Collective Forest Tenure Reform Research Articles

The Impact of Collective Forest Tenure Reform on Timber Production in China: An Empirical Analysis Based on Provincial Panel Data

China initiated a new collective forest tenure reform (CFTR) in 2003, which transferred the use rights of collective forest land and the ownership of collective trees to farmers. To assess the impact of the CFTR on timber production and to understand its underlying mechanisms, this study first conducted a theoretical analysis on how CFTR affects the production of commercial and non-commercial timber, leading to the provided hypotheses. Then, based on a panel dataset for 28 provinces from 1998 to 2018, a Time-varying Difference-in-Differences model was employed for empirical analysis. The results show that the CFTR led to an increase of 24.18% in commercial timber production and 34.37% in non-commercial timber production. The CFTR boosted the production of both types of timber initially, but the incremental effects were weakened over time. The incremental effects of the CFTR on commercial timber production was larger in regions with more collective forests. After the CFTR, the proportion of economic forest land in total forest land increased, contributing to a short-term rise in commercial timber production. In regions with higher timber market prices, reforms have a greater effect on increasing timber production, implying that farmers are more sensitive in their response to market values.

Justice and injustice under authoritarian environmentalism: Investigating tensions between forestland property rights and environmental conservation in China

This study investigates how forestland property rights, established under the Chinese Collective Forest Tenure Reform (CFTR) from 2003, were affected by the emergence of the “Ecological Civilization” discourse in the 2010s. It does so through the lens of environmental justice. Case studies were conducted in four counties in Fujian and Yunnan provinces. The results show outright injustice in the Fujian cases which originate from the government's authoritarian approach to Ecological Civilization, including severe restrictions on timber harvest, lack of recognition of decentralized forestland property rights, and only limited compensation for people affected. Those who heavily invested in forestry activities encountered the most unjust treatment. Meanwhile, despite a similar authoritarian policy in Yunnan, injustice in these cases were less salient because restrictions on timber harvest (for the sake of conserving natural forests) already existed there before the introduction of CFTR, thus deterring private actors from investing in forestry. The results highlight the necessity of upholding justice of distribution, participation, and recognition for all engaged actors, particularly when environmental conservation is prioritized and needs to be sustained.

Collective forest tenure reform and forest conditions: evidence from the social-ecological system in Southwest China

China’s recent collective forest tenure reform (CFTR) aims to improve forest conditions by devolution of forest management rights from community collectives to individual households. Studies reveal substantial local variation in CFTR implementation, but the ecological effects and underlying mechanism have received little attention. Our study focused on community-managed forests and household-managed forests in four communities located in the mountains of Southwest China. The objective was to investigate the relationship between CFTR and forest conditions at the local scale. We employed a combination of remote sensing technology, field forest observations and socioeconomic surveys to gather data for analysis. The results showed that the forest cover change trends of collective forests and household forests in each community were consistent from 1994 to 2014. There was no significant relationship between CFTR implementation and local-level differences in species diversity and soil fertility in forests. The aboveground biomass of collective forests was significantly higher than that of household forests. Differentiated access and use, low compensation amounts, and loose payment terms jointly affected CFTR’s effectiveness to improve local-scale forest conditions in the study area. Attempts to formalize forest tenure rights must be flexible enough and adapted to the local environment so that changes induced by the CFTR can improve local access to forest resources and its benefits.

The Impact of Collective Forest Tenure Reform on Forest Carbon Sequestration Capacity—An Analysis Based on the Social–Ecological System Framework

Against the backdrop of industrialization, urbanization, and the increasingly urgent issue of climate change, the latest round of collective forest tenure reform in China demonstrates the characteristics of institutional change and capital-biased technological progress. Using provincial panel data from 1994 to 2015, which is related to the main task of the reform, this study combined the Social–Ecological System (SES) framework to explore the impact of the latest round of collective forest tenure reform on forest carbon sequestration capacity. The study found that (1) the collective forest tenure reform enhances forest carbon sequestration capacity, especially in areas with abundant collective forests and clear property rights. Regional differences in per capita forestry income do not affect the reform’s impact on this capacity; (2) the forest tenure reform affects carbon sequestration capacity by improving capital productivity, but labor productivity has no significant effect; (3) under the macro background, the interaction between forest tenure reform-supporting measures and factor productivity have a sustainable impact on carbon sequestration capacity. Therefore, deepening the collective forest tenure reform is an important measure for continuously improving the carbon sequestration capacity of collective forests.

