Research On Farmers’ Participating In The Cooperative Governance Of The Water Environment Of Baiyangdian Region

Baiyangdian is the largest freshwater wetland system in the North China Plain.Since the 1970s,water environmental governance has been carried out by adopting engineering and technical measures such as controlling emission sources,removing silt,ecological restoration,pollution controlling,eliminate breeding,and cross-basin water supply,etc..The water environment quality of Baiyangdian wetland has improved in fluctuations,but it has failed to meet class Ⅲ water quality standard for water environment function zone.At present,Baiyangdian water environment governance mainly relies on national coercive power and government control ability to achieve governance goals,although companies have played the main role of governance but the participation of non-governmental-organizations and public especially farmers has be ignored or excluded.However,modern environmental governance system requires establishment with the governance as the leader,the enterprises as the main body,the social organizations as the good helper of the government,the public as the participator,they are united together.Farmers,as polluters of the water environment and beneficiaries of water governance,should be more in-depth participants in water governance.At present,with the construction of Xiongan New District,one of the prominent contradictions in the governance of rural water environment is the discord between the gradual awakening of farmers’ environmental awareness and civic awareness which prompts them to actively participate in the water environment governance and gets sense of gain and the reality of being excluded from rural water environment public affairs.Therefore,in the process of water environment governance there are important theoretical significance and urgent practical need which includes to clarify the practical obstacles of farmers’ participation,to reveal the causal mechanism of participation willingness-behavioral response and moreover to construct an effective path for farmers’ participation.The research theme which have focused in this article is farmers’ participation in the multiple governance of Baiyangdian water environment.First,based on theories of public goods,polycentric governance and planned behavior and by using questionnaire survey method and structural equation model,the pollution and governance status of Baiyangdian region are elaborated;the obstacles that exist in farmers’ participation in the treatment of rural water environment are analyzed.Secondly,based on field survey data,descriptive statistics on farmer participation from the perspective of deconstruction of the analytical framework are carried out,and then a structural equation model of farmer participation including four latent variables of perceived value,institutional trust,participation intention,and behavior response is constructed.Empirical research shows that farmers’ intention and behavior choices for participating in Baiyangdian water environmental governance has followed the basic logic of perceived value→institutional trust→intentional choice→behavior response.Farmers’ participation behavior response is mainly positively affected by perceived value,institutional trust,and participation intention.The path coefficients are 0.44,0.21,and 0.24,respectively.Among them,the perceived value is the most critical driving factor in the response of farmers’ participation in behavior,while the characteristics of farmers’ "economic rationality" and "social rationality" results in deviate between intentions and behaviors of farmers’ participation.The path coefficient is lower only 0.24 for participation intentions to transform behaviors.Finally,the path to participate in the multiple co-governance of the Baiyangdian water environment was proposed including to improve the water environment co-governance system and strengthen the trust of farmers in the system,to optimize the power conditions for farmers to participate and correct deviations in behavior and willingness,to established the "progressive" participation of farmers and the "New Three Peoples" stage of water governance,to construct a restriction path for farmers to participate in the multiple governance of water environment of Baiyangdian region.The possible innovations are as follows:first,the analysis framework of farmers’participation in Baiyangdian water environment governance is put forward,institutional trust and perceived value variables is added into the structural equation model,more attention has been paid to farmers’ psychological motives and interest demands,the characteristics of farmers’ "economic rationality" and "social rationality" are effectively demonstrated.Second,the current policy recommendations for farmers’ participation in Baiyangdian water environment governance have been refinedbased,and based on the environmental principle of the "New Three People",a theoretical model of farmers’"progressive" ladder participation is constructed.Third,aint path of multiple cooperative water governance has been constructed.Third,based on the three dimensions of rule of law,rule of morality,and autonomy,the constraint path of multiple cooperative water governance has been constructed.Based on the PPP model,a new "4P"(Public-Private-Peasant-Partnership)model in which the government,social capital,and farmers are co-operation to be partnership have been proposed.It provides a beneficial theoretical exploration for the promotion of the multiple co-governance water environment in Baiyangdian region.