Synthesize dual goals:A study on China’s ecological poverty alleviation system

LEI Ming ,YUAN Xuan-yu,YAO Xin-yan

1 Institute on Poverty Research,Peking University,Beijing 100871,P.R.China 2 Guanghua School of Management,Peking University,Beijing 100871,P.R.China

Abstract How to break the vicious cycle of poverty and ecological degradation is widely concerned and discussed. In the poverty alleviation practices in China,ecological poverty alleviation (EPA) is regarded as an important way to synthesize the dual goals of poverty reduction and environmental protection and to achieve the win-win outcomes. Many Chinese researchers have fruitful research achievements on EPA yet they do not recognize that EPA is not a simple combination of various policies,but a complex system involving multiple policy instruments,governmental agencies,social forces,and agents.However,few studies abroad illustrate EPA in detail. They focus more on specific components of EPA such as payment for ecosystem services while overlooking the integral concept of EPA and practices from China. Based on field research in Guizhou Province,China,this paper proposes a framework of EPA with an effective multi-agent and co-government system,for demonstrating the concept and practice of EPA. With case analysis,we illustrate key elements in this system and their relationships,and how they play a vital role in pursuing win-win outcomes in environmental protection and poverty alleviation. The three dimensions of this EPA system have been discussed. The first is to strengthen the interaction among the agents. Many efforts should be made for establishing an efficient communication routine and a stable relationship among their interests. The second is to reinforce the connection between diverse elements in each policy subsystem,such as the systematization and coordination of the ecological industry development,the systematization of the links before,during,and after the relocation of ecological immigrants,etc. The third is to promote the interactions between the three subsystems,so that ecological enhancement,ecological compensation,and industrial development,and migration and relocation can promote each other,and ultimately promote the coordination of poverty alleviation and ecological protection in povertystricken areas. Thus,this paper analyzes how to establish the communication routine among the relevant agents of EPA,the interaction among the internal elements of the subsystems,and the relationship between the subsystems in series,trying to reveal the basic operating mechanism of the system.

Keywords:poverty alleviation,ecological poverty alleviation,systematic characteristics,China,interaction

1.Introduction

The idea that there is a relationship between poverty and environmental degradation is long-standing yet constantly being re-discovered and re-invented. Many studies find that poverty is highly related to environmental and geographic conditions,especially for remote mountainous or arid and semi-arid areas. And that is typically named the “spatial poverty traps” (Ravallion and Wodon 1999; Birdet al.2002;Bird and Shepherd 2003; Pani and Carling 2013; Liu and Li 2017; Zhouet al.2020). At the same time,poverty also causes ecological degradation,such as land degradation,due to the use of low-input agriculture in environmental marginal areas (Hengsdijket al.2007; de Sherbininet al.2008). In many poverty-stricken areas,poor people overuse environmental resources to survive,and local governments also seek economic development at the expense of environmental damage (Gray and Moseley 2005). However,in poorer areas with a better ecological environment,some environmental conservation measures are carried out without considering the development opportunity of the poor,which resulted in greater local impoverishment by limiting people’s access to natural resources (Brockington and Schmidt-Soltau 2004; DeClercket al.2006). By and large,it is commonly believed by the academics and government officials that there is a vicious cycle of poverty and ecological environment degradation,which is one of the major reasons for the slow socio-economic development of underdeveloped areas (Todaro 1990; Cavendish 2000;Dasgupta 2003; Dasguptaet al.2005; Liuet al.2008).

Therefore,many studies strive to find solutions to break this vicious cycle. That is,the win-win strategies on local and national levels that both restore the environment,increase incomes and ensure a sustainable livelihood(Brundtland and Khalid 1987; Sims 2010; Kangalawe and Noe 2012; Shenet al.2015; Caoet al.2017). This need of balancing the ecology and the development is emphasized from early 1997,with Isonet al.(1997) called for a research direction synthesizing environmental protection and poverty eradication with systematical thinking. Similarly,some other scholars also suggest reshaping global poverty alleviation strategies with consideration of ecological and environmental conservation (Brundtland and Khalid 1987; Sanderson and Redford 2003). DeClercket al.(2006) pointed out that knowledge of ecosystem functions and processes can be applied to improve the lives of poor people,and a successful implementation of environmental interventions to reduce poverty will require recognition of the complexities inherent in issues of poverty and the environment and the existence of trade-offs,synergies,and interactions operating among the different components.

Based on the vicious cycle of poverty and ecological degradation,many policy tools are proposed and applied in the poverty alleviation practice. Ecological poverty alleviation (EPA) proposed by the Chinese government is one of the most effective programs. It can be proved by China’s greatest contribution to poverty relief,given the lack of natural endowments,poor geographic conditions,and fragile ecological environment have been the main driving forces behind persistent poverty in China (Liuet al.2017; Chenget al.2018b). For contiguous extremely poverty-stricken areas in China,where impoverishment is usually interwoven with environment degradation (Li and Li 2013; Jiaoet al.2016; Alvarado and Toledo 2017; Chenget al.2018c),EPA provides a sustainable way to reduce poverty by fairly utilizing ecological resources and to avoid sacrificing ecological environment for further industrialization and urbanization.

However,EPA has not received equal attention and not been fully understood in current studies,so we try to fill this gap between theoretical research and practice of EPA. This paper proposes an analytical framework from the perspective of system theory and identifies the key processes for pursuing a win-win outcome. Based on reviewing studies related to EPA,this paper uncovered common patterns across different sections of the same topical issue and extracted relevant information to develop the framework of the EPA policy system. Pieces of evidence for the effectiveness of our framework are presented with field investigations in Guizhou,Tibet Autonomous Region,and other areas. Intensive fieldworks were conducted in Tibet Autonomous Region in July 2017,Guizhou Province in April 2018,December 2019 and Yiyang City,Hunan Province,in July 2019,respectively. These investigations are based on an unstructured interview of poor households,government officials,and village cadres,which focus on implement progress,typical modes,main impact,major problems,and corresponding solutions related to EPA.

This paper is organized as follows. In Section 2,we review the literature related to policy instruments targeting both poverty alleviation and ecological protection. Besides,we give a brief description of our contribution. In Section 3,we propose a framework of EPA and elaborate on the policy measures involved and how they are integrated as a whole system. In Section 4,we illustrate the key processes of achieving win-win outcomes through practice analysis in China based on our framework. Section 5 concludes the paper.

