Study On Rural Poverty Issues Based On The Restrictions Of Geographic Environment

The geographic-environmental effects on rural poverty are discussed in the thesis. It is a study to analyze the relationships between the rural poverty and geographic location, restrictions of environmental conditions, social development, while factors of natural conditions of agricultural production, geographic location, transportation and communication are considered as the main capitals for economic development. A theoretical framework is proposed to analyze the relationships between poverty and geography-environment after careful review of the theories and practices on poverty and poverty reduction. Quantitative method is used to estimate relationships between poverty, income and natural geography-environment, social development, in order to discuss and solve three following problems: (1) to what extent the natural geography-environment will constrain the poverty reduction under the productivity and economic system in China now?(2) In a specific area, what are the most influential factors in big amount of geographic-environmental conditions that have effect on rural poverty? And what is the mechanism?(3) How and to what extent the steps of poverty alleviation and development will relax the restrictions of the natural geography-environment on poverty?After analyzing how main components of natural geography-environment, such as climate, landform, land and soil, water resource, natural disaster, and main human environment factors, such as economic location, infrastructure, agriculture structure, degradation of environmental resource and other social development factors, will have effects on rural poverty; and how rural poverty and geography-environment interact is discussed under the angle and theory of human-land relation in human geography. After the key research question, "geography-environment is one of the determinate factors of rural poverty", is presented in the thesis, an analytical framework is established to explain the reason why poor rural area has a slow rate of economic growth.In order to examine the poverty effect of geography-environment which proposed in the thesis, Gansu Province is chosen as the case for research. Gansu Province has a complicated geography-environment and a high poverty rate in rural area, which has 51 poverty counties at national and provincial level. Panel Data from 26 variables, which come from two first-level indicators: natural conditions and location, social-economic development, and thirteen second-level indicators, are used for regression analysis. The regression results show that conditions of agricultural climate resources, land resources, tourist and mineral resources, geographic location and transportation conditions, natural disasters, landform, etc., are all constraints in different extents or at different level, which are restrictions on agricultural economic development and on effective reduction of poverty rate at county's level. But a fast social-economic development and a good policy supporting system all have significant effects on poverty reduction, while poverty is caused by resource constraints.Base on regression results of the geographic-environmental poverty effect, and combining the practice of a new poverty reduction mode, "whole village participating", the experience of successful poverty reduction cases in Gansu, which are made by improving geographic-environmental conditions, are discussed in the thesis. The results and cases in the thesis may provide a theoretical guidance for decision-makers to solve the problem of rural poverty in Gansu Province, and achieve sustainable rural economic development.