4.1.1. Welfare Functions of Worker Households
The CCLB is an ecosystem project with a wide range, long operation period, and high employee participation. Employees in state-owned forest areas will inevitably be affected by the logging ban. According to our survey in the field and literature review, we found that the main manifestations are a lack of raw materials for the development of forestry industry enterprises, increased timber prices, and the impact on the economic income of employees [
11,
40]; people are more dependent on social security due to the transformation of enterprises and employment pressure [
41]; with the need for ecological restoration, ecological relocation has been carried out, and living conditions have been improved [
42]; and education, health, and psychological status are also important indicators to measure the level of welfare [
43].
The total welfare of the state-owned forest areas changed a bit, from 0.381 to 0.380 (
Table 3). Although there are some differences between the respondents in the two years, they all live in the same area and have similar living environment and source of livelihood. It can reflect the overall situation of state-owned forest areas. Total worker households’ welfare was still low and changed little during the period 2012–2017. However, there were substantial changes in terms of welfare function. Dwelling and psychological conditions improved by 9.5 and 14.8%. Social opportunities and economic status declined by 27.1 and 9.1%. At the same time, social security almost did not change at all. This shows that the infrastructure and mental state improved substantially during the five year period when the logging ban started. Due to the logging ban, some forest industry employees moved from forest areas to urban areas. At the same time, corresponding infrastructure was added, such as water supply, electricity, gas, heating, communication, and cable television. During the 2017 interviews, most employees expressed satisfaction with their lives. However, their economic status and opportunities declined significantly. This was mainly because the income of workers’ families was adversely affected, especially from the collection of NTFPs. Social opportunities significantly reduced health status and training opportunities were reduced the most. In terms of the weight of importance, economic status is 0.485, which plays an important role, followed by dwelling conditions (0.275) and social opportunity (0.124). Sources of expanded income, improved living conditions, and increased training opportunities will significantly improve the welfare of worker households.
Economic status is the lowest among welfare functions. Among the indices of economic status, wage income was at the highest level, while variations among the households was reduced. As the workers’ wages rose throughout the period, the gap between high and low earners was reduced. It is worth noting that NTFP business income dropped sharply by 61.8%, indicating that the logging ban had a greater impact on these businesses. At present, NTFPs of state-owned forest areas mainly include wood-ear fungi and medicinal herbs. After CCLB, the production cost increased. Some people who relied on NTFPs as their main source of income may have turned to other ways of making a living. Those who did not rely on NTFPs as their main source of income reduced their activity of NTFP production. Although some scholars have also demonstrated that NTFPs play an important role in promoting the economic transformation of forest areas [
14,
44,
45,
46], that may not apply in this region as the contribution of NTFPs to household income decreased over the period. Due to the implementation of a more stringent forest protection policy, the use of forest land was also greatly restricted. As a result, the scale of NTFP business was reduced. Reduced NTFP income led to a reduction in family income, and in turn to a decline in the welfare of people dependent on the forest.
Social security was maintained at a high level and was at its highest level among the five functional items of welfare. The social security function slightly increased over the period studied. This result is in line with reality, because the research object is mainly workers of state-owned forest areas employed by state-owned forestry enterprises, who are generally provided with basic social welfare programs such as medical and pension insurance. So, the social security situation is relatively stable. It is further explained that good social security has a positive effect on improving the welfare level of worker households.
Dwelling conditions were also maintained at a high level. Dwelling conditions improved by 9.5% during the five year period. With the implementation of measures such as renovating shantytowns and relocating remote mountainous areas, the living environment of employees was substantially improved. In the survey interviews, some workers said that when they lived in remote mountainous areas, transportation was very inconvenient, water and power supply were relatively difficult, and the sanitary conditions were poor. The worker households began to enjoy nicer, more comfortable housing. The increased value of the dwelling index reveals that the dwelling condition value improved thanks to the CCLB policy.
Social opportunities such as health welfare programs and job training opportunities decreased, but there was not much change in education level. Health status decreased by 23%, which indicates that people aged, and their health declined, and the elderly population increased. Young people are not willing to return to work in forest areas [
47]. It was also confirmed from the side of state-owned forest areas that economic development has been slowing down. The scenario to be faced will be “has a follow-up forest, but no successor”. Vocational training fell by 45.1%. The government should strengthen vocational training for workers [
12]. In the past, vocational training was more focused on the training of work content. In the future, it should strengthen the training of personal skills to improve the quality of employees themselves and their employability.
