The Effectiveness of the Ecological Forest Rangers Policy in Southwest China

Abstract

To achieve the dual goal of poverty alleviation and ecological restoration, the policy of ecological forest rangers (EFRs) was implemented in rural poverty-stricken areas in China, where local residents commonly depend on nearby forest resources for livelihoods. This study aimed to analyze the short-term and long-term effectiveness of the EFRs policy in China mainly in poverty alleviation and income growth, with a brief discussion on the ecological effect of the policy. A questionnaire survey was conducted in four counties in the Karst rocky desertification region in southwest China. By combing through the early literature on REDD+, community forestry, leasehold forestry, etc., this paper summarizes the experience and lessons of similar community forest management models, aiming to explain the unsustainability of EFRs policy from the perspective of forest tenure and governance. The findings of the effectiveness analysis of EFRs policy in the four poverty-stricken counties reflect different degrees of effect in rural households with different income levels. We believe that the EFRs policy has played important roles in short-term regional poverty alleviation while its potential for long-term income growth has not been stimulated. For the amendment of EFRs policy, we put forward the following points: (1) It is necessary to redesign the selection and recruitment mechanism, as well as the exit mechanism of EFRs adapting to the local conditions. (2) It is advisable to further improve the local assessment and monitoring system of forest protection quality of EFRs and optimize the establishment of benefit linkage mechanism between protection effectiveness and EFRs remuneration. (3) The EFRs remuneration standards should be dynamically raised to assure the active participation of EFRs in forest protection. Furthermore, there is a need for one more effective integration model of forest protection and rural livelihoods improvement, which is considered as a potential future research direction.

The Role of Forestry-Based Policies in Alleviating Relative Poverty in the Rocky Desertification Area in Southwest China

“…The ecological forest rangers (EFRs) policy is that the government uses special transfer payments to purchase labor services within the scope of the impoverished population with poverty registration in poverty-stricken counties to employ poor populations to participate in forest protection [ 28 ].…”

Fuzzy Set Qualitative Comparative Analysis of the Factors Affecting Satisfaction with the Policy of Ecological Forest Rangers

“…As an ecological poverty alleviation realization mechanism, the implementation process of the policy of ecological forest rangers involves the selection of one person from an eligible poor family (mostly poor households with established cards) by the local government to serve as an ecological ranger and engage in the management of forest resources, and he or she can earn 1000 to 10,000 CNY of wage income per year, helping to drive poor families out of poverty [11]. The implementation of the policy of ecological forest rangers in the vast ecologically vulnerable areas has not only driven the local poor out of poverty and increased the livelihood capital stock of poor households [12], but also has improved the local ecological environment and achieved a balance between economic, ecological, and social benefits.…”

Evaluation and Strategic Response of Sustainable Livelihood Level of Farmers in Ecological Resettlement Area of the Upper Yellow River—A Case Study of Liujiaxia Reservoir Area, Gansu Province

“…The urgent situation of climate change, environmental crisis and deep poverty makes ecological migration research the focus of international organizations, governments and academic institutions. Foreign scholars have studied the theory and practice of ecological migration earlier, mainly focusing on the concept and classification of ecological migration [ 3 , 4 ], occurrence mechanism [ 5 , 6 , 7 ], the prediction of the subsequent development of migration [ 8 , 9 , 10 ], the relationship between ecological migration and environment [ 11 , 12 , 13 ] etc., and Chinese scholars pay more attention to the causes and purposes of ecological migration [ 14 ], sustainability and survival status of migrant society [ 15 ], social adaptation [ 16 ] and spatial evolution [ 17 ], ecological migration policy and management [ 18 ], economic benefits [ 19 ] and risk assessment [ 20 ], impact on the environment [ 21 , 22 ], etc. Over the past 30 years, with the continuous development of the practice of ecological migration, world scholars have conducted multi-level and all-round research on ecological migration from different disciplinary perspectives.…”