2.Literature review

Within the international scope,an effective policy instrument to achieve the win-win outcome that both conserve the environment and reduce poverty is the payment for ecosystem services (PES) (Suichet al.2015; Chenget al.2018a). PES can be defined as “a transfer of resources between social actors,which aims to create incentives to align individual and/or collective land-use decisions with the social interest in the management of natural resources”(Bulteet al.2008; Muradianet al.2010). Although environmental conservation is the founding objective of PES programs,this objective has evolved to include poverty alleviation and social welfare (Pagiola and Platais 2004;Grieg-Granet al.2005). It is also by common consent that paying for ecological protection can promote the alleviation of poverty to a certain extent (Pagiola and Platais 2004;Yinet al.2004; Kosoyet al.2008; Pagiola 2008; Alix-Garciaet al.2015; Wanget al.2017). Nevertheless,some researchers hold the belief that multiple objectives weaken the efficiency of PES programs and there are barriers for PES to achieve win-win outcomes (Pagiolaet al.2005;Zilbermanet al.2006; Wunder 2008; Lee and Mahanty 2009; Muradian and Rival 2012; Muradianet al.2013; Sauer and Wossink 2013; Howeet al.2014). In response to such worries,some scholars claim that adequately designed PES programs can culminate in win-win outcomes (Engelet al.2008; Huberman and Programme 2008; Swinton 2010;Kinziget al.2011; Caoet al.2017; Olaet al.2019; Wu and Jin 2020). Regardless of both schools of thought,the tight relationship between human livelihood and environmental services,especially in developing countries and regions,which implies both environmental conservation and poverty alleviation objectives requires consideration when initiating PES programs (Fisheret al.2013).

It is also important,especially for China to explore how to achieve win-win outcomes. The distribution of Chinese poverty-stricken population considerably overlaps areas with fragile ecology or infertile land (Yu 2003; Liuet al.2017;Liu and Li 2017; Chenget al.2018c; Zhouet al.2020).For breaking the vicious cycle,EPA is proposed in 2015 by the Chinese government and gradually becomes one of the most important poverty alleviation programs. The idea behind this strategy is that poverty alleviation could benefit more from ecological enhancement than overusing the ecological resources.

For EPA is thought as a crucial policy to achieve win-win outcomes of poverty reduction and ecosystem protection by the Chinese government,researches on the topic have proliferated over these years in China. Some studies make comprehensive analyses of EPA policies,such as evaluating the policy effectiveness,analyzing the pattern of reducing poverty,sorting out the implementation process,and so on(Shen and Yang 2016; Chenet al.2017; Lei 2017; Lenget al.2018). While other studies choose to focus on a specific policy measure of EPA,such as the effectiveness of ecological compensation or the development of ecological resources industry (Chenet al.2018; Tan 2018; Chen 2019;Liet al.2019; Liuet al.2019). Neither has taken all specific policy measures as a whole to construe EPA.

Whereas,little attention has been paid to EPA abroad.For international scholars,they discuss more the ecocompensation institution of China,which is somewhat similar to the hot topic in the world known as the PES (Huanget al.2012; Liuet al.2013; Wanget al.2015; Shanget al.2018; Qiu and Yang 2019; Denget al.2020; Wu and Jin 2020). Besides,there are some studies about the poverty alleviation resettlement projects that resulted from poor ecology (Rogers and Wang 2006; Fanet al.2015; Loet al.2016; Liuet al.2018; Wanget al.2018; Rogerset al.2020; Yanget al.2020). Few English studies analyze the development of Chinese ecological industries in detail. In general,most studies agree that these policy measures have a dual focus of environmental improvement and poverty alleviation,but argue that they could not achieve win-win outcomes automatically unless their frameworks are purposely well-designed.

Moreover,there lacks research on EPA with taking it as a whole policy system in the world,which might be due to a conceptual expansion of EPA through its practices in China. In the early stage,EPA mainly refers to poverty reduction by compensating for ecological conservation,which is the narrow definition. Ecological compensation is one of the “Five-pronged Poverty Alleviation Measures”Project of China,including developing production,relocation,ecological compensation,development of education,and securing basic needs through social security. With the development of five year’s practices,the concept of EPA has been much enriched as the combination of ecological enhancement and poverty reduction in more dimensions is realized. Now the broad meaning of EPA consists of all poverty alleviation instruments upholding ecology priority,such as eco-compensation,developing ecological industries,and poverty alleviation resettlement. And it is taken as the general meaning of the terminology EPA at present (Lei 2017). This expansion of connotation may have caused the lag between international research and Chinese practice.

How to understand EPA systematically and identify the key processes for pursuing the win-win outcome? First,we introduce the EPA related policies as a whole and propose a framework for construing EPA policy system from the perspective of system theory. Along with that,we conclude the involved policy instruments and demonstrate the relationships between them. To the best of our knowledge,the systematic characteristics of EPA are emphasized for the first time. This not only fills up the deficiencies in the existing international literature on EPA research but also provides a new perspective for China’s domestic EPA research. Second,the framework is applied to analyze the practice of EPA in China by case analysis,from which lessons for successfully synthesizing ecology protection and poverty reduction could be drawn. These experiences from China may contribute to break the vicious cycle of poverty and ecological environment degradation for developing countries.

3.Framework:China’s EPA as a system

3.1.System theory

System theory originated in the early 1920s. However,it is not until 1968 when Bertalanffy publishedGeneral System Theory:Foundation,Development and Application,that the system theory was formally confirmed as a subject.Since then it has played a far-reaching and significant role in all disciplines. System is usually defined as an organic integration with special functions and consists of several elements with some structures (Losty and Weinberg 1976).System,element,structure,and function are the four concepts contained in the definition,indicating relationships existing between them.

According to Fisheret al.(2014),generic and comprehensive frameworks are valuable thinking for identifying key elements and processes and demonstrating them in detail. Frameworks are welcomed because they provide checklists for analyzing most situations without the need of investigating. Therefore,this article sums up the experience from major EPA projects and tries to propose a framework based on system theory. The framework is devoted to a systematic understanding of EPA,which methodically dissects the interconnection among several ecological and poverty alleviation projects.

