1978. "Measuring the efficiency of decision making units," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 2(6), pages 429-444, November.
    16. Qu, Mei & Liu, Guangzhe & Lin, Yin & Driedger, Erika & Peter, Zsuzsanna & Xu, Xiaoqian & Cao, Yang, 2017. "Experts’ perceptions of the sloping land conversion program in the Loess Plateau, China," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 204-210.
    17. Xu, Jintao & Yin, Runsheng & Li, Zhou & Liu, Can, 2006. "China's ecological rehabilitation: Unprecedented efforts, dramatic impacts, and requisite policies," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 57(4), pages 595-607, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Yuanjie Deng & Lei Jia & Yajun Guo & Hua Li & Shunbo Yao & Liqi Chu & Weinan Lu & Mengyang Hou & Binbin Mo & Yameng Wang & Haiyu Yang & Tongyue Zhang, 2022. "Evaluation of the Ecological Effects of Ecological Restoration Programs: A Case Study of the Sloping Land Conversion Program on the Loess Plateau, China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(13), pages 1-20, June.

    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. 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.
    3. Song, Conghe & Zhang, Yulong & Mei, Ying & Liu, Hua & Zhang, Zhiqiang & Zhang, Quanfa & Zha, Tonggang & Zhang, Kerong & Huang, Chenglin & Xu, Xiaoniu & Jagger, Pamela & Chen, Xiaodong & Bilsborrow, Ri, 2014. "Sustainability of Forests Created by China's Sloping Land Conversion Program: A comparison among three sites in Anhui, Hubei and Shanxi," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 161-167.
    4. 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.
    5. Hao Li & Michael T Bennett & Xuemei Jiang & Kebin Zhang & Xiaohui Yang, 2017. "Rural Household Preferences for Active Participation in “Payment for Ecosystem Service” Programs: A Case in the Miyun Reservoir Catchment, China," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 12(1), pages 1-21, January.
    6. 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.
    7. Zhang, Zhaohui & Paudel, Krishna P., 2019. "Policy improvements and farmers' willingness to participate: Insights from the new round of China's Sloping Land Conversion Program," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 162(C), pages 121-132.
    8. Cheng Chen & Hannes J. König & Bettina Matzdorf & Lin Zhen, 2015. "The Institutional Challenges of Payment for Ecosystem Service Program in China: A Review of the Effectiveness and Implementation of Sloping Land Conversion Program," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 7(5), pages 1-28, May.
    9. Li Li & Atsushi Tsunekawa & Yangshangyu Zuo & Atsushi Koike, 2019. "Conservation Payments and Technical Efficiency of farm Households Participating in the Grain for Green Program on the Loess Plateau of China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(16), pages 1-16, August.
    10. Van Meensel, Jef & Lauwers, Ludwig & Van Huylenbroeck, Guido & Van Passel, Steven, 2010. "Comparing frontier methods for economic-environmental trade-off analysis," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 207(2), pages 1027-1040, December.
    11. Peng, Hongsong & Zhang, Jinhe & Lu, Lin & Tang, Guorong & Yan, Bingjin & Xiao, Xiao & Han, Ya, 2017. "Eco-efficiency and its determinants at a tourism destination: A case study of Huangshan National Park, China," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 201-211.
    12. Franz R. Hahn, 2007. "Determinants of Bank Efficiency in Europe. Assessing Bank Performance Across Markets," WIFO Studies, WIFO, number 31499, August.
    13. Alperovych, Yan & Hübner, Georges & Lobet, Fabrice, 2015. "How does governmental versus private venture capital backing affect a firm's efficiency? Evidence from Belgium," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 30(4), pages 508-525.
    14. Wang, Zhao-Hua & Zeng, Hua-Lin & Wei, Yi-Ming & Zhang, Yi-Xiang, 2012. "Regional total factor energy efficiency: An empirical analysis of industrial sector in China," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 97(C), pages 115-123.
    15. Azarnoosh Kafi & Behrouz Daneshian & Mohsen Rostamy-Malkhalifeh, 2021. "Forecasting the confidence interval of efficiency in fuzzy DEA," Operations Research and Decisions, Wroclaw University of Science and Technology, Faculty of Management, vol. 31(1), pages 41-59.
    16. Ruiqing Yuan & Xiangyang Xu & Yanli Wang & Jiayi Lu & Ying Long, 2024. "Evaluating Carbon-Emission Efficiency in China’s Construction Industry: An SBM-Model Analysis of Interprovincial Building Heating," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(6), pages 1-16, March.
    17. Costa, Marcelo Azevedo & Lopes, Ana Lúcia Miranda & de Pinho Matos, Giordano Bruno Braz, 2015. "Statistical evaluation of Data Envelopment Analysis versus COLS Cobb–Douglas benchmarking models for the 2011 Brazilian tariff revision," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 47-60.
    18. Ahmad, Usman, 2011. "Financial Reforms and Banking Efficiency: Case of Pakistan," MPRA Paper 34220, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    19. Ashrafi, Ali & Seow, Hsin-Vonn & Lee, Lai Soon & Lee, Chew Ging, 2013. "The efficiency of the hotel industry in Singapore," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 37(C), pages 31-34.
    20. Büschken, Joachim, 2009. "When does data envelopment analysis outperform a naïve efficiency measurement model?," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 192(2), pages 647-657, January.
    21. António Afonso & Ana Patricia Montes & José M. Domínguez, 2024. "Measuring Tax Burden Efficiency in OECD Countries: An International Comparison," CESifo Working Paper Series 11333, CESifo.

    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:5:p:712-:d:811520. 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.