Search Results (37)

With the nationwide completion of China’s large-scale Poverty Alleviation Relocation (PAR) initiative in 2020, the government’s poverty alleviation efforts have officially entered the “post-poverty era”. However, many regions still lack well-established sustainable development mechanisms and face a potential risk of returning to poverty. To better stabilize the achievements of poverty alleviation, this study examines the potential risk of returning to poverty after the first Five-Year Transition Period (2021–2025) from a livelihood space perspective and proposes optimization directions for PAR policies in future poverty reduction efforts. Research findings indicate that simply altering geographical conditions is insufficient to achieve stable poverty alleviation. The production space of relocated populations is vulnerable to the stability and precision in resource supply, which may lead to recurring poverty due to policy discontinuities and administrative preferences. Meanwhile, improvements in living spaces are constrained by imbalances in household income and expenditure. This study also found that, on the one hand, changes in residential patterns break the original boundaries of administrative villages by incorporating migrants from different villages into concentrated communities, leading to the expansion of weak-tie networks while, on the other hand, the relocation process disrupts some of the migrants’ original strong-tie networks, and the concentration and clustering of impoverished groups in relocation communities further lead to the contraction of these networks. Additionally, the unique characteristics of relocation communities generate exorbitant governance costs and population management difficulties that far exceed the service provision and administrative capacities of community organizations. In the long run, this situation proves detrimental to normalized community governance and dynamic poverty relapse monitoring and interventions. Accordingly, this study proposes relevant policy recommendations from the following four aspects, i.e., strengthening endogenous development capacity, improving social security mechanisms, expanding social support networks, and enhancing organizational governance capabilities, aiming to provide both a theoretical basis and a decision-making reference for future poverty alleviation efforts. Full article

As a pivotal force in the development of hydropower and water conservancy, the evolution of China’s reservoir resettlement policies has garnered significant attention. Over the past seven decades, the nation has made remarkable strides in implementing resettlement initiatives, effectively contributing to poverty alleviation and water resource management. However, emerging challenges, including diminishing opportunities for new reservoir construction, the expiration of post-relocation support policies, and the current emphasis on high-quality development, reveal critical gaps in the existing research. Specifically, macro-level analyses of policy evolution remain scarce, particularly concerning the interrelation between two cornerstone components: land acquisition compensation policies and post-relocation support policies. To address this gap, this paper adopts a holistic historical perspective to analyze the evolution of China’s reservoir resettlement policies across four distinct stages, focusing on the development of two key policies and their interrelations. The findings reveal that each stage of China’s reservoir resettlement policies is characterized by unique thematic priorities, with their interrelations gradually evolving toward greater synergy. Nevertheless, challenges persist, including insufficient per capita farmland allocation and industrial decline in resettlement areas. Accordingly, this paper proposes optimization strategies that encompass policy innovation, multi-stakeholder participation, digital management, and the enhancement of resettlement agencies. China’s experience in fostering policy synergy offers critical insights into institutional evolution while providing valuable references for other countries seeking to refine their reservoir resettlement frameworks. Full article

Background: China’s relocated for poverty alleviation policy has played a pivotal role in eradicating extreme poverty nationwide. However, adolescents relocating with their parents may face multifaceted challenges, including abrupt shifts in their living environments, the reconstruction of social capital, and the psychological turbulence inherent to adolescence. Objectives: We aimed to explore predictors of reducing depressive symptoms in relocated adolescents. We analyzed the associations between social capital, life satisfaction, and adolescent depression. Methods: This study investigated 631 adolescents aged 10–19 years from 24 relocation for poverty alleviation resettlement sites in Shanxi Province. Respondents completed basic demographic information and questionnaires on adolescent social capital, life satisfaction, and depressive symptoms. The mediating role of life satisfaction was assessed using PROCESS 3.4 analysis. Results: The mean social capital score of the adolescents was 31.96 ± 3.666, the mean life satisfaction score was 23.21 ± 6.282, the mean depression score was 4.03 ± 5.503, and the depression detection rate was 15.2%. We found that social capital was significantly positively correlated with life satisfaction (r = 0.363, p ˂ 0.05), both social capital and life satisfaction were negatively correlated with depressive symptoms (r = −0.362, p ˂ 0.05; r = −0.398, p ˂ 0.05), and life satisfaction partially mediated the association between social capital and depressive symptoms (mediating effect of 18.20%). Conclusions: Adolescents in communities relocated for poverty alleviation are overall satisfied with their lives, but some are experiencing some form of depression. Both social capital and life satisfaction are associated with lower depression levels, and those with higher life satisfaction are better able to cope with the changes in social capital associated with environmental changes after relocation, thus helping to reduce depressive symptoms. Full article