3.2.The concept and framework of EPA system

The terminology EPA is the combination of ecology and poverty alleviation. Thus,EPA means ecological conservation and poverty alleviation can work together for their mutual benefits. There are two aspects that EPA emphasizes in conception:One is to reasonably use and reserve ecological resources to prompt social-economic development in impoverished areas,the other is to give consideration to ecological protection when implementing poverty alleviation programs. In the practice,EPA refers to the policy system consisting of all poverty alleviation instruments insisting on ecology priority.

Drawn from previous studies (Chen 2019; Liet al.2019;Liuet al.2019; Denget al.2020),there are clues that every instrument of EPA is complicated,and has a strong correlation with each other. Through collecting and sorting out those clues,this paper believes that the concept of EPA should be regarded as a complex interconnected system based on the system theory,and propose a framework of EPA system shown as Fig.1 to analyze the key factors for reaching ecological protection and poverty alleviation dual goals.

As shown in Fig.1,there are three main subsystems in the EPA system,corresponding to the three most important EPA projects.

1) Ecological enhancement and restoration subsystem.It is the most large-scale EPA project in poverty-stricken areas,like “Six Forestry Projects”1It includes the Natural Forest Protection Project,the “Three North” and the Key Shelterbelt System Construction Project in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River,the Green for Grain Project,the Sand Protection Project in Beijing,the Wildlife Conservation and Nature Reserve Construction Project and the Forestry Industry Construction Project of fast growing and high yield timber forest in key areas.carried out since 1998(Shen and Yang 2016). These ecological enhancement projects can not only conserve ecological resources but also create employment for poor households to increase their incomes. The ecological compensation mechanism,which is internationally known as PES,is the key for eco-enhancement to contribute to poverty reduction. It can offset the loss of stakeholders due to their efforts in environmental rehabilitation. Such a way internalizes the externality of ecology conservation and partially resolves the conflict between environmental protection and economic development (Chen 2019). The connotation of“ecological compensation poverty alleviation” is a direct transfer payment to the poor of ecological compensation fund such as a dedicated national fund for Grain for Green.And its denotation contains creating employments of environment protection for the poor,increasing the added value of ecological resources by developing the underforest economy (Tan 2018),and expanding employment opportunities in other ecological industries like ecological tourism (Su and Mei 2018).

2) Ecological industry development subsystem. For the regions with rich ecological resources,the industrialization of ecological resources is vital to make ecological conservation the driving force of poverty alleviation rather than limitation(Wang 2012). Compared with the traditional industry,the ecological industry has two obvious characteristics.First,the development of ecological industry relies on the utilization of ecological resources to make profits. Second,the priority of ecological conservation requires avoiding damage to ecological environment when developing an industrial economy,which aims at sustainably utilizing ecological resources. The ecological industries in China mainly consist of agriculture and services. The former mainly includes the organic agriculture and the under-forest industry,and the latter includes ecological tourism and carbon sink. For developing a characteristic eco-economy with a strong capacity to reduce poverty,the endowment in ecology and the market demand must be considered at the same time. However,the ecology exploited and utilized requires value assessment and corresponding restoration with considering to frangibility of the natural environment(Chenet al.2017).

3) Ecological resettlement subsystem. Poverty alleviation resettlement projects due to the ecological environment are generally shortened to ecological resettlement. Many poverty-stricken areas are also eco-sensitive areas. They may lack enough resources to meet the needs for living and development at the same time,or cannot bear more exploitation due to its important ecological functions. For residents living in eco-sensitive areas,the first thing of getting out of poverty is to move out to places suitable for production and living (Liang 2011). Besides moving the poor out,the government should take systematic measures to reach the poverty alleviation target,such as allocating transfer payment,providing more occupations,and promoting economic development in the regions with labor inflow (Chenet al.2018).

3.3.The systematical characteristics of EPA system

The key reason why EPA can be understood as a system lies in its systematic characteristics. From the perspective of system theory,the systematical characteristics of EPA are as follows:

First,there are various elements in the EPA system.Taking policy instrument elements as an example,the EPA system includes the implementation of ecological enhancement,the application of ecological compensation mechanism,the development of ecological industries,the resettlement of the poor in eco-sensitive areas,the creation of ecological welfare posts,and the capitalization of ecological resources. For involved agent elements,efforts of the government,the enterprise,and the public are needed to support the EPA system. To be specific,EPA relates to local and twinning governments and firms,impoverished households and their helpers,and a number of social organizations.

Fig.1 The interaction among elements and subsystems of ecological poverty alleviation (EPA) system.The smooth running of the EPA system relies on good interaction among agents,which is analyzed in Section 4.1. There are mainly three subsystems in the EPA system.The first subsystem focuses on developing eco-industries,which includes the construction of leading eco-industry system,the extension of the industrial value chain and the collaboration of various industries. And these are analyzed in Section 4.2. The immigrant area and the emigrant area are two key agents in the eco-relocation subsystem. Three links consist of the eco-relocation work:moving out,moving in,and following-up improvement. They and their relationship are analyzed in Section 4.3. The eco-enhancement subsystem mainly includes the eco-compensation mechanism and the eco-enhancement projects.Section 4.4 illustrates the connections among these subsystems based on eco-enhancement,which promotes the achievement of the win-win goal.

Second,there are frequent interactions among the elements shown in Fig.1. For instance,the ecological resettlement program usually works together with ecological conservation program,and the fostering of ecological industries is based on capitalized ecological resources.Through such close interactions,these elements form different subsystems with specific functions according to some structures. The eco-industry subsystem consists of the choice of leading industries,the green transformation of traditional production methods,and the industrialization of economic resources. The eco-relocation subsystem involves ecological enhancement and restoration of emigrant areas and economic development of immigrant areas. The eco-enhancement subsystem includes ecocompensation and eco-enhancement projects.

Third,there is a significant role played only by the EPA system that each isolated subsystem does not have. These subsystems ensure the sustainable inter-transformation between ecological resources and the economic resources for poverty alleviation. The stable running of the EPA system relies on the structure of subsystems and their close interconnections. For example,the eco-enhancement provides a strong basis of eco-resources for fostering ecoindustries,and in return,the profits of eco-industries can be put into eco-enhancements. For eco-relocation,ecoenhancement projects should be implemented in emigration areas for ecological restoration,and more employments can be promoted for poverty reduction in immigration areas by eco-industry development.

