Mechanism of forest policies influence on land-cover/land-use in China
Date: 08:30-16:00 (EST), April 20 of 2024 (Saturday)
Place: FedEx Global Education Center
City: Chapel Hill, NC
We organize two sessions at the 2024 Asia Scholar Network Conference
- Governance for Climate Change: Session I & Session II
Moderators & Presentors:
- Sophia Graybill, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
- Conghe Song, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
- Qi Zhang, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Description:
China’s forest policy includes:
- Conversion of Cropland to Forest Program (CCFP)
- Ecological Welfare Forest Program (EWFP)
These two programs strongly influence land-cover and land-use changes.
The CCFP promotes rural out-migration, which is strongly associated with rural household cropland abandonment,
providing additional ecological benefits than the CCFP intended for.
However, the EWFP demotes people from outmigration as rural households can count on generous compensation from the government,
which tends to stabilize cropland usage.
Further, we found that remittance from outmigrants is strongly associated with forest greening and expansion
in the areas surrounding the households due to reduced usage of fuelwood.
However, forests surrounding households with migration not receiving remittance are degrading.
These findings are critical for sustainable rural development.
Author: Qi Zhang
Updated: April 2024
