Search Results (7)

Payments for ecosystem services have recently been introduced into the ecosystem management landscape to counter ecosystem degradation. This study examines the experiences of sustainable use and management of watersheds using a compensation for ecosystem service model in the Koga watershed, Northern Ethiopia. The study primarily employed qualitative methods. Thirteen informants, chosen from a group of project implementers, were contacted for telephone interviews, and a document analysis was also conducted. Thematic approaches were employed to analysis the data. The study findings revealed that a project had been introduced to implement an innovative payment/compensation for ecosystem services (CES) scheme to manage watersheds and to alleviate poverty in the watershed. The scheme connected upstream and downstream communities and cooperatives through CES, earning praise for its effectiveness in combating dam siltation and watershed degradation. The initiative also established various enabling conditions, such as capacity building, bylaw formulation, and payment procedures for beneficiary communities. However, the CES scheme still has a long way to go to deliver the anticipated positive impacts on local livelihoods and watershed management. It is believed that a comprehensive legal framework, a stable political and social environment, and sustainable financing mechanisms are crucial for the success of any CES project. Therefore, Ethiopia should strive to meet these requirements to ensure that any future CES projects are designed and implemented sustainably. Full article

Energy poverty and climate change are global challenges. While the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has fostered energy cooperation and alleviated energy poverty in BRI countries, its impact on climate change requires careful examination. This study investigates the impact of energy poverty alleviation on carbon emissions in BRI countries and analyzes the underlying mechanisms. In particular, this study constructs an integrated energy poverty assessment framework that includes three dimensions of energy accessibility, cleanliness, and affordability and utilizes the entropy-TOPSIS method to assess the status of energy poverty in 70 BRI countries. Subsequently, an empirical analysis using the Gini index as an instrumental variable was conducted to explore the impact of energy poverty alleviation on carbon emissions and the specific mechanisms. It is found that alleviating energy poverty in BRI countries will lead to an increase in per capita carbon emissions. However, improving energy cleanliness is effective in reducing per capita carbon emissions, while improving energy affordability has no significant impact on carbon emissions. This study shows that energy poverty alleviation and carbon emission reduction are two non-conflicting sustainable development goals. BRI countries can synergize energy poverty alleviation and carbon emissions reduction by focusing on clean energy development and providing energy subsidies. Full article

With the rapid process of urbanization and constant changes in ecological environments, passive migration programs have been popularized among many governments worldwide as a prevalent adaptation strategy. Poverty alleviation resettlement (PAR) emerges as one of China’s flagship initiatives, as the government has shifted its focus from investing in villages with harsh natural conditions to the construction of centralized high-density resettlement communities in small counties and peri-urban regions. The sustainability and well-being of migrants within resettlement communities play a vitally important role in the effectiveness of this program. In line with the integration theory, semi-structured interviews, focus group discussions, and a household survey covering 287 PAR migrant households were conducted to analyze how community-based organizations (CBOs) influence the social integration of PAR migrants. The findings are as follows: (1) Both participants and non-participants in CBOs show higher levels of neighborhood interaction, behavioral adaptation, and identity recognition. However, no significant advantage is yielded by their economic integration. (2) The mechanism of CBOs impacting the social integration of migrants varies between participants and non-participants. The social integration of those migrants participating in a CBO experience increased through cooperation-based social interaction, adherence to organizational norms, and enhanced self-efficacy. In contrast, the social integration of non-participants in CBOs within the same community results from such mechanisms as service delivery-based social interaction, social learning, and community solidarity. Therefore, this article highlights the significance attached to developing CBOs as a sustainable development strategy for passive migrants. Additionally, to better support passive migrants in eliminating poverty, governments are advised to implement sustainable economic support plans through CBOs, with a particular focus on long-term employment assistance programs. Full article

Agroforestry has gained increasing attention as a sustainable land use mode to ensure food security, mitigate global climate change, and improve farmers’ livelihoods. Likewise, agroforestry plays a key role in alleviating poverty, mitigating climate change and achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in China. Lanxangia tsaoko, as a typical agroforestry species in Nujiang Prefecture, plays a vital role in improving farmers’ livelihoods. After years of development, the Lanxangia tsaoko industry (LTI) in Nujiang Prefecture has made remarkable achievements and accumulated useful experiences. Taking the development of LTI as an example, this paper analyzes the impact of agroforestry on farmers’ livelihoods and its mechanism through field survey and theoretical deduction. First, by investigating the willingness of households to choose LTI, we found that most farmers have a positive attitude toward LTI, and they actively participate in cooperative organizations. Then, by analyzing the development stage and mode of LTI in Nujiang Prefecture, we found that the industry has made significant progress under the external and internal effects. We also found that the mechanism by which agroforestry affects farmers’ livelihoods is a process in which various stakeholders, including government, enterprises, farmers, etc., participate in industrial development with their production components and advantages. Although agroforestry is an effective way to improve farmers’ livelihoods and promote sustainable agricultural development, it is also necessary to pay attention to risk prevention. This paper discusses the role of agroforestry in farmers’ livelihoods, which provides a reference for lower-income forest areas. Full article

