Poverty Alleviation Resettlement Research Articles

Has the poverty alleviation resettlement projects achieved just transition in Nujiang Prefecture of Southwest China?: A way to achieve SDGs

From 2016 to 2020, China successfully assisted 9.6 million people below poverty line, making a making a substantial contribution to both the UN-defined Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the global effort to reduce poverty. The literature reveals a focus on resettlement justice concerning livelihood transformation, re-siting, and public participation. However, a dearth of scholarly perspectives exists regarding migrants' comprehensive satisfaction indicators of just transition, particularly on sustainable assessment. Therefore, the study regards migrants as “customers” of PAR projects and assesses the degree of realization of a just transition of resettlement through their satisfaction. A multilayered comprehensive evaluation model is being formulated using the survey data of 515 migrants residing in three county-level cities in Nujiang Prefecture of southwest China. The results show that there is an increase in satisfaction with the impact of PAR on the migrant households' income, material assets, housing conditions, infrastructure, natural environment, children's educational level and ethnic cultures. Moreover, satisfaction with migrants' employment stability, social networking level, and the succession of local customs decreased. The results help to show that the PAR project does affect various aspects of migrants' lives, as well as contributing to the SDGs of social, economic, and environmentally sustainable development. The construction of a sustainable assessment system oriented to the combination of different dimensions of migrants' satisfaction and importance can help reduce the inequalities that may arise from the project. Boosting migrants' overall satisfaction is the most significant factor to consider when developing robust policies to increase poverty alleviation achievements and promote sustainable livelihood development.

Livelihood capitals and livelihood resilience: Understanding the linkages in China's government-led poverty alleviation resettlement

The Poverty Alleviation Resettlement (PAR) has been extensively adopted in China as a crucial approach towards achieving poverty eradication goals, resulting in notable successes. Nonetheless, this approach poses significant challenges to the relocated households in sustaining their livelihood in a sustainable manner. Uncovering the impact of different livelihood capitals on livelihood resilience and identifying strategies to enhance farmers' resilience are crucial challenges demanding immediate attention. Within the framework of sustainable livelihoods, this research investigates the relationship between livelihood capitals and resilience among rural households relocated for poverty alleviation in China. The analysis reveals that enhancing the social capital, physical capital, financial capital, and coping behavior of relocated farmers can bolster their livelihood resilience. Although human capital does not directly influence resilient livelihoods, it indirectly contributes through its mediating role in coping behaviors. This paper attempts to remedy the shortcomings of previous studies on the relationship between “livelihood capital and livelihood resilience” that disregarded the transmission of intermediate variables. The outcomes of this study bear significant practical and theoretical implications regarding the improvement of response strategies, the strengthening of farmers' livelihood resilience, and the expansion and refinement of the sustainable livelihood theory.

Understanding the Sustainable Mechanisms of Poverty Alleviation Resettlement in China’s Developed Regions under the Background of Land Relocation: Drivers, Paths and Outcomes

In the context of land relocation, poverty alleviation resettlement (PAR) is considered an effective approach to improve the man–land relationship and development issues. However, current studies pay little attention to PAR and its spillover effects within developed regions. Furthermore, the complete mechanism chain has received little research concentration. Thus, employing a qualitative survey, this study aims to investigate the overall mechanisms of developed regions’ PAR in the context of land relocation. The study will deal with the following questions: Why does PAR occur in developed regions? How does the resettlement approach to poverty alleviation (i.e., paths)? What are the effects of resettlement on poverty alleviation, including its own effects and spillover effects? Through answering these questions, this study will highlight PAR in developed regions and investigate the spillovers from social, economic and ecological perspectives. Particularly, a comprehensive mechanism analysis framework for PAR will be presented to motivate future studies. Results indicate that PAR is generally caused by ecological poverty alleviation, geological disaster prevention and county town urbanisation promotion and that emigration and resettlement are the paths to PAR. In addition, the direct outcome is the overall rise in the number of resettlers over time, and the spillovers show the sustainable collaboration of economic, social and ecological dimensions. These findings will influence future land reform and housing initiatives.