Fourth,there is a close connection between the EPA system and its external environment,the overall strategy of poverty alleviation in China. The ecology-first thought is internalized in the targeted poverty alleviation (TPA) strategy.Instruments of EPA are usually used in conjunction with other poverty reduction measures such as industrial poverty alleviation,cultural poverty alleviation,and education poverty alleviation. On one hand,poverty alleviation is a significant target set by the Chinese government and is supported by enormous resources. Such an external environment provides the essential basis of operation and function realization of the EPA system. On the other hand,the successful running of the EPA system contributes a lot to China’s poverty alleviation.

In previous studies,the systematic characteristics of EPA and the close relation of policy instruments are rarely concerned. In practice,the complexity of EPA makes local governments confused about how to construct a sustainable transformation institution between ecoprotection and poverty reduction. Therefore,how to construe EPA becomes the first barrier in practice. In our field research,some carders simply regard EPA as one or several policy measures such as Grain for Green Project and the ecological welfare posts. While other carders may think that EPA includes all measures of protecting the environment whether they relate to poverty alleviation or not.To fill this gap existing in both research and practice,this paper summarizes the key elements and their interactions of EPA system based on system theory and illustrates the application of our framework by taking local practices of EPA as cases. From that,we can learn the lesson about how government can make efforts to construct a successful EPA system,and provide effective suggestions for properly combining poverty reduction and ecological protection in poverty-stricken areas.

4.Cases and illustrations of EPA system

When building and illustrating a practically useful EPA system,three aspects should be kept on the front burner(Fig.2),and case analysis is presented in these aspects respectively to illustrate how to apply the framework of the EPA system to governance. Nine cases from Guizhou Province give a comprehensive and direct demonstration of the complexity and systematic characteristics of the EPA system,and how this system helps to achieve win-win outcomes. Moreover,to reveal the relationships between the cases and the framework,we made a guiding table of cases,topics,and corresponding figures,as shown in Table 1.

4.1.The interaction of agents

EPA is a systematically multi-agent and trans-department work. Eco-resource is a typical public good and environment protection has a positive externality,which indicates that the government must play a dominant role in the EPA system. Thus,when analyzing the interaction of agents in the EPA system,we need to focus on the coordination and cooperation among governments of different administrative levels and among the departments of government.

The relationship between the superior and subordinate governments usually follows the process of strategy formation and implementation. Guided by the ideology from the superior government,the subordinate government makes more specific plans according to local characteristics and tries to find the most efficient ways to perform. The effectiveness of the lower governments influences the results of the whole work and the formulation of subsequent strategical planning of the superior government. Such a relationship is more obvious in the choice of leading industries and industrial development planning.

Cooperation among different departments of government is also required in the EPA governance system. The environmental protection agency and the poverty alleviation agency are firstly involved,as EPA values the conservation of the eco-resource as well as lifting the impoverished people out of poverty. There are at least three departmentcooperating projects during the implementation of the EPA system. The Grain for Green Project concerns the Development and Reform Commission and Forestry Administration (FA),and Forestry Ecological Benefit Compensation Project concerns the FA and Finance Bureau (FB). Besides those agencies mentioned above,the management of eco-welfare posts (forest ranger,for example) also concerns the Office of Poverty Alleviation and Development,and the eco-relocation project in some nature reserves concerns the Water Resources Bureau. As there are many agents involved in EPA,it is crucial to build a stable relationship among the agents for communication and cooperation,which calls for a top-level design to integrate institutions and policies. In this regard,the interactive mechanism of relevant agencies of EPA constructed by Guizhou Province can be used as a reference case (Case 1).

Since EPA is a systematic work involving multiple government departments,efforts are made to increase communication across the relevant departments of EPA. Firstly,a provincial leading group has been set up for poverty alleviation with a dual team leader system in Guizhou,which is responsible for carrying out the overall plan for poverty reduction. Then,a regular multidepartment consultation institution has been established for a better mutual understanding of their work. Besides the cooperation within the provincial government,Guizhou has started a collaboration with other provinces in regional ecoenvironmental governance since 2004 when the Agreement of Regional Environmental Protection Cooperation in the Pan-Pearl River Delta is issued.

In 2016,the combination of ecology protection and poverty alleviation is further strengthened by releasing the Opinions on Promoting Green Development and Building Ecological Civilization. The Implementation Plan of Ecological Poverty Alleviation in Guizhou Province issued in 2018 puts forward ten projects of EPA,which clearly define the specifics of EPA to help all departments understand the concept of EPA consistently in practice.

Guizhou has also made a pilot exploration of institutional reform. With the toughest task of eco-relocation in China,Guizhou singles eco-relocation out as a special poverty alleviation program,and establishes the eco-relocation project command at each administrative level. Moreover,a special agency Provincial Eco-migration Bureau is set up,which is directly responsible for the whole eco-relocation project. This institutional reform effectively reduces the cost of communication and coordination among departments involved in the eco-relocation program,which is conducive to the smooth implementation of the special plan.

From the practice of Guizhou,the interaction among agents in the EPA system can be constructed in three ways:(1) set up a trans-department communication and cooperation institution to provide a strong organizational basis for EPA; (2) issue relevant policies of EPA in time to set consistent work objectives,laying the groundwork of policies for agencies involved in EPA; (3) explore practicable ways on institutional reform of the government,such as setting up integrated departments in charge of special work to strengthen responsibilities of each agency.

Fig.2 Three important aspects when building and illustrating a system. The first is the interaction among agents of the system. A constant institution of communication and a stable interest pooling mechanism need to be built. The second is the close connection among elements of each subsystem,such as the integrity of upstream and downstream of eco-industries and the relation of before,during,and after eco-relocation processes. The third is the interaction among subsystems,and through which,these subsystems develop themselves better to achieve win-win outcomes.