Migrant relocation (MR) is an important way to solve social and ecological problems. Current studies have mainly used the sample survey method to analyze the social and economic benefits of migrant relocation from a micro perspective but less from a global perspective to analyze the impact of migrant relocation on cropland abandonment (CA). Therefore, in order to balance regional cropland utilization and poverty alleviation, this paper aimed to analyze the impact of a MR program on cropland abandonment (CA) on a macro scale. The results showed that during 2011–2020, the relocation scale and resettlement scale of the MR program in Pingli County were 10.691 km² and 4.535 km², respectively. MR programs can be divided into three types, namely, out-migration, in-migration, and vacant, accounting for 67.98%, 30.90%, and 1.12%, respectively. The amount of CA is 35.910 km². There was a threshold effect of the impact of MR on CA. Specifically, when MR ≤ 0 or MR > 0.258%, it has an inhibitory role on CA; when 0 < MR ≤ 0.258%, it promotes the occurrence of CA. Therefore, policy makers need to accurately assess the current situation of villages and adopt a phased and regional strategy to avoid the CA caused by large-scale relocation. These findings not only contribute to the sustainable use of cropland in the study area but also have significant implications for effective governance and poverty eradication in other poor and ecologically fragile regions around the world, such as Africa and Brazil. Full article

This study focuses on the land transfer intentions of migrants and surrounding villagers in the SZ resettlement area of BS City, Guangxi. It systematically analyzes the coupling coordination relationship between migrants’ land transfer-in intentions and the land transfer-out intentions of surrounding villagers, verifying the practical value of the “Shared Land Resource Model” in the resettlement area and its surroundings. The study yields the following key conclusions: (1) there is a strong coupling between the land demand intentions of migrants and the land supply intentions of surrounding villagers, yet the actual coordination in the transfer process is limited, which constrains resource allocation efficiency and prevents land transfer from fully utilizing shared resources; (2) in the evaluation of migrants’ land transfer-in intentions, external environmental factors have the greatest influence (with a weight coefficient of 0.7877), while individual characteristics (0.0486) and psychological characteristics (0.0593) have relatively low weight coefficients, indicating that migrants primarily rely on government policy support and lack internal motivation; (3) the land transfer-out intentions of surrounding villagers are most affected by farmland resource endowment (weight coefficient of 0.3284), indicating that the quality and quantity of land resources are key factors affecting villagers’ transfer-out willingness, while individual endowment factors have the smallest impact (weight coefficient of 0.1220). Three recommendations are proposed: stimulating migrants’ intrinsic motivation to enhance livelihood autonomy, protecting villagers’ land rights to increase transfer participation, and building a systematic land resource sharing model to promote sustainable resource allocation. This study provides theoretical support for optimizing the land transfer mechanism in resettlement areas, aiming to improve land use efficiency, support the livelihood transition of migrants, and offer practical insights for land management planning in poverty alleviation and resettlement projects in other countries. Full article

