Studies On Ecological Emigration In Prairie Areas

Ecological emigration results from the constant reflection upon thedeterioration of resources and ecological environment. In prairie areas, it hasdouble attributes of resource and ecological science as well as economic andsocial science: it is a systematic grassland ecological protection project, and alsoa complex project of lives improvement. In recent decade, more researchemerge regarding ecological emigration pilot study and countermeasures, butthe process of emigration is not smooth as it is related to practical andtheoretical problems. I conducted a further study on the ecological emigration inInner Mongolia Region with qualitative and quantitative research methods.The dissertation consists of eight chapters.Chapter Ⅰ Introduction This chapter introduces the researchbackground, purpose and significance of study. By reviewing the domestic andinternational ecological emigration research, this dissertation puts forward thetheme and methods of the research and lists the innovative and deficient points.The dissertation argues that the further development on the research ofecological emigration is not only the urgent need to protect the grassland, but also the practical needs to improve the lives of emigrants.Chapter Ⅱ Connotation and basic theory of ecological emigration fromgrassland This chapter defines and discusses the connotation and its basictheory of ecological emigration from grassland. The literature review shows thefollowing consensus: First, grassland pastoral area possesses natural, economic,social, and cultural traits and has its own development and problems. Second,despite the definitions of ecological emigration, it contains three commonfactors, namely, resource and ecological deterioration, human livingenvironment destruction, and population emigration. The theoreticalfoundations of its operation include ecological bearing capacity theory,ecological restoration theory, anti-poverty theory, population migration theory,and the theory of sustainable development. Third, ecological emigration fromgrassland pastoral area has obvious regional characteristics and is closelyrelated to the practice of anti-poverty. Achieving the improvement of ecologyand lives are the double aims of the operation. This type of emigration is undergovernment guidance and assistance to the voluntary emigrants, which isdifferent from project resettlement and refugee immigrants in the nature ofvoluntariness and goal-orientedness.Chapter Ⅲ The necessity of ecological emigration and the scopedetermination in the grassland pastoral areas At present, there are two purposes to implement ecological emigration in pastoral areas on grassland. Thefirst purpose is to release the pressure from too fast growth of population andlivestock and the sharp contradictions of ecological resources and environmentdeteriaration, to realize the urgent need of grassland ecological restoration. Thesecond purpose is to help farmers improve living environment and the quality ofproduction.This paper puts forward the framework and criteria to determine the scopeof emigration, namely in five aspects: the living environment, resourceconditions, economic level, social development, and the area characters. Theframework includes10main indexes and39auxiliary indexes. At the same time,I divided the emigration into four types,"need to transfer","urgent need totransfer","deferring transfer" and "no need to transfer." Meanwhile, referencevalues of indexes for each migration type are provided in the dissertation, whileprovides important reference for the local government to determine the scopeand scale of emigration.Chapter Ⅳ The dynamic mechanism and balancing mechanism of theecological emigration in grassland pastoral areas In describing the power,resistance, joint forces, attraction, repulsion, balancing force during in theoperation of ecological emigration in the grassland pastoral areas, I analyzes thecondition, the standard and the targets for related parties of ecological emigration (governments and emigrants, emigrating and immigrating areas,ecological preserving and beneficial areas) to form joint efforts. Two importantarguments: First, the interaction among the ecological emigration related partyis the precondition to form joint efforts. Acting in concert is the basic standardfor measuring force. The fundamental goals including benefits to the emigrants,development for immigrating areas, organizers winning the hearts of the people,and that government and the beneficial areas obtain ecological balance. Second,to reach balancing mechanism is to pay close attention to related parties’ mentalbalance, interests balance, migration process balance, and the key (ecologicalprotection and construction) and core (emigrants’ lives improvement) balances.I take XiLinGuoLe Meng in Inner Mongolia as an example and use Logiteconometric model to analyse the aspiration of the ecological migration andinfluencing factors.Chapter Ⅴ Resettlement areas and industry choice in grassland pastoralareas First, I take the difference in living environment, resources conditionsand social economic development as the basic principles of choosing theplacement of the emigrants and immigrating areas. Secondly, the importantconditions for selective settlement are the living environment of the naturalsuitability; living convenience and restriction; soil, grass, water resourceabundance for the development of production; adjacent urban traffic conditions; population size, the economic level, per capita income; employment channels,market demand of agricultural and livestock products; and the convenience andservice level of public services for immigrants and their children.After analyzing the advantages and disadvantages of four types ofresettlement, this paper argues that, moderately concentrated resettlement ofimmigrants village, which helps improving the allocating efficiency of publicservices and helps immigrants to create a new way of life, conducive to dovetailwith the development of urbanization, should be the best choice.Chapter Ⅵ Planning and methods of ecological emigration in grasslandpastoral areas This chapter discusses the emigration planning andorganization for emigration. First, migration planning is complicated while theformulation of development plans to help immigrants is very important. Simplereplication of traditional farming and animal husbandry cannot resolveemigration development problem. This paper argues that, to help immigrants toform a clear direction of development, to expand the space for development, tocreate conditions for development, and to improve the development of ability,are the keys to solve the immigrant development plan. This helps immigrants tochoose appropriate project, to promote the development of project plan,capacity cultivation plan, and government assistance program. This is ofimportant significance to accelerate immigrant change development way and to improve the quality and efficiency of immigrants development.Second, given the conditions of the pastoral immigrants living dispersively,lacking information, difficult to relocation, in order to make the relocationaccomplished safely, orderly, and smoothly, it is necessary to set up an "Emigration Office ", to solve specific issues regarding relocation of emigrants.Third, given that one-step migration patterns is defective, I argue that thetreatment of ecological migration can be set with1-2year transition period. It isnot only feasible, but also more secure to adopting the two step transfer method:" experiencing first, framework followed, deliberation and negotiation, andrelocation finally."Chapter Ⅶ Emigration effect evaluation and risk system ofecological migration in grassland pastoral areas First, I propose tenevaluation content and indexes to measure emigration effects from perspectivesof ecology, living, material and spiritual gain, emigration and immigrationlocations. The evaluation is comprehensive, systematic, practical and rare of itskind nationwide. Based on the understanding that emigrants should be themain evaluators on emigration effects, I surveyed87migrants from five villagesabout their satisfaction of the migration and resettlement. Analysis shows thatthe overall evaluation is "passing grade." The ratio of the household decidinglong-term settle-down to moving back to original residency is2to1. Second, among all the poverty risk factors analyzed with quantitativemethod AHP, industrial placement risk, income risk, as well as cultural qualityand training risk of emigration are among the top3.Chapter Ⅷ Form and effects of grassland preservation andmanagement post to human and animal emigration It is very necessary tostudy this problem to protect grassland resources, restore the grasslandvegetation, consolidate the migration accomplishment and reduce the return rate.After discussing the urgency and necessity to form professional grasslandpreservation and management teams, I make a detailed comparison of strengthsand weaknesses among the five types of grassland management. I argue that,forming grassland preservation and management co-op groups by the remainingherders recommended by the emigrants, is a practical and feasible managementform for the present stage of development. In addition, I suggestcountermeasures to improve the effects of grassland preservation andmanagement by co-op groups.