IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v10y2018i4p1091-d139754.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Effect of China’s New Circular Collective Forest Tenure Reform on Household Non-Timber Forest Product Production in Natural Forest Protection Project Regions

Author

Listed:
  • Yang Ren

    (Research Center for Resource Economics and Environment Management, College of Economics and Management, Northwest A&F University, No. 3 Taicheng Road, Yangling 712100, China)

  • Jari Kuuluvainen

    (Department of Forest Sciences, University of Helsinki, P.O. Box 27, Helsinki 00014, Finland)

  • Anne Toppinen

    (Department of Forest Sciences, University of Helsinki, P.O. Box 27, Helsinki 00014, Finland)

  • Shunbo Yao

    (Research Center for Resource Economics and Environment Management, College of Economics and Management, Northwest A&F University, No. 3 Taicheng Road, Yangling 712100, China)

  • Sami Berghäll

    (Department of Forest Sciences, University of Helsinki, P.O. Box 27, Helsinki 00014, Finland)

  • Heimo Karppinen

    (Department of Forest Sciences, University of Helsinki, P.O. Box 27, Helsinki 00014, Finland)

  • Caixia Xue

    (Research Center for Resource Economics and Environment Management, College of Economics and Management, Northwest A&F University, No. 3 Taicheng Road, Yangling 712100, China)

  • Liu Yang

    (Research Center for Resource Economics and Environment Management, College of Economics and Management, Northwest A&F University, No. 3 Taicheng Road, Yangling 712100, China)

Abstract

The implementation of China’s natural forest protection project (Protection Project) in 1998 changed households’ forestry production modes in project regions, and China’s new circular collective forest tenure reform (Tenure Reform) has been implemented since 2003 with the goal of motivating household forestry production and increasing household income from forests. Policymakers expect that Tenure Reform could also stimulate households to engage in non-timber forest products (NTFPs) production in Protection Project regions. However, only a few studies have investigated the effect of Tenure Reform on household NTFP production in Protection Project regions. To fill this gap, we built an integrative conceptual framework and estimated a corresponding structural equation model (SEM) using survey data from 932 households in Protection Project regions in southwestern China. In our research framework, there are four factors, including household characteristics, labour and social capital, forestland characteristics, and the Tenure Reform, affecting household NTFP production. The results substantiate that Tenure Reform has had a significant positive effect on household NTFP production. Additionally, household and forestland characteristics have promoted household NTFP production, but quantitatively less than Tenure Reform. This report can be used to inform the government that future investment in Tenure Reform still needs to be enhanced, and policy enforcement still needs to be strengthened.

