The impact on rural livelihoods and ecosystem services of a major relocation and settlement program: A case in Shaanxi, China

Abstract

China's largest-ever resettlement program is underway, aiming to restore ecosystems and lift ecosystem service providers out of the poverty trap and into sustainable livelihoods. We examine the impact of the relocation and settlement program (RSP) to date, reporting on an ecosystem services (ES) assessment and a 1400-household survey. The RSP generally achieves the goals of ES increase and livelihood restore. In biophysical terms, the RSP improves water quality, sediment retention, and carbon sequestration. In social terms, resettled households so far report transformation of livelihoods activities from traditional inefficient agricultural and forest production to non-farm activities. Increased income contributes to decrease the poverty rate and improve resettled households' living condition and standard. Meanwhile, the RSP decreases households' dependence on ES in terms of provisioning services. Difficulty and challenge also showed up subsequently after relocation. A major current challenge is to enable poorer households to move, while providing greater follow-up support to relocated households. While the program is unique to China, it illuminates widespread opportunities for addressing environmental and poverty-related concerns in a rapidly changing world.

Keywords: Ankang prefecture; Ecosystem services; Human development; Relocation and settlement; Rural household; Sustainable livelihoods.

Fig. 1

Ankang Prefecture (23 534 km²) in Shaanxi Province. The blue line between Ankang and Beijing in the China map is the Middle Route of the South-to-North Water Transfer Project (SNWTP)

Fig. 2

Scenes of the areas surveyed: a Road damaged by landslide; b, c Surveying rural household members in the original community. d New homes, with power lines and light poles in the background

Fig. 3

A livelihoods framework for assessing the impact of the Relocation and Settlement Program of Southern Shaanxi Province (RSP). Livelihood assets include five capital stocks, physical (P), human (H), financial (F), social (S), and natural (N)

Fig. 4

Projected relative changes in ecosystem services over implementation of the Relocation and Settlement Program (RSP) over 2011–2020

Fig. 5

Basic information about the investigated householders

Fig. 6

Radar maps of asset indicators in the three surveyed household groups, used to assess the effects of the Relocation and Settlement Program on livelihoods: Households relocating from the deep mountains (HHr,sc, relocation, settling community); HHs choosing to remain in communities from which people are moving (HHn,oc, non-relocation, original community); and original HHs in the communities where people are settling (HHn,sc, non-relocation, settling community). HHs remaining in communities from which people are moving are the poorest, and least able to move, by both a exogenous indicators and b endogenous indicators