Rural-to-urban resettlement is a widely used poverty alleviation strategy in China for fundamentally transforming poor farmers’ livelihoods, with roughly 263,000 rural poor relocated to urban communities in Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture between 2016 and 2020. This dramatic development intervention in urbanization has unexpectedly resulted in the separation of hukou locality and residence. Considering that the government equally provides follow-up employment support policies to guarantee the citizenship rights for resettlers whether or not their hukou locality has transferred to urban communities, then, does the local citizenship still matter for employment? If so, how does local citizenship make a difference? What role does employment policy play in terms of the impact of local citizenship on employment? The answers to these questions are not yet clear. Based on a survey of 735 relocated households in the Liangshan Yi Ethnic Area, the Heckman sample selection model was used to empirically estimate the effect of local citizenship (hukou locality) on employment from the perspective of welfare acquisition cost, paying particular attention to the moderating effect of follow-up employment support policies. Our results show that (1) local citizenship can significantly increase the employed persons of a household by 0.279 units, prolong the working months by 2.297 units, and increase per capita wage by 0.885%. (2) Mechanism analysis shows that local citizenship affects relocated households’ employment by reducing welfare acquisition costs. (3) Moderating analysis shows that the follow-up employment support policies weakened the positive impact of local citizenship on employment, developing pro-poor jobs substitutes for the positive effect of local citizenship on the employed size; recommending job information substitutes for the positive effect of local citizenship on working months; and targeted labor exporting substitutes for the positive effect of local citizenship on per capita wage. This study provides new empirical evidence for understanding the relationship between hukou locality and employment consequences at a smaller scale and then provides theoretical reference and practical basis for the improvement of employment from the perspective of local citizenship. Full article

Relocating poor people in mountainous areas to centralized settlement sites is an important poverty alleviation policy implemented by China and a key measure to promote stable poverty alleviation and sustainable rural development for the poor. Based on the survey data of 405 peasant households in the Panxi Area in 2021, this study constructed a structural equation model (SEM) to explore the influencing factors of peasant households’ willingness to relocate to a concentrated residence. The results showed the following: (1) Of the 405 peasant households surveyed, 20.98% were unwilling to move to centralized resettlement sites, making it more difficult to carry out the relocation policy for poverty alleviation. (2) Living environment, living conditions, important social groups, the economic benefits, living benefits, and survival benefits brought by concentrated residences, governments, and the village committees significantly influenced the willingness to relocate to a concentrated residence. In contrast, agricultural income, ecological benefits, and value benefits brought by the concentrated residence had little effect on the willingness to relocate to a concentrated residence. (3) Land force, human force, cognitive force, and national force significantly positively affected the peasant households’ willingness to relocate to a concentrated residence. This study is of great significance in promoting the implementation of poverty alleviation and relocation policy, improving the efficiency of relocation and promoting the wellbeing of peasant households. Full article

Poverty alleviation through relocation (PAR) is a milestone project in winning the battle against extreme poverty. Its aim is to relocate poor people from inhospitable areas and lift them out of poverty. Assessing the vulnerability to multidimensional poverty (VMP) of relocated households is of great significance for consolidating the achievements of targeted poverty alleviation and preventing a large-scale return to poverty. This study constructed a multidimensional poverty index (MPI) of relocated households and analyzed relocated households’ VMP and its influencing factors using panel data of 1009 households in 16 counties across eight provinces in China. The results reveal that the mean VMP of the relocated households gradually decreased from 2016 to 2020. Moreover, the VMP of the relocated households that have moved into centralized resettlement communities is relatively low compared to those that have moved into decentralized resettlement communities. In addition, the impact of household endowment on VMP is the highest, followed by supporting policies, such as PAR, industrial development, and employment policy. Therefore, the assistance mechanism must be improved to prevent a return to poverty, enhance the sustainable development capacity of relocated households, and optimize follow-up policies for PAR. Full article

The Poverty Alleviation Relocation (PAR) policy is widely regarded as an effective approach for breaking the cycle of ecological vulnerability and poverty. However, quantitative research on the ecological restoration effectiveness of PAR lacks sufficient experimental data support. This study focuses on the karst region and employs analysis methods such as volume-derived biomass and correlation analysis to evaluate the impact of PAR on carbon storage in forest ecosystems using on-site experimental data. The objective is to enhance and broaden the research framework for assessing PAR’s ecological restoration effectiveness. The findings reveal that, compared to the pre-PAR implementation period in 2015, the study area experienced an 8.16% increase in forest land area and a 6.57% increase in carbon storage after six years of PAR implementation in 2021. Following PAR implementation, carbon storage in the stone desertification area surged by 14.31%, indicating a significant correlation between PAR households and carbon storage variables. In the karst area, carbon storage increased by 4.34%, exhibiting a significant correlation between the two variables. Conversely, in the non-karst area, carbon storage rose by 5.01%, but no significant correlation was observed between the variables. Furthermore, post-PAR implementation, there is a discernible trend of stronger carbon storage enhancement with increasing distance from the relocated PAR households. Full article