Suggested Citation

  • Yang Ren & Jari Kuuluvainen & Anne Toppinen & Shunbo Yao & Sami Berghäll & Heimo Karppinen & Caixia Xue & Liu Yang, 2018. "The Effect of China’s New Circular Collective Forest Tenure Reform on Household Non-Timber Forest Product Production in Natural Forest Protection Project Regions," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(4), pages 1-17, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:10:y:2018:i:4:p:1091-:d:139754
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/10/4/1091/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/10/4/1091/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Yin, Runsheng & Zulu, Leo & Qi, Jiaguo & Freudenberger, Mark & Sommerville, Matthew, 2016. "Empirical linkages between devolved tenure systems and forest conditions: Challenges, findings, and recommendations," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 294-299.
    2. Han Zhang & Jari Kuuluvainen & Hongqiang Yang & Yi Xie & Can Liu, 2017. "The Effect of Off-Farm Employment on Forestland Transfers in China: A Simultaneous-Equation Tobit Model Estimation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(9), pages 1-14, September.
    3. Mahapatra, Ajay Kumar & Tewari, D. D., 2005. "Importance of non-timber forest products in the economic valuation of dry deciduous forests of India," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 7(3), pages 455-467, March.
    4. Chukwuone, N.A. & Okeke, C.A., 2012. "Can non-wood forest products be used in promoting household food security?: Evidence from savannah and rain forest regions of Southern Nigeria," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 25(C), pages 1-9.
    5. Xie, Yi & Wen, Yali & Zhang, Yaoqi & Li, Xiaoyong, 2013. "Impact of property rights reform on household forest management investment: An empirical study of southern China," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 34(C), pages 73-78.
    6. Belcher, Brian & Ruiz-Perez, Manuel & Achdiawan, Ramadhani, 2005. "Global patterns and trends in the use and management of commercial NTFPs: Implications for livelihoods and conservation," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 33(9), pages 1435-1452, September.
    7. Janse, Gerben & Ottitsch, Andreas, 2005. "Factors influencing the role of Non-Wood Forest Products and Services," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 7(3), pages 309-319, March.
    8. Yi, Yuanyuan & Köhlin, Gunnar & Xu, Jintao, 2014. "Property rights, tenure security and forest investment incentives: evidence from China's Collective Forest Tenure Reform," Environment and Development Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 19(1), pages 48-73, February.
    9. Yin, Runsheng, 2016. "Empirical linkages between devolved tenure systems and forest conditions: An introduction to the literature review," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 271-276.
    10. Yin, Runsheng & Zulu, Leo & Qi, Jiaguo & Freudenberger, Mark & Sommerville, Matthew, 2016. "Empirical linkages between devolved tenure systems and forest conditions: Primary evidence," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 277-285.
    11. Xie, Lunyu & Berck, Peter & Xu, Jintao, 2016. "The effect on forestation of the collective forest tenure reform in China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 116-129.
    12. Stoian, Dietmar, 2005. "Making the Best of Two Worlds: Rural and Peri-Urban Livelihood Options Sustained by Nontimber Forest Products from the Bolivian Amazon," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 33(9), pages 1473-1490, September.
    13. Shackleton, Charlie M. & Pandey, Ashok K., 2014. "Positioning non-timber forest products on the development agenda," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 1-7.
    14. Xie, Yi & Gong, Peichen & Han, Xiao & Wen, Yali, 2014. "The effect of collective forestland tenure reform in China: Does land parcelization reduce forest management intensity?," Journal of Forest Economics, Elsevier, vol. 20(2), pages 126-140.
    15. Kenneth A. Bollen, 1989. "A New Incremental Fit Index for General Structural Equation Models," Sociological Methods & Research, , vol. 17(3), pages 303-316, February.
    16. Fu, Yongneng & Chen, Jin & Guo, Huijun & Chen, Aiguo & Cui, Jingyun & Hu, Huabin, 2009. "The role of non-timber forest products during agroecosystem shift in Xishuangbanna, southwestern China," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 11(1), pages 18-25, January.
    17. López-Feldman, Alejandro & Wilen, James E., 2008. "Poverty and spatial dimensions of non-timber forest extraction," Environment and Development Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 13(5), pages 621-642, October.
    18. Wei, Duan & Chao, He & Yali, Wen, 2016. "Role of income diversification in reducing forest reliance: Evidence from 1838 rural households in China," Journal of Forest Economics, Elsevier, vol. 22(C), pages 68-79.
    19. Steele, Melita Z. & Shackleton, Charlie M. & Uma Shaanker, R. & Ganeshaiah, K.N. & Radloff, Sarah, 2015. "The influence of livelihood dependency, local ecological knowledge and market proximity on the ecological impacts of harvesting non-timber forest products," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 285-291.
    20. Zhang, Kerong & Song, Conghe & Zhang, Yulong & Zhang, Quanfa, 2017. "Natural disasters and economic development drive forest dynamics and transition in China," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 56-64.
    21. Juha Siikamäki & Yonjie Ji & Jintao Xu, 2015. "Post-reform Forestland Markets in China," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 91(2), pages 211-234.
    22. Liu, Can & Mullan, Katrina & Liu, Hao & Zhu, Wenqing & Rong, Qingjiao, 2014. "The estimation of long term impacts of China's key priority forestry programs on rural household incomes," Journal of Forest Economics, Elsevier, vol. 20(3), pages 267-285.
    23. Sharif Ahmed Mukul & A. Z. M. Manzoor Rashid & Mohammad Belal Uddin & Niaz Ahmed Khan, 2016. "Role of non-timber forest products in sustaining forest-based livelihoods and rural households' resilience capacity in and around protected area: a Bangladesh study†," Journal of Environmental Planning and Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 59(4), pages 628-642, April.
    24. Zhu, Hongge & Hu, Shilei & Ren, Yue & Ma, Xing & Cao, Yukun, 2017. "Determinants of engagement in non-timber forest products (NTFPs) business activities: A study on worker households in the forest areas of Daxinganling and Xiaoxinganling Mountains, northeastern China," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 125-132.
    25. Wang, Wen & Li, Qiang & Lien, Donald, 2016. "Human capital, political capital, and off-farm occupational choices in rural China," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 412-422.
    26. Zhuo Wu & Quansheng Ge & Erfu Dai, 2017. "Modeling the Relative Contributions of Land Use Change and Harvest to Forest Landscape Change in the Taihe County, China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(5), pages 1-17, April.
    27. Jun He & Min Dong & Macro Stark, 2014. "Small Mushrooms for Big Business? Gaps in the Sustainable Management of Non-Timber Forest Products in Southwest China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 6(10), pages 1-15, September.
    28. Shi, Miaoying & Yin, Runsheng & Zulu, Leo & Qi, Jiaguo & Freudenberger, Mark & Sommerville, Matthew, 2016. "Empirical linkages between devolved tenure systems and forest conditions: Selected case studies and country experiences," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 286-293.
    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. Min Li & Apurbo Sarkar & Yuge Wang & Ahmed Khairul Hasan & Quanxing Meng, 2022. "Evaluating the Impact of Ecological Property Rights to Trigger Farmers’ Investment Behavior—An Example of Confluence Area of Heihe Reservoir, Shaanxi, China," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(3), pages 1-23, February.
    2. Krul, Kees & Ho, Peter & Yang, Xiuyun, 2020. "Incentivizing household forest management in China's forest reform: Limitations to rights-based approaches in Southwest China," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 111(C).