Land Reform, Emerging Grassroots Democracy and Political Trust: Evidence from China’s Collective Forest Tenure Reform

Land Reform, Emerging Grassroots Democracy and Political Trust: Evidence from China’s Collective Forest Tenure Reform

Influence of collective forest tenure reform on rural households' forestry management investment: the case from seven provinces in China

PurposeThe main objectives of collective forest tenure reform in China are to stimulate rural households to invest in forestry management, protect the ecosystem and improve their livelihood. By constructing the unbalanced panel data of household investment, this study discusses the dynamic changes and influencing factors of household investment, which will lay a foundation for further research and provide a reference for decision-making.Design/methodology/approachBased on 3,500 samples from rural households in the provinces of Fujian, Hunan, Yunnan, Shaanxi, Jiangxi, Gansu, and Liaoning collected during field investigations from 2010 to 2015, this study conducts an empirical analysis of the household investment in forestry management and its factors with nonbalanced panels.FindingsAccording to the analysis, the average investment in forestry management per household from 2010 to 2015 fluctuates greatly; the age of the householder, increased forestry area, subsidies, joining professional cooperatives, and forest tenure mortgage show positive effects on achieving the objectives.Originality/valueThe discussions are drawn from the study that supporting policies such as the forest tenure transfer system, professional cooperatives, financial services and subsidies should be further improved to sustain a positive in the forestry industry.

Analysis of Influencing Factors and Income Effect of Heterogeneous Agricultural Households’ Forestland Transfer

After the collective forest tenure reform, the forestland transfer behavior choices did not reach the policy expectations. In order to explore the factors influencing the behavior of farmers’ forestland transfer and the income effect of forestland transfer, this paper constructs a binary logistic regression model and a propensity score matching (PSM) model and uses the data obtained from a questionnaire survey of 500 farmers from 10 counties in Liaoning Province for quantitative analysis. Considering the heterogeneity, agricultural households are divided into three categories, namely, pure agricultural households, part-time agricultural households and non-agricultural households. The study found that the influencing factors of different types of agricultural households’ forestland transfer behavior choices were not exactly the same and the degree of influence by the same variable was also different. Forestland transfer can effectively promote the increase of agricultural and forestry income and total household income of pure agricultural households, part-time agricultural households and non-agricultural households, among which the promotion effect on pure agricultural households is the largest.

The heterogeneous effect of forest tenure security on forestry management efficiency of farmers for different forest management types

PurposeAfter the Collective Forest Tenure Reform (CFTR) in China, the enthusiasm of farmers for forestry management is stimulated. However, the forest tenure security varies among farmers, making the research conclusions of its impact on forestry management efficiency inconsistent. Based on the survey data of 1,627 households from the collective forest regions in 6 provinces of China in 2017, this paper not only discusses the differences of farmers' forestry management efficiency after the reform, but also further explores the heterogeneous impact of forest tenure security on forestry management efficiency in combination with different forest management types.Design/methodology/approachThis study employed the stochastic frontier production function model to measure the forestry management efficiency of farmers. Then, Tobit models were used to discuss the influencing factors of farmers' forestry management efficiency.FindingsThe results demonstrate that the improvement of farmers' forest tenure security can effectively improve forestry management efficiency, but the effect is affected by forest management types. For farmers who manage economic forests and non-timber forests, safe tenure promotes the forestry management efficiency; while for those who manage ecological public welfare forests, tenure security plays an opposite role.Originality/valueTherefore, satisfying farmers' differentiated demands for forest tenure according to forest management types to improve forest tenure security and further refining supporting policies of collective forestry reform is of great significance to improve the efficiency of farmers' forestry management in collective forest regions.

Household risk preferences and forestland use right transactions in China: tenure security or price illusion?