Families’ education investment in their children is crucial for fostering and accumulating human capital among rural children in China. This study examines the impact of the Poverty Alleviation Relocation Program (PARP) on household education investment using panel data from a large-scale survey conducted in 16 counties across 8 provinces over three waves. Employing a staggered difference-in-differences (DID) method, we find a significant increase in average education investment per student in households following the PARP’s implementation, supported by multiple robustness tests. Mechanism analysis reveals that the increase is primarily driven by a higher household income and lower medical expenses among relocated families. Heterogeneity analysis shows notable variations based on relocation attributes and household characteristics, with stronger effects particularly observed for dispersed relocation, scattered resettlement, and household heads with over 6 years of education or in good health. The impact is sustained and strengthens with longer durations of relocation. Our findings offer valuable insights for enhancing rural household education investment. Full article

In the context of land relocation, poverty alleviation resettlement (PAR) is considered an effective approach to improve the man–land relationship and development issues. However, current studies pay little attention to PAR and its spillover effects within developed regions. Furthermore, the complete mechanism chain has received little research concentration. Thus, employing a qualitative survey, this study aims to investigate the overall mechanisms of developed regions’ PAR in the context of land relocation. The study will deal with the following questions: Why does PAR occur in developed regions? How does the resettlement approach to poverty alleviation (i.e., paths)? What are the effects of resettlement on poverty alleviation, including its own effects and spillover effects? Through answering these questions, this study will highlight PAR in developed regions and investigate the spillovers from social, economic and ecological perspectives. Particularly, a comprehensive mechanism analysis framework for PAR will be presented to motivate future studies. Results indicate that PAR is generally caused by ecological poverty alleviation, geological disaster prevention and county town urbanisation promotion and that emigration and resettlement are the paths to PAR. In addition, the direct outcome is the overall rise in the number of resettlers over time, and the spillovers show the sustainable collaboration of economic, social and ecological dimensions. These findings will influence future land reform and housing initiatives. Full article

The de-agrarianisation of the labor force in the poverty alleviation resettlement (PAR) inevitably influences households’ farmland management and farmland abandonment in the relocated areas. Drawing on survey data from 1079 households in Shaanxi, China, this study uses the Heckman two-stage model to empirically examine the relationship between non-farm employment and farmland abandonment in relocated areas. Additionally, it explores heterogeneity by considering the quantity and spatial distribution of non-farm employment, as well as the moderating effect of the withdrawal of rural homesteads (WRH). The results show that: (1) non-farm employment significantly promotes both behavioral and scale of farmland abandonment, with the magnitude of this impact varying based on the quantity of non-farm employment; (2) Heterogeneity analyses show that areas with non-farm employment exert a noteworthy positive effect on farmland abandonment. On average, farmers engaged in non-farm employment outside the county (NEO) exhibit a higher marginal effect on both behavioral and scale aspects of farmland abandonment compared to those engaged in non-farm employment within the county (NEI). Furthermore, only when the number of NEI reaches 3 does the probability and scale of farmland abandonment surpass those of NEO; (3) Mechanism analysis sheds light on the role of WRH, indicating that the cultivation of land in WRH weakens the promotion of farmland abandonment by non-farm employment, particularly in the NEI group. Conversely, the duration of WRH strengthens the contributions of non-farm employment to farmland abandonment, and this effect is concentrated in the NEO group. These findings underscore the importance of actively cultivating and introducing new types of agricultural management entities, promoting the moderate-scale operation of farmland, and encouraging the recultivation of withdrawn rural homesteads as strategies to curb farmland abandonment. Full article

