Experts’ perceptions of the sloping land conversion program in the Loess Plateau,China |
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| Institution: | 1. Center of Natural Resource and Environmental Economics and Management, College of Economics and Management, Northwest A&F University, Yangling 712100, China;2. College of Forestry, Northwest A&F University, Yangling 712100, China;3. School of Forestry and Wildlife Sciences, Auburn University, AL 36848, USA;4. School of Forest Sciences, University of Eastern Finland, Joensuu 80101, Finland;5. State Key Laboratory of Soil Erosion and Dryland Farming on the Loess Plateau, Northwest A&F University, Yangling 712100, China;6. Institute of Soil and Water Conservation, Chinese Academy of Sciences and Ministry of Water Resources, Yangling 712100, China;1. The James Hutton Institute, Craigiebuckler, Aberdeen, AB15 8QH, United Kingdom;2. Cranfield University,College Road, Cranfield, Bedford, MK43 0AL, United Kingdom;1. Solar Energy Research Institute of Singapore, National University of Singapore, Singapore;2. NUS Graduate School for Integrative Sciences and Engineering, National University of Singapore, Singapore;3. Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, National University of Singapore, Singapore;1. University of Jyvaskyla, Department of Biological and Environmental Science, P.O. Box 35, FI-40014 University of Jyväskylä, Finland;2. University of Wisconsin Oshkosh, Department of Geography and Urban Planning, 800 Algoma Blvd., Oshkosh, WI 54901-8642, USA;1. School of Tourism and Land Resources, Chongqing Technology and Business University, Chongqing 400067, China;2. School of Geographic and Oceanographic Sciences, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210023, China;3. The Institute of Mountain Resources, Guizhou Academy of Sciences, Guiyang 550018, China |
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| Abstract: | China’s Sloping Land Conversion Program (SLCP) is the world’s largest payment for ecosystem services program for improving ecological conditions and farmers’ livelihood. Communicating the SLCP outcomes across diverse stakeholder groups in ecological, socio-economic, political and institutional contexts can facilitate the effective implementation of the new round of the SLCP. Experts from various fields involved in the SLCP have developed good connections with governments, agencies, and farmers; therefore they can play an invaluable role in informing urgent policy changes. This study is based upon 24 interviews with the SLCP experts with the aims of assessing their perceptions of ecological, economic, political and social impacts of the SLCP on the Loess Plateau of China, and then gathering their policy recommendations to ensure that the new round of the SLCP would be implemented efficiently. Content analysis based on the grounded theory is used in present study. Judging from expert-based consensual statements from this study’s interviews, the main concerns about the first round of the SLCP on the Loess Plateau are that the dramatic increase in the farmer’s income and livelihood is mainly from off-farm sources rather than the SLCP subsidy, that equitable government compensation is dependent on the outcome of the SLCP, that the aggressive SLCP causes soil drought which have negative effects on ecological restoration, and that the stakeholders’ interaction could be improved. Based on the analyses of the experts’ interviews, the recommendations are summarised as follows: strengthening the farmers’ environmental awareness and vocational skills, establishing multi-source financial supports and flexible compensation mechanisms, establishing participatory planning that requires stakeholder involvement especially farmers and insisting that scientific studies on the ecological restoration of the Loess Plateau must be shared with local governments and farmers. |
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| Keywords: | Content analysis Participatory planning Compensation mechanisms Ecological restoration |
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