Does Non-Farm Employment Promote Farmland Abandonment of Resettled Households? Evidence from Shaanxi, China

The de-agrarianisation of the labor force in the poverty alleviation resettlement (PAR) inevitably influences households’ farmland management and farmland abandonment in the relocated areas. Drawing on survey data from 1079 households in Shaanxi, China, this study uses the Heckman two-stage model to empirically examine the relationship between non-farm employment and farmland abandonment in relocated areas. Additionally, it explores heterogeneity by considering the quantity and spatial distribution of non-farm employment, as well as the moderating effect of the withdrawal of rural homesteads (WRH). The results show that: (1) non-farm employment significantly promotes both behavioral and scale of farmland abandonment, with the magnitude of this impact varying based on the quantity of non-farm employment; (2) Heterogeneity analyses show that areas with non-farm employment exert a noteworthy positive effect on farmland abandonment. On average, farmers engaged in non-farm employment outside the county (NEO) exhibit a higher marginal effect on both behavioral and scale aspects of farmland abandonment compared to those engaged in non-farm employment within the county (NEI). Furthermore, only when the number of NEI reaches 3 does the probability and scale of farmland abandonment surpass those of NEO; (3) Mechanism analysis sheds light on the role of WRH, indicating that the cultivation of land in WRH weakens the promotion of farmland abandonment by non-farm employment, particularly in the NEI group. Conversely, the duration of WRH strengthens the contributions of non-farm employment to farmland abandonment, and this effect is concentrated in the NEO group. These findings underscore the importance of actively cultivating and introducing new types of agricultural management entities, promoting the moderate-scale operation of farmland, and encouraging the recultivation of withdrawn rural homesteads as strategies to curb farmland abandonment.

Farmers to urban citizens? Understanding resettled households' adaptation to urban life in Shaanxi, China

Rural to urban resettlement is a widely used poverty alleviation strategy in China's Shaanxi Province, with roughly 250,000 poor households being resettled between 2016 and 2020. This is a huge development intervention designed and implemented by the Chinese state that aims to fundamentally transform people's livelihoods, yet few studies have examined how rural people involved in these resettlements have adapted to their new urban life. This article aims to analyze this adaptation process. Based on a survey of 1285 poverty alleviation resettlement (PAR) households in Shaanxi, we examine the socioeconomic and identity transformations brought about by urbanizing poverty resettlements, paying particular attention to resettled households' heterogeneous experiences of adaptation. Our analysis complicates the picture of a managed, smooth transition from farmers to urban citizens, raising issues of identity, economic insecurity, employment opportunities, and rural land as security. Economically, in the face of increased expenditure and few savings, most households have mixed income sources, and most still retain ties to agricultural land. Different trajectories are evident among households, with uneven access to nearby off-farm employment. Socially, strong social relations are evident, but there is weak engagement in more formal community institutions. And in terms of identity, only a small proportion of households self- identified as “urban”. Our findings highlight how, in the face of rapid change, PAR households strategically float between the rural and the urban.

Has the largest-scale poverty alleviation relocation in human history promoted urbanization? An empirical analysis from China

ABSTRACT Poverty alleviation resettlement (PAR) programme is the largest-scale poverty alleviation relocation in human history, but its impact on urbanization has received little academic attention. To fill this important gap, this study first proposed a theoretical framework of the “pressure-state-response-effect” (PSRE) of PAR promoting urbanization. Then, we regarded PAR as a quasi-natural experiment and used the PSM-DID model to assess the impact of PAR on urbanization based on the panel data of 2,081 counties in China from 2013 to 2020. Results showed that PAR had a significant positive impact on the urbanization rate of these counties, with a growth rate of 0.64%. Further mechanism analysis showed that industrial upgrading could expand the impact of PAR implementation on promoting urbanization. Additionally, PAR in the eastern and western, hilly and mountainous counties could improve the urbanization level more than that in the central and plain counties. The effectiveness of PAR varied across regions, requiring consideration of local socioeconomic complexity rather than a one-size-fits-all approach. Our findings would have important reference value for other developing countries to formulate their anti-poverty strategies to achieve the 2030 UN Sustainable Development Goals.