Exploring the evolution of livelihood patterns of farm households relocated for poverty alleviation in three prefectures of Guizhou Province, China, can provide a theoretical basis and practical value for achieving sustainable livelihoods of relocated farm households in ethnic minority areas. This study took three ethnic minority autonomous prefectures in Guizhou as the research area. The types and evolution pathways of farm households’ livelihood patterns were divided using 355 tracking and monitoring data from the four phases of relocated farm households’ livelihoods. The evolution characteristics of farm households’ livelihood patterns and changes in their evolution pathways from “before relocation” to 2021 were analyzed. An indicator system of influencing factors was established based on the sustainable livelihood framework. The influencing factors of the evolution path selection and transformation of livelihood patterns were identified using the binary and multiple logistic regression models. The main results are as follows: (1) Implementing the poverty alleviation relocation project shifted the livelihood activities of farm households from agricultural production to non-agricultural industries. The transformation trend of livelihood patterns shifted from agro-dominated, agricultural, agricultural-diversified and balanced types to highly diversified, deeply diversified and subsidy-dependent types. (2) The transformation mode of the evolution pathways of farm households’ livelihood patterns mainly included the stable transformation modes of “active$\to$retention$\to$active” and “active$\to$retention$\to$retention” and the fluctuating transformation modes of “active$\to$retention$\to$fallback”, “active$\to$fallback$\to$active” and “retention$\to$fallback$\to$active”. (3) Natural capital promoted farm households to choose fallback pathways, while material and human capital showed an inhibitory impact. In contrary to human capital, social capital promoted farm households to choose retention pathways. Financial and human capital promoted farm households to choose active pathways. (4) Per capita income, the household head age and relocation years positively affected the evolution pathways of the livelihood pattern from the fallback type to the retention type. The number of means of transport, per capita education level, transportation and communication cost, and the presence of civil servants in the household positively affected the evolution pathways of the livelihood pattern from the fallback type to the active type. Policy suggestions are as follows: Expanding local and nearby employment channels, strengthening vocational skills training for farm households, expanding financial access for farm households, improving policy support for ethnic characteristic industries, implementing bottom-line guarantee policies and exploring ethnic interactive activities for resettlement farm households. Full article

Energy transition is a major structural change in the whole social system, and the energy system must be changed globally to replace fossil fuels. Hydropower is one of the largest sources of renewable energy in the world. However, owing to the construction of hydropower projects, involuntary resettlers are suffering from being far away from their native land, losing the land cultivated for generations and the houses they live in, and losing the social relationship network based on geography and blood ties. Based on the system evaluation theory of reservoir resettlement and referring to relevant research findings, this paper constructs a comprehensive evaluation index framework for assessing the implementation effect of the Post-Relocation Support (PReS) policy. The research region is located in Zhijin County, Bijie City, Guizhou Province, China. Accordingly, a combined method of a structural equation model and a fuzzy comprehensive evaluation model is used in this paper to analyze the implementation of the PReS policy. The results show that the total score of implementing effects of the PReS policy is 4.4, with dramatic significance. The subindex scores of the resettlers’ family income, living conditions, and production conditions; the local economy; and social stability are 4.3, 4.6, 4.4, 4.6, and 4.3, respectively, with dramatic significance. This paper has analyzed and summarized the successful practices of implementing the PReS policy for reservoir resettlers in three dimensions: poverty alleviation, beautiful home construction, and accelerating rural revitalization. Research shows that China’s rural reservoir resettlers’ PReS policy has been more effective in restoring the livelihoods of reservoir resettlers. Full article

With the decisive results of poverty alleviation in China, figuring out how to consolidate the results and transform them into the driving force of rural revitalization is an important adjustment for rural revitalization and high-quality development. The efficiency of policy implementation as well as the sustainable development of the areas out of poverty are both reflected in rural households’ satisfaction with the ex-suit poverty alleviation policy for relocation. Based on survey data collected from 293 households in County M, Sichuan Province, this paper selects 23 indicators of satisfaction with post-relocation support policies from livelihood capital, political trust, policy participation, and public service perception. On this basis, we use the multinomial logistic model to analyze the impact of each influencing factor on the post-relocation support policy’s satisfaction degree for rural households. The results show that the satisfaction degree of relocated households with post-relocation support policies is upper-middle. Among the livelihood capital of relocated households, the proportion of non-agricultural income, cultivated land area, infrastructure conditions, number of family workers, and number of civil servants are all factors that positively affect policy satisfaction. In addition, with regard to relocating households’ engagement in political trust, policy participation, and public service perception, it should be pointed out that policy results trust, policy understanding, opinions expressed, local government, back-up personnel, policy process, and support funds all have appreciably positive effects on policy satisfaction. These evaluation results can serve as a reference for the revision of post-relocation support policies in China and other developing countries. Full article