    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. Krul, Kees & Ho, Peter & Yang, Xiuyun, 2020. "Incentivizing household forest management in China's forest reform: Limitations to rights-based approaches in Southwest China," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 111(C).
    2. Yuge Wang & Apurbo Sarkar & Min Li & Zehui Chen & Ahmed Khairul Hasan & Quanxing Meng & Md. Shakhawat Hossain & Md. Ashfikur Rahman, 2022. "Evaluating the Impact of Forest Tenure Reform on Farmers’ Investment in Public Welfare Forest Areas: A Case Study of Gansu Province, China," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(5), pages 1-17, May.
    3. Yiwen, Zhang & Kant, Shashi & Dong, Jiayun & Liu, Jinlong, 2020. "How communities restructured forest tenure throughout the top-down devolution reform: Using the case of Fujian, China," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 119(C).
    4. He, Jun & Kebede, Bereket & Martin, Adrian & Gross-Camp, Nicole, 2020. "Privatization or communalization: A multi-level analysis of changes in forest property regimes in China," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 174(C).
    5. Shen, Jinyu & Zhang, Yijing & Zhou, Wei & Song, Zhenjiang & Duan, Wei, 2022. "Dynamics and determinants of household's non-timber forest products collection in the giant panda nature reserves of China," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 137(C).
    6. Duan, Wei & Shen, Jinyu & Hogarth, Nicholas J. & Chen, Qian, 2021. "Risk preferences significantly affect household investment in timber forestry: Empirical evidence from Fujian, China," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 125(C).
    7. Long, Hexing & de Jong, Wil & Yiwen, Zhang & Liu, Jinlong, 2021. "Institutional choices between private management and user group management during forest devolution: A case study of forest allocation in China," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 132(C).
    8. Xu, Chang & Li, Lingchao & Cheng, Baodong, 2021. "The impact of institutions on forestland transfer rents: The case of Zhejiang province in China," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 123(C).
    9. Zhang Yiwen & Shashi Kant & Hexing Long, 2020. "Collective Action Dilemma after China’s Forest Tenure Reform: Operationalizing Forest Devolution in a Rapidly Changing Society," Land, MDPI, vol. 9(2), pages 1-18, February.
    10. Yuepeng Zhou & Xianlei Ma & Dengyan Ji & Nico Heerink & Xiaoping Shi & Hongbin Liu, 2018. "Does Property Rights Integrity Improve Tenure Security? Evidence from China’s Forest Reform," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(6), pages 1-18, June.
    11. Hong, Yan-Zhen & Chang, Hung-Hao & Dai, Yong-Wu, 2018. "Is deregulation of forest land use rights transactions associated with economic well-being and labor allocation of farm households? Empirical evidence in China," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 694-701.
    12. Huang, Wei, 2019. "Forest condition change, tenure reform, and government-funded eco-environmental programs in Northeast China," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 98(C), pages 67-74.
    13. Liu, Shilei & Xia, Jun, 2021. "Forest harvesting restriction and forest restoration in China," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 129(C).
    14. Ke, Shuifa & Qiao, Dan & Yuan, Wantong & He, Youjun, 2020. "Broadening the scope of forest transition inquiry: What does China's experience suggest?," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 118(C).
    15. Caravaggio, Nicola, 2020. "Economic growth and the forest development path: A theoretical re-assessment of the environmental Kuznets curve for deforestation," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 118(C).
    16. Bocci, Corinne & Sohngen, Brent & Finnegan, Bridget & Milian, Bayron, 2022. "An analysis of migrant characteristics in forest-dwelling communities in northern Guatemala," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 140(C).
    17. Feng, Xin & Dai, Yongwu, 2019. "An innovative type of forest insurance in China based on the robust approach," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 104(C), pages 23-32.
    18. Cappelli, Federica & Caravaggio, Nicola & Vaquero-Piñeiro, Cristina, 2022. "Buen Vivir and forest conservation in Bolivia: False promises or effective change?," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 137(C).
    19. McLain, Rebecca & Lawry, Steven & Ojanen, Maria, 2018. "Fisheries’ Property Regimes and Environmental Outcomes: A Realist Synthesis Review," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 102(C), pages 213-227.
    20. Jaligot, Rémi & Kemajou, Armel & Chenal, Jérôme, 2018. "Cultural ecosystem services provision in response to urbanization in Cameroon," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 641-649.

    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:jsusta:v:10:y:2018:i:4:p:1091-:d:139754. 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.