Research On The Behavior And Welfare Effects Of Farmers’ Participation In Forestry Carbon Sink Projects From A Social Capital Perspective

With the continuous social and economic development,the impact of human activities on the environment has also gradually intensified,with the greenhouse effect coming to the fore and extreme climate problems occurring frequently.For this reason,China has announced to the world the goal of achieving carbon peaking by 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2060.As a result,forestry carbon sink projects have been widely developed.In addition to addressing climate change issues and responding to the "double carbon goal",forestry carbon sink projects can also generate economic and social benefits for the surrounding areas,which has good comprehensive benefits and therefore has received wide attention from all walks of life.As the main participants of forestry carbon sink projects,the participation behavior and welfare effects of farmers are related to the effectiveness of forestry carbon sink projects and the sustainable development of forestry carbon sink business.Social capital is a new type of capital that is different from traditional capital,and as an intrinsic incentive,it can promote farmers to achieve their goals.Rural areas are a typical relational society,and social capital has an important influence on the economic activities and individual behaviors of farmers.Therefore,this paper will explore farmers’ participation in forestry carbon sink projects and their welfare effects from the perspective of social capital.This paper selects Tongshan County,Chongyang County and Jiayu County of Xianning City,where the typical forestry carbon sink project area of Hubei Province is located,as the research area.Based on 432 research data,we constructed a social capital measurement system based on social capital theory,analyzed the social capital characteristics of farmers in different dimensions,and used a binary logistic model to explore the intrinsic mechanism of farmers’ participation in forestry carbon sink projects;on this basis,we used the PSM model to measure the welfare effects of farmers’ forestry carbon sink projects,and explored the differences of farmers’ welfare effects in terms of social capital heterogeneity groups.The conclusions of the study are as follows:(1)According to the social capital theory,the social capital of farmers is divided into three dimensions: social network,social trust and social participation.The social network is determined by the social network of farmers and forestry organizations,close friends,relatives,village cadres,neighbors,and experienced forestry households.The degree of communication is represented;the social trust is represented by the degree of trust of farmers in forestry organizations,close friends,relatives,village cadres,neighbors,and experienced forest households;social participation is represented by the frequency of farmers participating in village collective activities,village cadre elections,and making suggestions.In general,the level of social network and social trust of farmers is relatively low,and the level of social participation is relatively high.In terms of social network and social trust,farmers have relatively high levels of communication and trust with close friends,relatives,and neighbors,and relatively low levels of communication and trust with forestry organizations,village cadres,and experienced forest households.(2)Social network,social trust,social participation and total social capital have a significant impact on the behavior of farmers participating in forestry carbon sequestration projects,gender,years of education,whether party members,whether they have participated in training,and cognition of forestry carbon sequestration projects It is also an important factor affecting the participation of farmers.As one of farmers’ capital endowments,social capital plays an active role in farmers’ participation.The government should pay attention to cultivating farmers’ social capital and promoting farmers’ participation in projects.In terms of individual characteristics,gender and party membership have a positive impact on farmers’ participation behavior.In terms of production characteristics,whether or not they have received forestry training and the knowledge of forestry carbon sequestration projects can promote farmers’ participation behavior.The government should actively organize production training and increase the publicity of forestry carbon sequestration projects.(3)In terms of social capital heterogeneity,the welfare effect of farmers in the high social capital group is higher than that of farmers in the low social capital group.Among the farmers in the low social capital group,the welfare level of farmers who did not participate in forestry carbon sink projects obtained by nearest neighbor matching was0.275,and the welfare level of farmers who participated in forestry carbon sink projects was 0.353,respectively,and the welfare effect of farmers was 7.8%.The welfare levels of farmers not participating in forestry carbon sink projects obtained by radius matching and nuclear matching were 0.280 and 0.281,respectively,and the welfare levels of farmers participating in forestry carbon sink projects were 0.340 and 0.340,respectively,and the welfare effects of farmers were 6.0% and 6.0%,respectively.Among farmers in the high social capital group,the welfare levels of farmers not participating in forestry carbon sink projects obtained by the three methods of nearest neighbor matching,radius matching and kernel matching were 0.357,0.329 and 0.332,respectively,and the welfare levels of farmers participating in forestry carbon sink projects were 0.436,0.438 and 0.438,respectively;the welfare levels of farmers obtained by using the three methods of nearest neighbor matching,radius matching and kernel matching The welfare effects obtained by using the three methods of nearest neighbor matching,radius matching and kernel matching were 8.3%,10.9% and 10.6%,respectively.