Psychological condition ranked in the middle among welfare functions. The index value of psychological condition improved by 14.8% for the studied period. As the change in psychological condition was caused by the instantaneous change in the logging ban rather than a condition difference, we argue that psychological conditions in 2012 were considered as fuzzy, and the level is assumed to be in the middle (0.5). Although, the deterioration of economic status and health status, people are still full of confidence in the future. It shows that a positive attitude is conducive to the improvement of overall welfare. In the interviews, when we asked respondents about their views on CCLB, most of them expressed strong support for the logging ban. They said that the forest should be protected and restored. One employee said, “I grew up in this mountain. The forest is my friend. When I was logging, I feel very sad to see the trees being cut down, but I have no choice, it is my work.” When did we asked whether they were worried about the future, the employee said, “I’m not very worried, because it’s a state-owned enterprise and I’m old enough to get a pension after retirement”. People have deep feelings for forests and also have confidence in state-owned enterprises. While the government provides subsidies, enterprises are also actively looking for alternative industries [
5,
48].
4.1.2. Welfare Function Based on Livelihood Strategies
When the government formulates forest policies, the livelihood of people who depend on forests and the conservation of natural forests need to be taken into account together [
41,
49]. Since CCLB, the government has aimed to reforest and conserve the forest. In the course of forest policy change, forest dwellers have been seeking new ways to improve their livelihoods. Workers began to look for other ways to make a living and to reduce their dependence on forestry [
13].
The proportions of groups among the households surveyed are shown in
Figure 2.
Table 4 shows the change in the welfare function of livelihood strategies before and after the logging ban.
On the whole, households practicing forestry as a side job had the best welfare, followed by those practicing forestry as diversified livelihood or main job, while those dependent solely on forestry had the worst in 2017. This means that the logging ban had the greatest impact on households practicing forestry as their main job and those dependent solely on forestry. This also indicates that workers and families should enrich their livelihood structure and not rely on only forestry for a living, as it can be easily affected by forest policy.
Households practicing forestry as their main job had low welfare levels in both 2012 and 2017, but compared with those with other livelihood strategies, their welfare level was more stable even though it was low. This shows that relying on only forestry for their livelihoods could not improve their welfare. Their property income and expanded income are low. Therefore, it is necessary to expand income sources and restructure the livelihood strategies. Further analysis shows that social security and dwelling conditions of households practicing forestry as their main job were significantly higher compared to other types of worker families, but their economic status was lower than that of other families. The welfare of households practicing forestry as a side job was at a medium level among the four groups. Their welfare was better in 2017 than in 2012. Their welfare was the highest among all groups in both years surveyed. This indicates that the logging ban in 2014–2015 had little effect on the welfare of households practicing forestry as a side job. Their economic status was significantly higher than other livelihood groups. NTFP business income of this group was twice as high as that of other livelihood types, and their property income was also about twice as high. This may be because their operation of NTFP businesses maintained a certain scale with fixed supply and sales channels. So, the logging ban had little impact on their operations and their engagement in NTFP business made a great contribution to improving their welfare.
The forest dependent group had a low welfare level. It even declined from 2012 to 2017 by 7.0%. The logging ban in 2014–2015 hit households dependent on forest resources very hard, and this group suffered seriously from the forest policy change. Especially, their Engel’s coefficient in 2017 decreased by 33.8% compared to 2012, while that of other households showed an upward trend. During the interviews, some residents said that moving from the forest to urban areas made their life much more convenient, but the cost of living also increased substantially. They said when they lived in the mountains where the forest farm was located, they could grow some crops by themselves, but in order to restore the forest ecosystem, they were relocated. The fact that the consumption of the forest dependent group increased by 31.6% proves this point.
The group practicing forestry as part of a diversified livelihood also had low level of welfare. Among their welfare functions, their economic status declined the most, with a 23.0% decrease over the five year period. Their NTFP business income decreased by 73.3% over the same period. Before the logging ban, worker households could make use of waste residues from forestry operations for their own NTFP businesses. As the supply of raw materials from forests became limited after the ban, NTFP businesses became difficult. At the same time, work activities and work hours were also adjusted. For example, during harvesting, the production period was mainly concentrated in the winter. After the logging ban, the activities for forest protection were concentrated in the spring, summer, and autumn. The workers’ time to engage in NTFP businesses was limited and the development of these businesses was constrained.