Does poverty alleviation resettlement improve resettlees' subjective social status? Longitudinal evidence from China

China's poverty alleviation resettlement (PAR) project relocated millions of residents in deprived areas to more favorable settlements. Although previous studies highlight that resettlees benefit financially, limited attention has been paid to understanding their subjective social status (SSS) in resettled communities. The current study addresses this gap by examining the causal effect of resettlement on resettlees' SSS based on a unique four-wave large-scale survey dataset of 1649 households across eight major PAR-covered Chinese provinces, collected both before and after their resettlement. The findings show that China's PAR project significantly improved resettlees' SSS, regardless of the resettlement mode (i.e., centralized and scattered resettlement) or resettlement location (i.e., village, town, and county). We also observed an inverse-U relationship between post-resettlement duration and SSS, where post-resettlement duration increased SSS at an early stage and decreased as the duration of residence exceeded a turning point. The mediation analyses revealed that PAR influences SSS by promoting resettlees' physical capital rather than through social capital. Our findings suggest that China's PAR can provide a reference for other development-induced displacement and resettlement projects in developing countries.

Does Resettlement Settled the Poverty?Poverty Alleviation Resettlement Programme and Multidimensional Poverty in Rural China

Poverty Alleviation Resettlement is a key component of Chinas Five-Batch policy in Targeted Poverty Alleviation. This work introduces the history of the PAR programme in China and the current phase of work arrangement. It presents findings from the literature on internal and rural-urban migration in China and other countries as well as some of the experiences and problems faced by the previous poverty alleviation resettlement projects. In addition, it attempts to build a simple DiD model to determine the impact of participation in the PAR programmes on the multidimensional poverty status of the poor in China, taking subjective and objective factors into account. It finally illustrates some shortcomings of this research for future refinement.

Enhancing capabilities and promoting empowerment: How do follow-up support measures affect urban resettled household integration in China?

Poverty alleviation resettlement (PAR) is a key poverty reduction initiative that has resettled nearly 9.6 million impoverished people during the tenure of China's 13th Five-Year Plan. Beginning in 2019 additional follow-up support measures have also been implemented to help resettled households integrate into their new communities. However, the question remains as to what extent these extra measures have actually aided in integration. In this paper, we consider not only the multi-dimensionality of the integration process but also how the diverse aspects of resettled households shape the integration process. Drawing on extensive primary data from 993 survey households collected at three cities in Shaanxi, China, along with a partial least squares structural equation model (PLS-SEM), we systematically examine whether the PAR follow-up support measures have actually helped resettled household integration. Our results show that family capabilities and empowerment are both fundamental to ensuring integration and that the follow-up support measures did indeed help to improve these elements. Furthermore, we find that enhancing capabilities through follow-up support measures can facilitate resettled households to integrate both psychologically and economically and that empowerment has a large positive effect on social integration.

Poverty Alleviation Resettlement and Household Natural Resources Dependence: A Case Study from Ankang Prefecture, China

In order to assess the degree to which China’s poverty alleviation resettlement (PAR) has been able to address the development conundrum of natural resources reliance and human welfare, it was necessary to investigate the effects of PAR on rural households with regard to their dependence on natural resources. This article evaluated households’ natural resources dependence in rural China by constructing a natural resources dependence index and empirically analyzing the effect of PAR on households by using household survey data from Ankang Prefecture, located in southern Shaanxi Province. The findings demonstrated that PAR could effectively decrease the dependence of households on local natural resources, thus safeguarding the natural environment. Moreover, there were noteworthy distinctions regarding households’ natural resources dependence. This research endeavored to complete the fusion of natural resource dependence and PAR at the household level, and then contemplated the policy implications of PAR on rural households’ dependence on resources, furnishing fresh information for future evaluations of nature conservation and development policies.

