Paper presented at the 8 th APMRN Conference, 26-29 May, 2007, Fuzhou, China Environmental Concerns and Population Displacement in West China Yan Tan National Institute of Labour Studies Flinders University, Australia Email: [email protected]Fei Guo Department of Business Macquarie University, Australia Email: [email protected](DRAFT) Abstract One of the areas in migration studies in China that has not been adequately understood is population displacement as a result of environmental deterioration. This paper offers a comprehensive review of recent literature in this area. It focuses on people displacement produced by accelerated environmental deterioration in West China. It briefly reviews the literature on environment-related migration and then discusses the distribution and features of the major ecologically fragile zones. Following is an examination of poverty as an important factor in initiating migration. It examines the processes and some consequences of environment-related displacement and resettlement. Finally, some suggestions on how best to cope with issues of people displacement are addressed. 1
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Paper presented at the 8th APMRN Conference, 26-29 May, 2007, Fuzhou, China
Environmental Concerns and Population Displacement
Figure 2. Sediment accumulation due to soil erosion in Xichang prefecture,
Sichuan province, in 2001.
Aggregated desertification
Desertification refers to the degradation of arid or semi-arid land through water erosion,
sediment accumulation and salination. The majority (90%) of natural grasslands that can be
used (2.25 million km2) in China have been seriously deteriorated (Wang, 2006). The land
being increasingly desertificated is on an average of 20,000 km2 a year (Xinhua News
Agency, 10 November 2003). The provinces that have the largest area of desert land are
Xinjiang (1.04 million km2), Inner Mongolia (0.66 million km2) and Tibet (0.44 million km2)
(Wang & Zhang, 2002). China is still in a state of overall deterioration despite some
improvement in controlling desertification in some regions. Resulting natural disasters are
becoming more frequent and serious, and the loss via erosion bigger (Lu & Wu, 2007).
Taking Tibet as an example, an area of some 0.2 million km2 (or 17%) of land which is
suffering from desertification. Another 0.2 million km2 of land is threatened by
desertification (Development and Planning Commission of the Tibet Autonomous Region,
2003). Warming of the climate may trigger more serious and a larger area of desertification
in Tibet. A widening gap between the low carrying capacity of the land and the growing
population and livestock may lead to over-exploitation of land resources, which will further
aggravate desertification.
Specifically, the environment in the source regions of the Yangtze, Yellow and Nanchang
rivers on the Qinhai-Tibetan Plateau has worsened over the past four decades. This is
manifested in rapid desertification, serious vegetation degradation, lake shrinkage and
salinisation, wetland degradation and biodiversity reduction. Climate change and the
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alteration of glacial snow accumulation and the freeze-thaw process of the frozen soil, as
well as overgrazing and rodent damage are identified as the principal determinants (Wang &
Cheng, 2000). The headwater area of the three rivers has the richest biodiversity distributed
on high lands (an average elevation of some 4,000m) in the world. Its total area is
3.16x105 km2. Some wetlands and the ecologically sensitive convergence of the three rivers
are found here (Renmin Ribao, 2000a). Around 700,000 people (tripling the population in the
1950s) live in here. Moreover, there are 22 million of sheep equivalent livestock depend on
this land, with an actual carrying capacity of the grassland greater than 50-60% of the real
carrying capacity of the land.
Deforestation
Forests have played a fundamental role in environmental conservation. Any action to damage
forests may contribute to soil erosion, floods and occurrences of sandstorms. By 2005, the
other provinces in northwestern China had a forest coverage rate below the average level
(18.2%) in China, except for Shaanxi (32.6%). The forest coverage rate was about 4.4%,
2.9%, 6.1%, 6.7% in Qinghai, Xinjiang, Ningxia, and Ganshu, respectively (National Bureau
of Statistics of China, 2006). The total area of forests in northwestern China (excluding
Shaanxi) was only 114,126 km2, accounting for only 6.5% of the total area of forests (1.75
million km2) in China.
Southwestern China once enjoyed abundant forestland, but forests have been progressively
destroyed (Figure 3). Sichuan province, for instance, experienced a decline of forest coverage
rate by more than 60% from the 1930s to the 1980s. In the 1950s its forest coverage rate was
20%, but it declined to the lowest level of 9% in the 1960s. Data show that the drastic flood
on the Yangtze River in 1998 was closely related to losses of forests in upstream regions
(Yang & Chen, 2003).
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Figure 3. Cleared forest in western Sichuan, in 1999.
Water scarcity
Except for Sichuan, most areas in west China face the problem of scarce water resources. In
northwestern parts where annual rainfall is often less than 400mm and average annual
evaporation is as high as 1,200mm, there is a big shortage of supply and demand for water.
