| Rocky desertification in karst areas is one of the three major ecological problems in China.The rocky desertification control is highly concerned and valued by the government and all sectors of the community.Forestry management projects such as artificial afforestation,vegetation management and protection,and closing mountains for afforestation are the core of comprehensive management of rocky desertification,contributing the main strength in the process of promoting the reversal of rocky desertification.As the most important subject of rocky desertification area,the farmers’ forest land use behaviors largely determines the success or failure of rocky desertification control.Encouraging farmers to continuously and effectively participate in the forest land rocky desertification control is the key to realize the long-term mechanism of rocky desertification control effect and promoting the sustainable development of forest land.The actual investigation found that the implementation of forest land rocky desertification control involves the early afforestation stage and the later stage of results management and protection,as well as the management of different forest types(economic forest and public welfare forest).The most closely related to farmers are some characteristic economic fruit forest planting and management projects suitable for stony desertification forest land implemented by the government to achieve ecological and economic benefits,as well as the closure of mountains and forests for the protection of ecological public welfare forests.However,in reality,due to the long production cycle of economic fruit forest planting on rocky desertified forest land,the economic benefits are slow,and it is difficult to solve the short-term production and living needs of farmers.In addition,the implementation of mountain closures for afforestation restricts farmers’ use of forest land,and related ecological compensation system is not perfect,resulting in the lack of enthusiasm of farmers to actively participate in the forest land rocky desertification control.It is still relatively common to withdraw after participation,to destroy while managing and to violate the regulations on closing hills for afforestation,and it is difficult to achieve the sustainability and effectiveness of the forest land rocky desertification control.The participation of farmers in the forest land rocky desertification control means that farmers must use forest land resources in a sustainable manner.Institutional economics believes that the construction of a property right system can restrict and intervene farmers’ resource utilization behavior and related benefit distribution mechanisms.Therefore,forest land property rights are considered to be one of the most important factors affecting forest land use behaviors.The comprehensive control project of rocky desertification was implemented in 2008,almost at the same time,China’s new round of collective forest tenure reform has been expanded and comprehensively promoted nationwide.The main tasks of new round of collective forest tenure reform are to “clear the property rights,liberalize the management rights,implement the disposal rights and insure the income rights.” which aim is to give farmers more secure collective forest rights and more complete collective forest rights structure,so as to encourage farmers to use forest land sustainably,and realize the win-win goal of ecological protection and income increase for farmers.This is highly consistent with the goal of forest land rocky desertification control to improve ecological environment and increase farmers’ income in rocky desertification area.The institutional background of the two policies provides an opportunity for this paper to explore the farmers’ effective participation mechanism in forest land rocky desertification control from the perspective of forest land right reform.This paper draws on the based on the economic theory of property right,farmers’ economic behavior theory and sustainable forestry development theory,following the research ideas of "theoretical research-reality inspection-empirical testing-policy recommendations",and drawing on relevant research results at home and abroad,define the connotation of tenure security of forest land,the integrity of forest land property rights structure,and farmers’ management behavior on the forestry rocky desertification,analyzed the mechanism of forest land property rights on farmers’ participation behaviors in forest land rocky desertification control,and constructed a theoretical analysis framework.Based on the survey data of 549 farmers in Fengshan County of Guangxi,this paper empirically tests the impact of forest land property right on farmers’ participation behavior in forest land rocky desertification control by using Double hurdle model,Tobit model,Negative binomial model and Logit model.The purpose is to better guide,encourage and standardize the forest land use behavior of farmers in rocky desertification areas from the perspective of forest tenure reform,improvement and innovation,to ensure that farmers continue to effectively participate in the forest land rocky desertification control,and to promote the sustainable use and development of forest land.The main conclusions are as follows:(1)Under the background of the simultaneous implementation of a new round of collective forest rights system reform and comprehensive control of rocky desertification,Farmers in rocky desertification areas need to improve their overall awareness of forest land property rights and their enthusiasm for participating in rocky desertification forestry management.After the new round of collective forest tenure reform,55% of the sample farmers still have an unsure attitude about whether the forest land will be adjusted,requisitioned or disputed in the future.The farmers who believe that the forest land