‘When the Land Cannot Support the People Any More’

Abstract This article examines the use of a popular Chinese formulation, yifang shuitu yanghuo buliao yifangren (‘the soil and water of a place cannot support the local people’), in China’s poverty-alleviation resettlement by focusing on the case of the Tibet Autonomous Region. The official narrative that the formulation points to is that the native land of Tibetans living in ‘harsh’ environments can no longer support them and cannot enable them to escape from ‘poverty’; they thus need to be resettled. The article shows that, while the degree to which the formulation holds true is debatable even from a government perspective, local officials find the authority embedded in the formulation, originating as it has from the central government, useful as a means of persuasion in getting Tibetans to agree to resettle and thus facilitating policy implementation on the ground. This finding echoes earlier research on the usefulness of political language for authorities in China at different levels of the administration.

Evolution trend and hot topic measurement of climate migration research under the influence of climate change

IntroductionGlobal climate change, which is characterized by climate warming, has become one of the most prominent risk problems in society at present. Climate migration brings many accompanying problems to the environment, economy, politics, society, and culture. It is of great theoretical and practical significance to study the internal relationship between climate change and population migration.MethodsThe data were extracted from the Web of Science core collection database (WOS) and China Knowledge Network database (CNKI). A total of 785 documents and 157 documents in the field of climate migration from 2008 to 2021 were selected as analysis samples. Word frequency analysis, clustering analysis, sudden word detection analysis, and other methods were extensively used to build the evolution trend map of climate migration using CiteSpace visual bibliometric software.ResultsIt is concluded that climate migration research has experienced three stages of development: initial exploration stage (2008-2011), development enrichment stage (2012-2017), and system deepening stage (2018).The hot topics of climate migration include: (1) different types of climate migration research; (2) Quantitative model research on climate migration; (3) Climate justice research. Different types of climate migration include 7 main types: (1) migration caused by sea level rise; (2) Resettlement caused by flood disaster; (3) Migration due to worsening drought; (4) Migration caused by extreme climate events; (5) Voluntary migration due to climate change discomfort; (6) Project resettlement caused by climate change response engineering measures; (7) Migrants whose livelihoods are broken due to climate change.DiscussionThe study points out that climate migration research is an interdisciplinary research field, which needs joint research by scholars from different academic backgrounds. In the future climate migration research, 1) strengthen the prediction ability of climate change population migration model; 2) Make use of China’s beneficial exploration in the migration fields such as engineering resettlement, ecological resettlement and poverty alleviation resettlement to formulate climate migration policies, regulations and strategic planning; 3) Establish a database cloud platform related to climate change and population migration; 4) Strengthen the exchange and cooperation between Chinese researchers in the field of climate migration and international scientific research institutions.

Impacts of Eco-Poverty Alleviation Policies on Farmer Livelihood Changes and Response Mechanisms in a Karst Area of China from a Sustainable Perspective

Eco-poverty alleviation policies have significant impacts on the changes in farmer household livelihoods. This study developed a multi-dimensional index system, which applies the social cognitive theory and farmer household livelihood capital to analyze the effects of eco-poverty alleviation policies on farmer household livelihood change in a karst area in China. The multivariate logistic, entropy weight, and Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution models were used to analyze the responses of 892 farmer households from eight villages in Guizhou Province, China. The results show that the Poverty Alleviation Resettlement Project (PARP) had the highest impact as it enables higher engagement of farmer households in non-agricultural activities, resulting in significant livelihood changes. Among the eco-poverty alleviation policies studied, changes in livelihoods of farmer households are highest from PARP, followed by the Ecological Forest Ranger Project (EFRP), Grain for Green Program (GGP), Forest Ecosystem Compensation Program (FECP), and Single Carbon Sink Program (SCSP). Specifically, GGP received the highest response from farmer households working out-of-province, whereas SCSP received the lowest. EFRP received the highest response from farmer households working in the village. Farmer households in different regions were found to respond differently to various eco-poverty alleviation policies, based on how specific policies can address their practical problems. It is also related to the delayed effects of these policies on their livelihoods. This study provides a theoretical basis for optimizing livelihood improvements for farmers at the regional level, which can aid in formulating strategies in the future to alleviate poverty and revitalize local rural communities.