Table 1 Guiding table of cases,topics and corresponding figures

Besides,the cooperation of trans-administration region governments and the interaction between governments and enterprises or social organizations also matters for promoting EPA governance. More and more attention has been paid to the poverty alleviation cooperation between the eastern and western regions. First,introduce outstanding government carders,teachers,enterprises and managers to western regions. In the meanwhile,let the high-quality labor force in the western regions receive advanced education and skill training. Second,build frequent and extensive commercial intercourse between regions,for example providing financial support from the eastern region to the western region. Third,facilitate products exchange with their respective comparative advantages,taking what they need and achieving common development. In addition,the fixed-point poverty alleviation by enterprises also attracts much attention. Such cooperation between different agents provides outside opportunities and support for EPA governance.

4.2.The connection of elements in eco-industry subsystem

The eco-industry is the most direct way to transfer ecoresources into economic benefits. For that,it is vital to understand how elements in the eco-industry subsystem interact for the health of the subsystem and the whole system (Fig.3).

The construction of leading eco-industry systemChoosing leading industries is the first step when planning local industry development and the general situation in the area is bound to be considered. The selection of leading ecoindustries is not only related to comparative advantages of local eco-resources,eco-friendliness and profitability of industries,but also involves external factors such as market demand trend and outside investment situation.There might be more than one comparative advantage due to the strong correlation between different eco-resources,so the local government can build the leading eco-industry system around one or two core eco-industries. In practice,the choice of leading industries is influenced by the need of adjusting local industrial structures as well. The following case provides the experience of Guizhou (Case 2).

First of all,Guizhou has planned the path of leading industries development at the provincial level. On one hand,the planting areas of agricultural products with ecologically unfriendliness,low added value and market potential insufficiency should be decreased,such as corn. In the meanwhile,the government plans to develop characteristic advantage industries according to local conditions such as vegetable,tea,edible fungi,and traditional Chinese herbal medicine. On the other hand,tourism based on local cultural and natural advantages to promote poverty alleviation should be paid special attention. It is important to explore more eco-resources and speed up the construction of tourism projects. Besides,“one county,one industry” is recommended to make various eco-industries within the administrative area coordinate with each other while keeping them different from each other in some ways.

Secondly,at the county level,the county government determines the layout of county-level leading eco-industries according to the provincial industrial structure and the provincial industrial poverty alleviation plan. Taking J County as an example,in the early stage of its development,the county mainly developed fisheries by changing farmers into fishermen due to its proximity to the reservoir.However,overfishing harms the ecological environment seriously. Then the red line for fishing is drawn and other eco-industries need to be developed. In 2017,by the external opportunities provided by the poverty alleviation cooperation between the East and the West,J County attracted many leading enterprises to settle here to lead the edible mushroom industry through the government’s investment promotion policy. In the same year,J County gradually integrated the local agricultural resources and adjusted the agricultural industrial structure for developing three special eco-agricultural industries,namely,traditional Chinese herb medicine,chicken,and hog production. Up to now,J County has built a “1+3” ecological industrial system with edible fungus as the main industry,while uncaria,ecological chicken and ecological pig industries are developed synchronously.

Case 2 tells that building a proper leading eco-industry system also needs the collaboration of agents. The dominant role in leading industries selection is always the government. However,the responsibilities differ among governments,which calls for coordinating and planning to keep strategic cooperation. From the vertical perspective,various administrative levels of government are of different functions in the process of leading industries selection. The superior government such as the provincial government usually makes the selection of several leading eco-industries according to the overall provincial situation. While the subordinate government,such as municipal and county governments is responsible for implementing the plan in detail. From the horizontal perspective,the governments of the same level should adopt a differentiation strategy when choosing the leading industries,which means that the choices of adjacent areas need to be considered. The choices of neighboring areas are expected to be significant to pursue supply chain collaboration on the industrial level.

However,communication between the government and enterprises is also a major factor for choosing leading ecoindustries,as the choice depends on the existing industrial advantages of local firms and importing firms. In the process of ecological industry development,the leading enterprise driving mode is the key to ensure healthy ecoindustrial development and effectively contributes to poverty alleviation.

Fig.3 The key elements and their interconnections in eco-industry subsystem. Firstly,local governments should build the leading eco-industry system by considering the economic potential,ecological friendliness,local resources and external opportunities.In the meanwhile,the choice of local leading eco-industry system should be different from that of the adjacent areas in some ways to avoid homogeneous competition. Based on building the leading ecological industry system,local governments need to extend the industrial chain and synergize different industries. The “leading enterprises+cooperatives+farmers” is one of the effective modes to promote the development of eco-industries.

The extension of industrial value chain and the industrial synergyWith the confirmation of leading eco-industries,improving maturity and synergy degree of selected ecoindustries becomes the next task. One possible way is extending the industrial value chain and increasing the added value of products,and then creating attractive brands and improving support services. Another is promoting industrial convergence to achieve mutual promotion.

Generally,in the poverty-stricken areas,the initial choice of industries to develop is special crop cultivation and aquaculture and poultry raising,especially cultivating the“short-flat-fast” cash crops. Nevertheless,most special crop cultivation and aquaculture and poultry raising still attribute to agriculture which is a fundamentally low-profit exercise.The narrow profit margin harms not only retaining the local labor force,especially the skilled ones,but also connecting the strategy of rural vitalization with the fight against poverty.In the meanwhile,agriculture as a vulnerable industry is under natural,market,and technical risks. Thus,a complete industrial chain including producing,processing,marketing and services should be built in multiple ways. For example,based on primary agricultural products,first,we can develop a modern processing industry with the mode of “leading enterprises+cooperatives+farmers” to increase access to technical guidance. Second,improve varieties of products to reduce risks. Third,build industrial brands and expand markets to increase the benefits. Case 3 introduces the experience of C City and K County in extending the ecological industrial chain.

C City of Guizhou has a great advantage of rich bamboo resources,1.328 million mu (1 ha=15 mu) of bamboo forest,800 thousand mu of miscellaneous bamboo,and 1 million tons of miscellaneous bamboo can be harvested every year. Currently,most local enterprises are engaged in bamboo resources processing industry,so the industrial chain could be extended vertically and horizontally. For vertical extending,the upstream industry is the bamboo planting industry. Through the stable connection between local bamboo processing companies and the village collective cooperatives or individual farmers planting and harvesting bamboos,the agriculture can be nurtured by the industry. The downstream industry is the advanced bamboo processing industry such as the furniture manufacturing industry which has high added value. As to horizontally expanding,bamboo resources are widely used in tertiary industries such as the food sale industry,tourism,finance,etc.,namely bamboo food products sales,bamboo ecotourism,bamboo carbon sequestration trading,etc. Thus,the ecological industry system,centering on the bamboo resources,consisting of primary,secondary,and tertiary industries has been built.