E-commerce agriculture has gradually become an important force in poverty alleviation. Some large e-commerce enterprises in China, such as Alibaba and JD, have carried out poverty alleviation activities with the support of the government. With the enthusiasm of consumers towards the goal of helping farmers, they can continue to develop e-commerce agriculture and efficiently achieve this goal. However, the unstable relationship among e-commerce enterprises, the government, and consumers with regard to poverty alleviation hinders the realization of poverty reduction goals. To promote the cooperation among the three parties under e-commerce poverty alleviation, this study uses the evolutionary game method. First, this study analyzes the collaborative mechanism of the government, e-commerce enterprises, and consumers participating in poverty alleviation. Second, based on the above analysis, a tripartite evolutionary game model is constructed. A payment matrix is established to analyze the factors that affect the strategic choices of participants, and the conditions for promoting the tripartite collaborative mechanism of poverty alleviation are discussed using numerical simulation. The results show the following: (1) The reduction in poverty alleviation costs and the increase in cooperation benefits are important factors in promoting the choice of poverty alleviation strategies. (2) E-commerce enterprises are more sensitive to consumer preferences for helping farmers. When consumer preferences for helping farmers are low, the government’s early efforts to participate in poverty alleviation can guide e-commerce enterprises and consumers to participate in cooperative poverty alleviation. (3) The government and e-commerce enterprises can reduce poverty alleviation incentives and agricultural product premiums by increasing the willingness of e-commerce enterprises and consumers to support farmers in the initial stage to promote the participation of all parties in poverty alleviation at a relatively low cost. Full article

Farmers’ cooperatives play an important role in enabling small farmers to integrate into modern agriculture. Based on the survey data of 7200 farmers in four provinces of China, this paper uses the multi-dimensional poverty measurement method and the instrumental variable method to reveal the transmission mechanism and multi-dimensional poverty reduction effect of farmers’ cooperatives in deep poverty-stricken areas in China to realize joint agricultural empowerment through the supply chain. The results show that farmers’ cooperatives play an important role in enhancing small farmers’ financing, technology application, market sales, and rights decision-making. Every increase in the degree of interest connection between the two will help farmers reduce the multi-dimensional poverty level by 12.3%, and the mitigation effects on material poverty, ability poverty, and rights poverty are between 10% and 13%. Compared with agricultural cooperatives with weak organizational service capacity, cooperatives with high organizational service capacity have a more significant multi-dimensional poverty reduction effect on farmers, which leads to farmers obtaining financing and improving their ability and income. In addition, the difference in benefit coupling between agricultural cooperatives and farmers of different leading bodies also results in the heterogeneity of multi-dimensional poverty alleviation effects of farmers. To a certain extent, the supply chain is affected by the risk endowment of members, the supply chain’s poverty alleviation performance is affected by members’ supply chain’s poverty alleviation performance, and there is a certain risk transfer and “distribution failure”. Therefore, optimizing the benefit coupling structure and risk sharing mechanism between farmers’ cooperatives and farmers has become an important way to break the pattern of “the strong are always strong” and “distribution failure” for supply chain members and farmers. Full article

Five years after the implementation of the tourism precision poverty alleviation strategy, how effective it has been in alleviating poverty remains to be tested. This study, through a study of 241 farm households in 10 national tourism poverty alleviation key villages in the Qinba Mountain region of Hanzhong, southern Shaanxi, finds that rural tourism has contributed to a general increase in farm household income, but the effect of income increase varies significantly between households that have escaped poverty and non-poor households, and there is no significant difference in income between those who participate in tourism and those who do not. The study concludes that the poverty-reducing effects of tourism are conditional, with the poor quality of human capital being the main obstacle to farm households’ income growth, the institutional mechanism for tourism participation is inadequate, effective farm household tourism participation is significantly low, and non-farm work constitutes a substitute for farm households’ tourism livelihood options. The primary stage tourism scenic spots have a limited role in driving the income of farming households, and the geographical location limits the effective participation of farming households. Accordingly, the following countermeasures are proposed: (1) in terms of strategic decision-making options, establish a screening mechanism for tourism participation in poverty alleviation and implement diversified poverty governance; (2) in terms of tourism development strategies, encourage the integration of multiple industries and synergistic development, realize the two-way interaction of “+ tourism” and “tourism +”; (3) in terms of development methods, adhere to the participatory development path, improve the institutional mechanism for tourism participation, stimulate the endogenous motivation of farmers, and explore the dynamic participation path of “bottom-up”. (4) In the development of endogenous power, strengthen skills training, improve the comprehensive quality of farmers and their participation level and ability; (5) In the coordination and protection, play the coordinating and leading role of grass-roots party building, and continuously cultivate and strengthen tourism cooperative organizations. Full article