will not be adjusted,requisitioned or disputed in the future are only accounted for 20.4%,36.2% and37.5%,indicating that farmers’ cognition of the security of forest land property rights needs to be improved.Farmers’ cognition level of forest land use rights is still relatively low,and there is only a high degree of certainty in the two use rights of “independent choice of tree species for management” and “management of non-wood products.” The cognition level of the transfer rights in the village is higher than that out of the village.Farmers’ cognition level of mortgage rights is low,as shown by the fact that 41.9% of the sample farmers still believe that they do not own or are not sure whether they have forest land mortgage rights.Farmers mainly participate in rocky desertification forestry control in three ways: artificial afforestation,forest management and protection,and closing hillsides for afforestation.In terms of participation in artificial afforestation,more farmers participate in the way of laber inputs than in the way of capital investment.In terms of participation in management and protection,only 83.1% of the afforestation farmers manage and protect the trees,and there is a phenomenon of "planting only" or "planting more than management".In terms of participation in closing hillsides for afforestation,64.8% of the sample farmers can comply with the regulations,but there are still about 35.2% of the sample farmers who have violated the regulations by cutting firewood,grazing and picking.In addition,only 57% of the sample farmers consider themselves to be the main body of stony desertification control.(2)In the afforestation link where the work is relatively simple and the time is relatively short,the forest land property rights have a certain incentive effect on farmers’ participate in afforestation,And this incentive effect has obvious differences in different stages of farmers’ afforestation decision-making.The decision of farmers participating in afforestation is divided into two stages: whether to participate in afforestation and the level of investment in afforestation.After empirical testing through the Double Hurdle model,it is found that: The tenure security of forest land does not have a significant impact on farmers’ decision of whether or not to afforest,but it significantly promotes the level of capital investment and labor input for farmers’ afforestation.The integrity of forest land use rights has significantly increased the possibility of farmers participating in artificial afforestation,but the impact on farmers’ investment in artificial afforestation is not significant.The possible reason is that although complete forest land use rights give farmers greater capacity for property rights and increase the possibility of farmers’ afforestation,the particularity of rocky desertification forest land has led to problems such as limited choice of afforestation tree species and difficulty in realizing the value of forest land,which weakens the incentive effect of forest land property rights on farmers’ afforestation investment levels.The integrity of forest land transfer rights does not significantly affect the decision of farmers whether to afforest or not,but for the farmers who choose to participate in afforestation,the integrity of forest land the transfer right will significantly increase their afforestation input level.The integrity of forest land mortgage rights only passes the significance test in the model of whether farmers have invested in labor,and has no significant impact on the level of farmers’ afforestation inputs.On the one hand,it may be because of the substitution effect of forest tenure mortgage loans.On the other hand,it may also be that the high threshold for small farmers to obtain forest tenure mortgage loans,which weakens the incentive effect of forest land mortgage on farmers’ afforestation.(3)In the forest management and protection link where the work is more repetitive and requires more time and continuous investment,forest land property rights have obvious incentives for farmers to participate in forest management and protection behaviors,and the incentive effect of forest land property rights on the intensity of forest management and protection for farmers is higher than the frequency of management and protection.The behavior of farmers participating in forest management and protection is divided into two aspects: frequency of management and protection and intensity of management and protection.After empirical testing with the negative binomial model and the Tobit model,we found that,the tenure security of the forest land significantly stimulated the frequency and intensity of management and protection,its average marginal effects on the frequency and intensity of forest management and protection have respectively reached 0.539 and 4.69,this incentive effect has been enhanced after adding the structural integrity variables of forest land property rights,indicating that granting farmers more complete forest land rights can further improve the security of forest land property rights,thereby increasing the frequency and intensity of forest management and protection by farmers.The integrity of forest land use rights significantly improved the frequency and intensity of forest management and protection,and its average marginal effects on the frequency and intensity of forest management and protection have respectively reached 0.267 and 2.919.In the case of rocky desertification forest land with a long production cycle and slow economic benefits,it is particularly important to expand farmers’ ability to act on the property rights of forest land.The impact of the integrity of forest land transfer rights and the integrity of forest land mortgage rights on farmers’ forest management and protection behavior is not completely consistent with expectations,both of them only have a positive effect on the intensity of management and protection of farmers.The reason may be that,relative to increasing the number of management and protection,increasing the current frequency of forest management and protection,that is,increasing the effective management and protection investment per unit area is more beneficial to increase the future value and income of forests,and can more realize the future transfer of farmers through forest land.The possibility of obtaining benefits or obtaining loans through forest tenure mortgages.