K County of T City has also extended the industrial value chain based on the local tea resources. The difference is that K County has made more use of the power of large leading enterprises in this process. Through enterprise alliance of large-sized leading enterprises propelling small leading enterprises,the market competitiveness of tearelated products was strengthened. The K County tea brand is also created by gathering the enterprise strength of the whole county. The tea industry in K County started from scratch in 2007 and developed fast through constructing the tea production base,as well as promoting tea processing and sales by introducing powerful tea enterprises from other provinces. Through the large-scale gathering of leading enterprises,K County has formed an enterprise alliance community led by Guicha corporation and joined by all tea enterprises in the county. At present,the tea industry in K County has become a leading industry with a complete industrial chain and brand effect.

As for the areas with beautiful landscapes and distinctive cultural resources,developing ecological tourism is a better choice to coordinate economic development and ecological protection. Tourism is a comprehensive and labor-intensive industry. The development of tourism can strengthen the flow of people,materials,funds,and information,and create a large number of employment opportunities. Moreover,there is a close connection between tourism and other industries,especially eco-industries and eco-management on which tourism depends. As a result,the development of tourism brings along the construction,transportation,commerce,and other industries effectively. Some practices in eco-tourism development are of concern. Some villages are developing rural tourism and leisure agriculture on the basis of rural living environment improvement initiative so that the distinctive landscapes of villages echo the near tourist attractions. This achieves the collaboration of ecotourism in short-distance space. The following Case 4 provides some details of K County about constructing spatial coordination of ecological tourism.

K County is located at the foot of the famous scenic area Fanjing Mountain. Relying on the high-quality tourism resources of Fanjing Mountain,it constructs a tourism spatial coordination mechanism,namely ‘scenic area propel village’,following the idea of all-for-one tourism.

Firstly,the appearance of villages in K County has been changed greatly with scientific planning. Then,following the principle of protecting traditional village culture,K County compiled more than 50 special rural tourism poverty alleviation projects,involving various types such as health-preserving vacation,leisure agriculture,characteristic culture,and traditional villages. Finally,several characteristic tourism villages have been created in the surrounding areas of Fanjing Mountain,such as “Zhaisha Dong Village”,an ethnic-cultural and rural tourist attraction,“Kuaichang Village”,a landscape experience rural tourist attraction,“Zhangjiapo”,a traditional rural tourist attraction and “Yuliangxi Agricultural Park”,a leisure rural tourist attraction,etc.,which turns the rural villages to the scenic spots. For these newly transformed spots are distributed around Fanjing Mountain,part of the tourist resources of Fanjing Mountain could be absorbed. At the same time,rural hotels,tourism commodity sales,and agritainment can be developed in these poor villages to help poor households become suppliers of such tourism services and benefit from tourism development.

In Case 4,the collaboration is revealed in the space cooperation of rural tourism and spots tourism,and the syncretism of agriculture and tourism as well. On one hand,primary and processed agricultural products from special planting and breeding industry can serve for tourism retail.On the other hand,increasing footfall by the development of tourism creates the market demand for tourism ancillary services,which is beneficial for the establishment of agricultural brand and improvement of regional popularity.

4.3.The interaction of links in eco-relocation subsystem

Eco-relocation mainly occurs under two situations. One occurs in areas with key ecological functions such as the eco-functional zone of the Greater and Lesser Khingan Mountains. To avoid ecologically functional environment being affected by human activities,the inhabitants have to move somewhere proper for producing and living. The other occurs in areas with vulnerable eco-environment and deteriorating living environment such as Nyima County in Tibet Autonomous Region,which is at a high altitude.

The systematic characteristics of eco-relocation subsystemAs a subsystem in the EPA system,the systematic characteristics of eco-relocation are shown and analyzed as follows (Fig.4).

First,the purpose of eco-relocation is not just to relocate the poor. The eco-relocation project directly relates to the ecological limitation for local development and aims at poverty alleviation and development. Therefore,the goals of the eco-relocation project include helping the inhabitants get out of poverty,and rehabilitating and conserving the eco-environment of their habitation at least.

Second,there are three links of eco-relocation,moving out,moving in and following-up improving,namely “moving,securing and getting rich” by the central government. The relationship among the three links is mutual affection rather than linear occurring. The geographical location,the overall development level,and the measures for following-up security and improvement of the emigrant area greatly influence the will of immigration. Besides,there might be a lot of calls for moving back in the moving-in and followingup improving parts. The interaction among the three links needs to be well understood for constructing an effective working mechanism for eco-relocation.

Third,frequent interactions between eco-relocation and other subsystems in the EPA system are kept. For one,rehabilitating the environment of the immigrant area requires labor forces and financial forces,which relates to the eco-enhancement project and the eco-compensation mechanism. For another,the following-up improvement requires a good planning for developing eco-industries of the emigrant area,so as to provide sufficient opportunities for employment and development for habitants moving out.

In the practice,close communication between relevant government agencies and systematic policies indicates that eco-relocation is a systematic work as well. It is necessary to keep regular cross-department communication for there are many agencies involved in the eco-relocation project. The Guizhou provincial government has set up a special agency responsible for relocating people living in impoverished regions,and takes the eco-relocation as an independent special project to implement. This special agency is an affiliated institution of Guizhou provincial government,which issues eco-relocation project commands at each administrative level. Meanwhile,the provincial government has released 57 various policies of eco-migration and formed a complete supportive policy system which helps solve problems during the whole process such as who is to be relocated,where to relocate them,how to relocate them and what to do for security after the relocation.

The interconnection among links of eco-relocationIn the “moving” part,the inhabitants might be unwilling to relocate because of the complex conventional reluctance of giving up local assets,high cost of relocation,etc. For this,the governments of the emigrant area and the immigrant area must take integral actions together. The former needs to determine and register local assets of the inhabitants and decide how to dispose of these assets for eliminating the concern of the poor,and increase their willingness to relocate through various ways such as strengthening propaganda. The latter needs to raise money for completing the housing placement construction,provide infrastructure and public services,formulate and implement policies of relocation subsidy for reducing relocation costs of the inhabitants. Some noteworthy lessons of “moving-out” part can be drawn from Case 5.