ABSTRACT Forestland use right transactions (FURT) are mechanisms developed by China’s central government to cope with the problem of fragmented forestlands stemming from Collective Forest Tenure Reform (CFTR). We hypothesize that the rate of FURT remains surprisingly low after the CFTR because of households’ decision-making behavior, which depends on individual attitudes toward risks and benefits, namely risk preference. Game experiments were used to measure individual risk preferences in 301 rural households in Fujian Province, China. The results show that risk and loss averse households are less willing to participate in FURT, whether for renting-in or renting-out forestlands. When it comes to FURT contract choice, risk and loss averse households prefer to choose informal oral agreements with relatives and friends for short-term, relatively low, one-off payments. Our results also indicate that perceptions of secure forestland tenure could promote household’s renting-in of forestlands and weaken the negative impact of household risk preference. Meanwhile, risk and loss averse sellers generally give relative high price evaluations on their forestlands, which inhibits their possibilities to successfully rent-out. This study contributes to a better understanding of the relationship between household risk preference and FURT decisions, and will help inform the design of alternative policies that could promote FURT in China.

Impact of devolved forest tenure reform on formal credit access for households: Evidence from Fujian, China

The Collective Forest Tenure Reform, as a devolved forest tenure reform, was first launched in Fujian, China, in 2003, issuing forestland-use certificates to and increasing forestland access for rural households, allowing households to collateralize forestland for formal credit. This study aims to identify the impact of forestland-use certificates and household forestland and further explain their channels of impact on formal credit access. The conceptual framework in the literature includes two potential channels of impact: household’s willingness to formal credit access and the institutional constraint in formal credit access. An econometric analysis was conducted using panel data of household level in Fujian province from 2012 to 2016. The econometric results demonstrated that: (1) forestland-use certificates had a significantly positive impact on the households’ formal credit access when it is measured only as formal credit by collateralizing forestland; (2) household forestland had significantly positive impact on households’ formal credit access when it is measured as total formal credit and formal credit by collateralizing forestland; (3) households’ willingness to access credit was significantly and positively affected by forestland-use certificates and household forestland, although the impact of household forestland is more certain and (4) institutional constraint in formal credit access was significantly and positively impacted by forestland use certificates but not by household forestland. Our study contains implications on the appropriate use of formal credit as a financial instrument in devolved forest tenure reform.

Risk preferences significantly affect household investment in timber forestry: Empirical evidence from Fujian, China

Implementing another round of massive collective forest tenure reform in China since in 2008 has not materialized the government's expectation on small-scale timber forestry–improved management practices and resource quality. One underlying cause to this outcome is farmer's risk-averse attitude, which has thus far garnered little research attention. In this study, we combine the prospect theory and a lottery experiment to measure individual risk preferences on timber forestry investment. Based on a sample of 303 households conducted in 2018 in Fujian, China, we find that the ‘household risk preference’ parameter has a significant negative impact on both the decision to invest in timber forestry and the intensity of investment. Further, the ‘loss aversion’ and ‘probability weighting’ parameters affect household investment intensity negatively. These results indicate that the more risk averse rural households are, the less willing they are to invest in timber forestry, and the lower their investment intensities are. Also, the effect of the risk preferences on cash outlay is larger than on labor cost. These insights have direct implications for better designing tenure reform and other policies to promote smallholder forestry in China and beyond.

Property rights, village democracy, and household forestry income: evidence from China’s collective forest tenure reform

ABSTRACT To investigate the effect of expanded property rights and, in particular, village democracy under China’s Collective Forest Tenure Reform (CFTR) on household forestry income, we employ quantile regression, drawing on the survey data from 658 rural households in three provinces belonging to China’s southern collective forest regions. The results indicate that: (1) both the expansion of household forestland property rights caused by CFTR and the village democratic procedure involved in the reform exert significant income effect; the income effect intensity of the expansion of forestland use right and disposal right is greater than that of beneficiary right, and the effect shows no significant difference among rural households with different forestry income scale. (2) the village democracy cannot only directly motivate rural household forestry income but also notably moderate the income effect of property rights expansion. Based on the above findings, this paper suggests that the forestland property right policy aimed at rural households be further refined, the rural households’ policy awareness of CFTR be enhanced and the grass-roots bureaucratic system be prevented from over-intervening in the implementation of public policy so as to further improve CFTR and enhance rural households’ forestry income.

The impact of institutions on forestland transfer rents: The case of Zhejiang province in China

Since initiating the new round of collective forest tenure reform in China, the development of the forestland transfer market has been of considerable interest to the academic and policy communities. Our theoretical analysis posited that formal institutions—tenure certificate and written contract—are positively associated with the rents, while informal institutions, as reflected in the social relationships, can reduce transfer rents. Based on a spatial econometric model and survey data from four cities in Zhejiang, our empirical results show that in addition to the formal institutions, the informal institutions have played a key role in facilitating the transfers and determining the rents. The rent between acquaintances is lower than those between strangers. Mutual trust between acquaintances has not only alleviated farmers' dependence on tenure certificates, but also served as a guarantee for fulfilling the contractual terms. Nonetheless, China's forestland transfer market is not well developed yet. More efforts are needed to strengthen the formal institutions and improve the policy setting in facilitating farmers' participation in forestland transfers. China's experience is relevant to many developing and emerging economics.

