Study On The Influence Of Ecological Compensation On Peasants’ Livelihood In Poverty-Stricken Areas Of Rocky Desertification

The contradiction between human and land is prominent in poverty-stricken areas of rocky desertification,and there is a complex interaction between ecological deterioration and frequent poverty.Ecological compensation is an institutional arrangement to improve environmental quality and alleviate poverty at home and abroad.Returning farmland to forest project which started in 1999 is a kind of governmental purchase behavior in practices of ecological compensation in China.This paper takes Donglan County where the pilot county of returning farmland to forest project in Guangxi autonomous region as the research area,regards GIS technology and statistical analysis as the platform,uses methods of dynamic model of land use and Markov Matrix to analyzed the spatial and temporal characteristics of land use before and after returning farmland to forest project from the perspective of interaction of human and land.Based on the DFID sustainable livelihood capital framework,this paper establishes an evaluation system of comprehensive livelihood capacity,analyzes the impact of returning farmland to forest project on farmers’sustainable livelihood and uses the logistic model to explore factors affecting peasants’ willingness to participate in the project.The results show that:(1)The land use structures of Donglan County tend to be reasonable.From 2000 to 2018,the areas of forest land have increased by 6601.38 hectares,the areas of cultivated land and grassland have decreased by 5019.32 hectares and 1821.58 hectares respectively.The dynamic degree of single land use and the dynamic degree of synthesis land use have decreased steadily.Large areas of cultivated lands and grasslands have been converted to forest lands,while small areas of forest lands,cultivated land and grassland have been converted to water areas and water conservancy facilities,residential land and other construction lands.(2)The livelihood of farmers is developing towards the direction of capital diversification.The minimum living needs,human capital,material capital,financial capital and social capital are significantly better than those before returning farmland to forest project.The abilities of farmers to resist pressure have been enhanced,and the pace of poverty alleviation has been accelerated.The poor households are the ones who benefit the most.(3)Peasants’ livelihood is mainly based on the development and utilization of single land resources.The minimum living needs,natural capital and financial capital have a significant negative correlation effect on peasants’ willingness to participate in the project.Human capital has a significant positive correlation effect.Absolute and relative poor households have a low willingness to participate.After returning farmland to forest,farmers’livelihood strategies tend to be diversified,which weakens the impact of natural capital on livelihoods.Human capital,financial capital and social capital have significant positive correlation with farmers’ willingness to participate in the project,while the minimum living needs and natural capital have significant negative correlation.Based on the research suggestions,we should pay close attention to the development of farmers’ assets and livelihood abilities from the aspects of the selection process of participants,willingness to participate,compensation methods,supporting policies and operation mechanism,so as to provide ideas for ensuring the new round of achievements of returning farmland to forest and realizing the win-win situation of environmental protection and poverty alleviation.