Because the poor living in core areas,buffer zones,and experimental areas of nature reserves have a stronger willingness to move out,they are given the priority when Guizhou making plans for eco-relocation. In terms of the choice of the immigrant areas,Guizhou holds the principle of “centralized urban resettlement”. As the urbanization process goes on,cities have a strong capability of gathering economic factors and a large capacity of carrying population.The way of “centralized urban resettlement” could give equal access to basic public services and development resources to the immigrants as urban residents. It also helps immigrants integrate faster with the urban economy by getting employed and so to increase income.

Fig.4 The elements and their interactions of the eco-relocation subsystem. Eco-relocation relates to the interaction between governments of the immigrant area and the emigrant area and includes information communication and policy docking. The work of government of the emigrant area consists of relocating the poor,rehabilitating the co-environment,and disposal of retained assets. These rely on the development situation of eco-enhancement in the emigrant area. The government of the immigrant area is responsible for providing immigrant employment,skill training and basic public services with the help of enterprises and communities. And these rely on the development situation of eco-industries in the immigrant area.

As to the disposal of the retained assets in the emigrant area,Guizhou focuses on better use of three kinds of land,namely contracted land,forest land,and homestead. Based on the reasonable confirmation of rights,the government tapped the full potential of the contracted land through the development of planting industry and other measures. And the government made use of the forest land through the development of under-forest planting and breeding industry,as well as the reform of the collective forest right systems.Governments also relieved the potential of the homestead through homestead reclamation and green restoration,land circulation,and incorporation in the range of Grain for Green.The activation of “three lands” realizes the development resources accumulation of the relocated people and thus sets their minds at rest.

What could be learned from the practice in Guizhou is that the work of the emigrant area government is not just moving the poor out. The government is required to plan for local eco-environment improvement with the help of other subsystems in EPA as auxiliary work of eco-relocation. It is essential to implement ecological enhancement projects for areas with a fragile environment. The fund of ecoenhancement and eco-compensation can be integrated for the reclamation and virescence of the homestead,afforesting marginal farmland,and so on to rehabilitate and conserve the local eco-environment. While for areas with rich eco-resources,these resources could be used efficiently by developing eco-industries and other innovative ways of eco-resource utilization,such as permitting buy shares by owned forest land to tap the full potential of “three lands”,should be explored.

The stable production and living environment of the immigrants is the core objective of the “securing” part. The immigrant area governments need to provide basic public services such as education and basic social securities such as healthcare for the immigration. They also need to increase employment to settle the basic needs of the immigration. The emigrant area governments need to reach an agreement with immigrant area governments on relocation-relative items,such as reasonable disposal of immigrants’ local assets and payment of the relocation subsidy. In the meanwhile,the two governments need to strengthen communication and cooperation in information and policy,which sometimes requires supports from the superior government. For example,the standard and coverage of social security change with the household type.When the household type changes due to relocation,the government should make flexible adjustments to ensure that change would not greatly influence the production and living of the immigrants. Case 6 provides two outstanding examples in Guizhou for the construction of the following-up improving system.

The first example comes from S City. To improve the services for residents and manage residents after relocation,S City focuses on six aspects:employment,education,healthcare,subsistence allowances,medical insurance,and social security. Firstly,a ‘two-way guarantee’policy is implemented for the people resettled. Township governments of the immigrant area are responsible for the education,employment and healthcare while the governments of emigrant area are responsible for digging value of the contracted land,forest land,and homestead to ensure that the relocated people enjoy both the treatment of citizens and retain the rights and interests in the countryside.Secondly,the employment demand information database of urban areas,parks,and scenic spots has been established,and specific skill training has been carried out according to the needs to provide the poor households with a full range of employment service. Finally,a management service center is set up in the resettlement site to organize community cultural activities to help the relocated people improve their adaptability and integrate with local production and living as soon as possible.

The second example comes from Q County. To achieve the goal of “stable living”,Q County actively implemented the civil affairs assistance for the relocated households,including special poverty support,subsistence allowances for both urban and rural,medical assistance and support,as well as the implementation of new rural cooperative medical insurance policies. Q County formulated a special medical insurance work plan for the relocated households and made it clear that the relevant medical policies will not change because of the change of household registration type. For the relocation settlements,Q County established a temporary Party Working Committee. And relevant institutions were set up such as comprehensive service office,employment and social security office,social affairs office,medical service center,and mass work center.This helps the relocated households to tackle problems of healthcare,education,employment and social security and creates a good environment conducive to the sustainable development of the immigrants.

Case 6 tells that the “getting-rich” part is crucial. The effectiveness of eco-relocation will be greatly promoted through the positive feedback loop built with “security” and“getting-rich” part. An interactive relationship between the eco-relocation and other subsystems is ought to be established during the whole process of relocation,so as to increase the added value of each link as much as possible.Especially,on promoting employment,the first is to create positions of jobs by helping the eco-industries system run smoothly. The second is to provide targeted skill training for the labor flow to match labor requirements. The third is to efficiently connect the labor supply with the demand through the cooperation of the government,market,and social organizations,such as establishing information exchange access to timely and efficient disseminate information of labor supply and demand. An effective practice is the creation of eco-welfare posts for the poor in eco-enhancement project,which makes the poor become eco-enhancement participants and acquire wage income.

4.4.The eco-enhancement subsystem and its interconnection with other subsystems

The eco-enhancement subsystem is of great significance for the EPA system and consists of eco-enhancement projects,relevant financial subsidies,the ecological compensation mechanism,and relevant posts of jobs. Nowadays the eco-enhancement projects mainly include the restoration of forests and grasslands from farmland,the restoration of grasslands from grazing land,the control over the sources of sandstorms affecting Beijing and Tianjin,the project to protect natural forest resources,and the comprehensive treatment of stony desertification,etc. These projects are implemented selectively by the local government according to the ecological characteristics of this area.

The interconnection among the elements of the ecoenhancement subsystem is simpler compared to that of the other two subsystems. And most eco-enhancement projects have been implemented for a long time,so the eco-enhancement subsystem runs smoothly in most regions. However,the work of the eco-enhancement subsystem relies on government financial support due to the positive externality of eco-enhancement. To generate motive force for eco-enhancement subsystem sustainably,an incentive system which converts social welfare from eco-enhancement can be built from the interaction between the eco-enhancement subsystem and other subsystems to internalize the positive externality,such as selling ecological products and developing ecological tourism.