Measuring Community Resilience and Its Determinants: Relocated Vulnerable Community in Western China.

With the full implementation of poverty alleviation resettlement (PAR), the restoration and improvement of the comprehensive living standards of relocated households have received increasing attention from policy researchers. The measurement of resilience and its determinants provides new ideas for PAR at the community level. This article proposes a method for examining community resilience in the context of PAR through a survey of 459 relocated households in western China and uses regression analysis to identify the determinants of community resilience. The results showed that the four dimensions of community resilience, in descending order, included: environmental resilience, economic resilience, management resilience, and social resilience. Income level and livelihood diversification were positively correlated with the community resilience index. Relocation time, relocation type, and resettlement mode were all essential determinants of the community resilience of relocated households. Finally, some suggestions were put forward, such as the need to build an interpersonal relationship network, guide pure farmers and non-farmers to transform into diversified livelihood households, and formulate a unified community action plan and interest protection mechanism so as to provide a reference for decision-making among managers to make decisions.

Do Resettled People Adapt to Their Current Geographical Environment? Evidence from Poverty-Stricken Areas of Northwest Yunnan Province, China.

The geographical environment adaptation of the resettled population is a deep-seated problem that determines whether the goal of the poverty alleviation resettlement (PAR) policy can be achieved. Scientific assessment of adaptive capacity (AC) and adaptation level (AL) provides a basis for subsequent policy formulation, which is of practical significance. This study took the poverty-stricken areas of northwest Yunnan as the study area and calculated the adaptive capacity index (ACI) and adaptation level index (ALI) based on survey data of 1002 resettled households and regional socioeconomic statistics by constructing the vulnerability as expected poverty (VEP) model and multi-factor analysis model. The results showed that (1) The ACI and ALI were 0.660 and 61.2 respectively, indicating that the resettled population has obvious environment adaptation barriers and a relatively high risk of returning to poverty. (2) The AC and AL of the resettled population had significant geographical differentiation. In general, Diqing Prefecture was significantly better than Nujiang Prefecture and the problems in Gongshan County, Fugong County and Lanping County were more prominent. (3) AC is a determinant of AL. However, these two indices in Gongshan and Lanping counties deviated from the general trend due to different policy effects. Based on the evaluation results and differentiation mechanism analysis, the study finally emphasized the importance of formulating and implementing the follow-up development plan of the resettled population and put forward measures to promote the resettled population to adapt to the geographical environment around the three core tasks of employment income increase, public service and bottom guarantee.

Exploring information practices of ethnic minorities with small populations in poverty alleviation resettlement areas in China

This study explored the everyday information practices of ethnic minorities with small populations in resettlement poverty alleviation areas of Yunnan, China, to determine the conditions affecting their information practices. A qualitative approach was conducted, and data were collected through comprehensive interviews involving forty-eight participants. This study applied information practices as a conceptual tool to understand ethnic minorities’ information needs, acquisition and sharing. The data were statistically analysed and processed using three qualitative data coding analysis levels to identify the conditions that affected their everyday information practices.The research findings demonstrated that with the change in living space and social communication relationship of such ethnic minorities, their information practice changed considerably. In addition, their ethnic identity, spatial conversion and social integration were the main conditions that could influence everyday information practices after moving into a new environment. The results promoted the understanding of ethnic characteristics as conditions that could influence everyday information practices after the spatial and social environment changes of relocated ethnic minorities.