How communities restructured forest tenure throughout the top-down devolution reform: Using the case of Fujian, China

China’s new wave of collective forest tenure reform since 2003 (post-2003 reform) has been the research hotspot for years. However, the research is insufficient on how communities restructured forest tenure throughout this top-down devolution reform and the evolution and dynamics of community-level forest tenure changes over a long-term period. Based on the mixed methodology and multiple data sources, this study explores the community-level forest tenure changes in China's post-2003 reform using the case of Fujian. We identify various types of community-level forest tenure changes and classify them into reallocation (transferring forest property rights between different types of managers) and formalization (enhancing tenure security without changing the manager type). We find the community-level forest tenure changes in Fujian's reform are more of formalizations rather than reallocations. The limited number of reallocations mainly takes the form of transferring forests to villagers' groups and specialized private entities in addition to individual households and small-scale household groups. Forest tenure changes on the ground are institutionally diversified, path-dependent, and parcel-specific, and they are shaped by a series of factors such as tree species, existing manager types, customary management rules, and various community attributes. We suggest that evaluations on China's post-2003 reform need to differentiate reallocations from formalizations and investigate their effects separately, and parcel-specific data from non-household entities, especially various common-property organizations, should be collected and incorporated in future analyses.

Does forestland possession enhance households’ access to credit?—Examining China’s forestland mortgage policy

Many countries have seen a rising demand for forest policy reform. This paper explores the effects of China’s forestland mortgage policy, a supporting measure for collective forest tenure reform, on household credit access. In theory, the forestland mortgage policy could have three impacts on households: (1) forestland possession could change households’ willingness to access credit (2) forestland possession could enhance household access to credit, and (3) the contract structure follows the theoretical predictions of the credit contract design mechanism. Our results show that households’ willingness to enroll in the mortgage policy as well as their potential to obtain credit increased when households possessed larger areas of forestland. However, the proportion of households that successfully obtained credit were fairly modest. Meanwhile, we found a positive relationship between collateralized forestland and the amount of the forestland mortgage loan, and a negative relationship between collateralized forestland and the interest rate. These findings are consistent with the theoretical predictions of the contract mechanism design. The existing forestland mortgage policy has increased households’ credit access to some extent; however, there is much room for improvement from a policy perspective. This requires divising policy arrangements that would facilitate a fully developed credit market available to households. Forest tenure mortgage loans alone may not be able to fully meet households’ financial needs.

Privatization or communalization: A multi-level analysis of changes in forest property regimes in China

Over recent decades, the Chinese government has invested heavily in improving the country's forest tenure system through the Collective Forest Tenure Reform. This reform has primarily focused on privatization of collectively-owned forests, which has been perceived to improve effective forest management by providing incentives to farmers. This paper documents results of the Collective Forest Tenure Reform and the factors that have shaped these results through a multi-level analysis: at the national, regional, community and individual levels. It was found forest privatization implemented through the tenure reform was much less than what government expected. Instead, as shown in illustrative case-studies, people intend to retain the forest as common property in a way that creates a complex communal forest management system. The paper argued that while it is good the government is willing to improve forest tenure security for local people, there is a need to better consider the local perceptions of the tenure reform policy's effectiveness and efficiency, and justice in forest management, and to understand the complexity of the pre-existing communal forest management system that exists throughout the country.