Firstly,eco-enhancement should be combined with the eco-compensation mechanism and explore various ways of eco-compensating. The funds with various sources within the range of the city should be integrated.The integrated fund should be used for rewarding the participants of eco-enhancement to encourage the poor to engage in eco-enhancement as much as possible. Case 7 briefly introduces the exploration of B City in ecological compensation mechanism centering on eco-enhancement.B City has set up “10+n” special public welfare posts,such as forest rangers and river rangers with ecological compensation funds to maintain the ecological environment and cleaners with other poverty alleviation funds to maintain the living environment. This positive incentive can not only help poor households get rid of poverty stably through employment but also contribute to the construction of beautiful villages.

Secondly,eco-enhancement should relate to ecoemployment and eco-industries. More impoverished households can be organized in the form of a specialized farmer cooperative and so on to participate in ecoenhancement projects. And the achievement of ecoconservation projects could create more posts of jobs for them. Especially,priority should be given to the employment of the poor with labor capability for helping them get rid of poverty through the food-for-work mode in eco-enhancement. For combining with eco-industries,ecoenhancement projects such as the restoration of forests and grasslands from farmland and the restoration of grasslands from grazing land should be carried out simultaneously with the adjustment of industrial structure. With returning farmland to forests,the farmer plant crops of ecologically unfriendliness,low economic efficiency,and backwardness shrink,and cultivate the ‘short-flat-fast’ and ecologically sound cash crops more by growing the commercial forest or economic fruit forest. Now Case 8 shows how Guizhou Province realizes the integration of eco-industry and ecological compensation mechanisms based on the project of Grain for Green.

In the new round of Grain for Green,Guizhou Province strives for the national policy to include various farmland types as much for more ecological enhancement and ecological compensation funds. In the meanwhile,Guizhou takes Grain for Green as an opportunity to adjust agricultural structure,build economic fruit forest bases,and increase the income of poor households by providing employments,dividends and other ways. Through these measures,Guizhou Province effectively combines the ecoenhancement,industrial employment and the construction of the national ecological civilization pilot area. And the ecoenhancement project provides a large number of ecological compensation income and ecological jobs for the poor households,which converts the positive externality of ecoresources into economic benefits for the poor households participating in the environmental protection.

Thirdly,as mentioned above,eco-relocation needs further eco-enhancement and eco-restoration as many relocation projects originate from the requirement of protecting the eco-environment.

Besides providing the eco-enhancement subsystem with financial incentives by strengthening its interconnection with other subsystems on the macro level,the innovation of the micro incentive mechanism is also useful for ecoenhancement subsystem optimization. In the traditional mode of environmental improvement,negative incentives such as punishment are used to inhibit the environmental damage behavior. However,it is underperforming as a consequence of high supervision costs. By introducing positive incentives,the regulatory costs could be reduced with the combination of positive and negative incentives and the environmental awareness of the public could be promoted. The environmental governance mechanism in C Village is a good illustration on this point (Case 9).

To beautify the living environment of C Village,the“Garbage Exchange Bank” was established employing“collecting garbage,saving points and exchanging prizes”.In this way,the villagers are guided to collect garbage,pack bags by category,and then hand them over to the “Garbage Exchange Bank” to exchange green points according to the type and weight. The green points are for earning rewards,such as learning,sports,goods,or daily necessities. At the same time,Village Committee carries out “Competition of Sanitation Improvement” among households every month,which gives cash rewards to the winning households and awarding them the title of the clean house and environmental protection guard medal.

By changing the basis of rural ecological governance from fines and punishments to positive incentives in the form of“Garbage Exchange Bank” and “Competition of Sanitation Improvement”,C Village has effectively made the waste and harmlessness reduced and recycled. This way also improved villagers’ enthusiasm and initiative in consciously participating in ecological governance and ecological protection and beautified the local living environment.

In Case 9,the incentive mechanism of rural living environmental improvement based on positive incentives effectively improves public enthusiasm and initiative of participating in eco-protection. The effect of negative incentives depends on strength of punishment and accuracy rate of regulation,and the information conveyed is “what cannot be done”. Relatively,positive incentive utilizes the motivation for rewards to encourage people to do “what to do”. To avoid the negative effects of focusing on a one-way incentive,combining the positive and negative incentives is necessary in managerial practice for attaining goals more effectively. Creating positive incentives can be also applied in management of other fields. For example,there has been trial commercial plantation redemption reform in key eco-function zones in Guizhou. Positive incentives of conserving forests are provided to foresters in multiple ways such as tenancy,redemption,and transformation of forests.And this releases the contradiction between exploitation and conservation of commercial plantation.

5.Conclusion

Ecological poverty alleviation is a systematic work with much complexity as its denotation has been expanding on the basis of clarified connotation. Though the importance of EPA for the overall picture of China’s poverty alleviation increases significantly. Each specific work of EPA has its own difficulties to implement. For one,there are not enough studies on the systematic characteristics of EPA.For another,the interaction between elements,agents,and subsystems of the EPA system appearing in the practice is frequent and a theoretical perspective is required for supporting EPA work.

Based on system theory,this paper analyzes the systematic characteristics of EPA and proposes a framework of EPA system. Basic elements included and their interactions in EPA system are also discussed. There are three aspects deserving attention to promote the interaction on various administrative levels within the EPA system and rally them into a united force to achieve the win-win goal of poverty alleviation and ecological protection. The first is establishing the routine of communication among the EPA-relevant agents in government,market and society.The second is focusing on interconnection within ecoindustry and eco-relocation subsystems:(i) developing ecoindustries through the extension of the industrial value chain and the industrial synergy based on the choice of leading eco-industry system; and (ii) comprehensively promoting eco-relocation by making use of the interaction between links. The third is forging links between subsystems of the EPA system based on the eco-enhancement subsystem.

With further development in practice,the ecological poverty alleviation system will be optimized and play a more significant role. As the end of the fight against poverty is coming,how to construct an ecological development system more effectively with connecting the rural renaissance strategy needs more discussion on its systematic characteristics.

Declaration of competing interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.