“Working the government” Poverty alleviation resettlement in two Yi villages, Sichuan, China

Resettlement studies in China and globally draw upon Michel Foucault’s description of governmentality, classing resettlement programmes as power-laden activities, in which planning practices reorganise the built environment and life arrangements and redefine the identities of relocated populations to achieve political and economic objectives. However, few studies on resettlement in China have conducted an in-depth analysis of local resistance to the tactics of governmentality. This article builds on the literature on the governmentality of resettlement and develops a theoretical framework of resistance to governmentality, “working the government”, by combining insights from Michel Foucault and Erving Goffman, applying the framework to empirical evidence. This is achieved through analysis of the micro-politics of power in poverty alleviation resettlement (PAR) programmes in two Yi villages in Leshan and Liangshan Prefectures, Sichuan Province, and close examination of innovative tactics of resistance developed by local Yi minorities. The study shows that resettled households re-utilised and took advantage of elements of the resettlement programme, adapted those elements to their new ends and separated themselves from the subjectivities imposed by the programmes.

The Spatial and Temporal Evolution of Ecological Environment Quality in Karst Ecologically Fragile Areas Driven by Poverty Alleviation Resettlement

Many scholars are skeptical about the poverty reduction effect and the ecological effect of poverty alleviation resettlement (PAR). This study evaluates the spatial and temporal evolution of the ecological environment quality (EEQ) to analyze the effectiveness of ecological restoration from PAR. Based on cloud computing using the Google Earth Engine platform, remote-sensing data were obtained and reconstructed from 2000 to 2020. The remote-sensing ecological index (RSEI) was used to analyze the spatial and temporal evolution of EEQ. The results show that the RSEI of the study area increased by 13.07% after the implementation of PAR, and the rate of increase was higher than that in the period before PAR; the Pu’an and Qinglong areas improved most obviously, in terms of the fragile ecological environment and the prominent contradiction between peasants and land. The residual trends method indicated that the contribution rate of improvement in RSEI due to PAR was 70.56%, 88.38%, and 82.96% in 2017, 2018, and 2020, respectively. An increase in RSEI was more obvious in the area with a greater relocated population and a higher corresponding coupling coordination level. PAR has a promoting effect on EEQ improvement but does not have ecological restoration benefits in every region. It is not satisfactory in terms of the degeneration of the LST indicator and the ecological impact of human wells.

Can urban green space cure homesickness? Case study on China poverty alleviation migrants in Anshun, Guizhou

With the implement of China's ex-situ poverty alleviation resettlement (ESPAR) policy, nearly 10 million rural population have relocated with a better living condition in a short period of time, most of which have migrated to urban areas. The living environment and lifestyle of the poverty alleviation migrants (PAMs) have undergone dramatic changes, the resulting mental health problems may seriously affect their social integration and well-being. In particular, homesickness is a prevalent mental problem among the PAMs that demand prompt attention. Research indicates that longing for natural environment is one of the major causes of homesickness among rural out-migrants. As the main natural environment in cities, urban green space has been proven by numerous studies to have a positive effect on residents' mental health in various aspects, including reducing anxiety, relieving fatigue, and fostering perseverance. However, few studies have focused on the influence of urban green space on the mental health of the PAMs, especially on alleviating their homesickness syndrome. Using the data collected from interviews and questionnaire survey in the PAMs’ resettlement sites in Anshun, Guizhou, which has undertaken a heavy poverty alleviation task, this study examined the relationship between the physical activity, environment, function of urban green space, and the severity of PAMs’ homesickness, meanwhile paying attention to the impacts caused by different socio-demographic characteristics. The results show that urban green space is strongly associated with alleviating PAMs’ homesickness, and that all three factors play a positive role. Neighborhood green space is used the most, but suburban green space seems to provide better alleviation of homesickness. This study sheds lights on the critical role of urban green space for promoting PAMs' mental health, and aims to provide scientific reference to the planning and improvement for future migrant resettlements and urban green space.

The impact of poverty alleviation resettlement on the sustainable development of typical immigrated village in Tibet

The impact of poverty alleviation resettlement on the sustainable development of typical immigrated village in Tibet