Environmental change and fishermen's income: is there a poverty trap : Evidence from China's coastal areas.

Abstract

The unequal cost and benefit led by environmental changes may potentially set China's rural areas a "Poverty Trap." Therefore, clarifying the relationship between environmental changes and rural income distribution is of great significance to realize the organic integration of environmental improvement and poverty governance. Based on the panel data of China's coastal areas, this paper explores the mutual influence between environmental changes and fishermen's income distribution, thus testing the hypothesis of the poverty-environment trap. The results show that environmental degradation has a significant negative impact on fishermen's income. To be specific, compared with the middle- and high-income groups, the impact of environmental degradation on people with less income is more noticeable; as for the low-income groups represented by fishermen, the marginal effects of their income reduction on environmental degradation are more prominent; continuous decrease of their income together with environmental deterioration will form a vicious circle, bringing the risk of falling into the poverty-environment trap. In the follow-up environmental governance, authorities need to impose targeted measures and adopt tax or subsidy policies that are inclusive and preferential, so as to address the income gaps between fishermen and further relative poverty.