(4)Different from farmers’ participation in artificial afforestation and forest management and protection,the impact of forest land property rights on farmers’ participation in mountain closures for afforestation mainly comes from the changes in the security of forest land property rights under the right to forest reform.After empirical testing with the Logit model,we found that,the tenure security of the forest land positively and significantly affects farmers’ decision-making to participate in closing hills for afforestation.However,due to the different security effects,the impact of different ways of forestland tenure confirmation on farmers’ decision-making of closing hillsides for afforestation is also different.Empirical test shows that,the possibility of farmers participating in closing hills for afforestation is reduced11.7% in the personal forest certification system.Based on the above conclusions,it is suggested to put forward an effective participation mechanism for farmers in the forestry rocky desertification control from the perspective of the reform and improvement of forest land property rights: Further improve the security of forest land property rights of farmers in terms of legal system,implementation of policies,and subjective cognition of farmers.Improve the integrity of forest land property right structure in terms of expanding forest land use rights and capabilities,improving forest rights circulation mechanisms,improving forest rights mortgage loan systems,and promoting public welfare forest income rights pledge loans.Improve the ecological compensation system for public welfare forests to ensure farmers’ right to benefit from participating in the protection of ecological public welfare forests.Effectively improve farmers’ awareness of the main body of rocky desertification forestry management,improve the scientific and technological support system for rocky desertification forestry management,build a sustainable forestry industrialization development mechanism,and increase farmers’ income through multiple channels.The innovations of this article are:(1)This article puts the forest land property rights and the forest land rocky desertification control into the same analysis framework,to construct a theoretical analysis framework of "forest land property rights-farmers’ participation in forest land rocky desertification control-sustainable use of forest land ".On the one hand,from the perspective of forest land property rights,it provides new directions for encouraging farmers to effectively participate in forest land rocky desertification control and promoting the sustainable use of forest land by farmers.On the other hand,from the perspective of encouraging farmers to participate in forest land rocky desertification control,the effectiveness of the new round of collective forest tenure reform in rocky desertification areas was evaluated.The research has made a certain theoretical contribution to the further expansion and improvement of forest land rocky desertification control and the relationship between farmers’ forest land use behavior and forest resource changes under collective forest tenure reform.(2)This article focuses on measuring the forest land property rights from two aspects:tenure security of forest land and the integrity of forest land property right structure.In previous empirical studies,when measuring tenure security of forest land,most of them only considered the impact of forest land adjustment and forest land acquisition on farmers’ perceptions of forest land property rights security.However,since the forest rights disputes experienced by farmers are also an important factor affecting their perceptions of the security of forest land property rights,Therefore,this article comprehensively measures farmers’ perceptions of forest land property rights security from forest land adjustment,forest land requisition,and forest rights disputes.In addition,measuring the integrity of forest land property rights structure from farmers’ perceptions of their ownership of forest land use rights,forest land transfer rights,and forest land mortgage rights will help to analyze which property rights variables really play a role in farmers’ participation in rocky desertification forestry governance.(3)Current research lacks the literature on the forest land rocky desertification control at different stages and different types of forest land from the perspective of farmers’ participation.This article explores the impact of forest land property rights on farmers’ participation in“artificial afforestation”,“forest management and protection”,and “closing mountains for afforestation”.Among them,artificial afforestation and forest management mainly refer to commercial forest land,while the closure of mountains for afforestation mainly focuses on public welfare forest.Artificial afforestation is mainly aimed at the construction stage of forest land rocky desertification control,while forest management and protection mainly refers to the later stage to management and protection of governance results.This research more comprehensively and systematically reveals the decision-making mechanism of farmers participating in forest land rocky desertification control at different stages and different types of forest land. |
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