Effect of Forestland Property Rights and Village Off-Farm Environment on Off-Farm Employment in Southern China

Reasonably promoting the off-farm employment of rural surplus labor in China’s collective forest areas is an important way to increase forest resources and increase farmers’ income. China’s new round of collective forest tenure reform (CFTR) aims to optimize forest area labor allocation by strengthening forestland property rights. Therefore, in different village off-farm environments, it is necessary to explore how forestland property rights affect off-farm employment in forest areas. Based on survey data from 742 households in Zhejiang and Jiangxi provinces, this paper examines this effect using the double-hurdle model. The results indicate that forestland transfer rights promote decision-making about, and the supply of, off-farm labor, while forest harvesting rights significantly increase the supply of off-farm labor. The villages’ off-farm income ratio also affected the supply of off-farm labor. Moreover, under the regulation of the village off-farm income ratio, the positive incentives of forestland transfer rights on decision-making about, and the supply of, off-farm labor gradually weakened, but the incentive effect of forest harvesting rights on the supply of off-farm labor gradually increased. It is proposed that the CFTR should be further promoted, the forestland circulation mechanism and regulating forest harvest quota system should be improved, and implementation of forestry property mortgages should be strengthened.

Assessing the Effectiveness of China's Panda Protection System.

Protected areas form the backbone of biodiversity conservation, yet their effectiveness is often not known nor even evaluated [1-3]. China-best known for its record of ecological degradation in the face of rapidly increasing gross domestic product and resource consumption [4]-has in recent years enacted a series of policies and programs to conserve its natural resources. Chief among them is an ambitious protected area system covering 17% of its terrestrial land mass [4, 5]. An important early impetus for the establishment of this reserve system was the protection of the giant panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) [5-8]. Using data from two previous large-scale surveys [9, 10] separated by a decade, and including over 50,000 habitat plots, we examined the panda population and habitat trends inside and outside reserves. Despite ambitious ecocompensation programs in panda habitat outside reserves [11-13], the protection provided by reserves reduced most classes of human disturbance compared to outside reserves, and most disturbances decreased through time more strongly inside than outside reserves. Reserves also contained more and increasing suitable panda than found outside reserves [14, 15]. Comparing reserve performance, reserves with increasing older forests and bamboo correlated with increasing panda populations. Together these findings indicate that China's panda reserves have been effective and that they are functioning better over time, conserving more and better habitats and containing more pandas. While China's protected area system still has much room for improvement [4, 5], including to support pandas [16], these findings underscore the progress made in China's nascent environmental movement.

Effect of forestland tenure security on rural household forest management and protection in southern China

Initiated in 2003, China’s recent round of collective forest tenure reform (CFTR) aims to improve tenure security and motivate households to engage in forestry production. For the forested land allocated to households after the reforms, forest management and protection have become key in forestry production. However, few studies have analyzed the effect of different dimensions of forestland tenure security on rural household forest management and protection. Based on survey data from 766 households in southern China, the present study examines this effect using the Negative Binomial and Tobit models. The empirical results indicate that the actual tenure security derived from the possession of forestland certificates has insignificantly increased forest management frequency and management intensity. With regard to perceived tenure security, we found that if forestland is perceived to be adjusted in the future, this can have a significant positive impact on both management frequency and management intensity. In contrast, a perception that certificates may protect forestland rights would have insignificant effect on management frequency and management intensity of forestland. Specifically, for households with certificates for all forestland, perception about future adjustments on tenure security would positively affect management frequency and intensity. For households with certificates for part of forestland, the perception about certificates has a positive impact on management frequency.

Beyond ‘empty’ forms of formalization: The credibility of a renewed attempt at forest titling in Southwest China

Whereas the prospective benefits of formalization programs are well-understood and received, less attention has been placed on the feasibility of such actions. This paper studies titling under China’s Collective Forest Tenure Reform. We employ the Formal, Actual, and Targeted (FAT) Institutional Framework, based on the ‘credibility thesis’, to examine whether titling increases tenure credibility. To do so, we draw upon interviews and surveys collected in the Wuling Mountain Area (Southwest China), and compare formal policy objectives to households’ targeted (desired) preferences and actual forest rights. Our findings show divergences between formal and targeted versus actual rights. While titles were widely issued, socially supported, and farmers deemed boundaries and plot sizes clear, there is a paradox: (i) half of forest titles did not record boundaries; (ii) boundaries were not uniformly recorded; (iii) no on-site surveying had taken place; (iv) plot data were based on replicating older data, estimates, or averages; (v) titles had not been issued in contested areas; (vi) farmers had a weak legal understanding of ownership and lease rights. We argue that due to pressure from the central government to complete titling in five years, forest registration has emerged as an 'empty institution': an institutional compromise where spatial complexities were disregarded and neglected during implementation. Although seemingly credible at present, such outcomes of formalization bear the risk that future changes could easily dampen the reform’s institutional efforts and intentions.