The water shortage rate in recent years, in these areas, has reached 8.7%. Water scarcity is
more severe in some areas, such as Guanzhong district in Shannxi, oases in Xinjiang, Hexi
(i.e., west of the Yellow River) Corridor district and the Shiyang River watershed in Gansu
(Li, 2005; Yang et al., 1994; Yang et al., 2006). Although rainfall in southwestern China is as
high as 1,000mm, the water storage capacity is small, as mountains and hills are widely
spaced. It is also excessively difficult to build reservoirs in mountains and hills. Qinghai-
Tibetan Plateau enjoys a great number of lakes, of which the total area is 36,900 km2, making
up 52% of the total area of all lakes in China. Yet, many lakes are facing the problem of
becoming dry. In addition to climatic change and the decline in the groundwater level,
human activities have also increased thereby exacerbating environmental problems.
Degradation of grassland
Besides climate change, over-grazing is an important factor in causing the degradation of
grasslands. The majority (90%) of grassland in China suffers from degradation. The
proportion of grassland suffering from overgrazing is 36%, double the figure for the 1980s.
Degradation of grassland in northwestern parts is more serious than in any other places in
China. For instance, the proportion of degradation in Ningxia, Shaanxi, Ganshu and Tibet is
as high as 97.4%, 58.8%, 45.2% and 30.4%, respectively. One of the five major pasturelands
in China, northwestern Sichuan has experienced a rapid degradation since the 1960s. The
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desertified land in this region expands at a drastic rate. According to a survey by Sichuan
Agricultural Academy, about 40,000 km2 of grassland has suffered from rat epidemics over
the last decade, which leads to an annual loss of fodder reaching 1 billion kilograms.
Moreover, over-harvesting of herbs has negative impacts on grasslands.
4. Poverty-stricken Population
There is a widening disparity in the levels of economic development between the western
areas and eastern regions of China. By 2005, the population in west China accounted for
about 30% of the total population in China; per capita GDP and per capita net income of
farmers was approximately 40% and 50% of that in east China, respectively (Wen, 2005). Of
the 592 national poverty-stricken counties, as defined by the State Council in 1994, 383
counties are located in west China. Up till 2006, there were still 21.5 million rural people
living in absolute poverty in China.2 More than half of them (54.7%) live in west China,
compared to 32.8% in central and 12.5% in east China (China Information Newspaper, 10
April 2007).
The geographical distribution of China’s poverty-stricken population is highly correlated to
the EFZs (see Figures 8 and 1). There is high incidence of poverty occurring in the EFZs,
where more than three quarters (76%) of the counties are poor. These counties account for
73% of all poverty-stricken counties in China. Accordingly, 74% of people residing in the
EFZs live in poverty-stricken conditions. Most poverty-stricken counties in west China are
situated either in remote mountainous regions (258 counties) or in areas dominated by ethnic
people (210 counties). 3 These areas are characterized by difficult accessibility of
transportation and information.
2 The absolute poverty-stricken rural population is defined as farmers whose annual net income was less than
200 yuan in 1985 when China set up poverty line for people’s basic food and clothing problems. For later years, the standard of poverty only varies by price index. It was 693 yuan in 2006. In terms of this criterium, the poverty-stricken population was reduced from 250 million in 1978 to 21.48 million in 2006. The provenance rate, ratio of poor people whose basic food and clothing are not solved of the total rural people, decreased from 30.7 to 2.3 per cent over the same period. Note that the figure of poverty-stricken population was under-estimated when compared to the international standard for poverty, by which the annual net income was 924 yuan in 2006. In line with the international criteria, the poverty-stricken population in China would be 80-100 million by 2006.
3 Fifty of the total 55 ethnic groups of population in China live in the western parts, accounting for 75% of the total ethnic population in China. By 2005, the poverty-stricken ethnic population was 11.7 million, nearly half (49.5%) of the total poverty-stricken population in China (Xinhua News Net, 29 March 2007).
10
Figure 4. Distribution of national poverty-stricken counties.
Source: State Council Leading Group Office of Poverty Alleviation and Development (2003).
The fast growing rural population is an important reason for the poverty seen in the EFZs. In
four of the five northwestern provinces, the average annual population growth rates were
greater than the national average over a decade to 2000. The growth rates in Xinjiang, Gansu,
Ningxia and Qinghai were 2.34, 1.65, 0.95, 0.40 percent, respectively, with an exception in
Shannxi (–0.55%) (Li & Cheng, 2007). These rates reflect the fact that the rural population in
northwestern China grows rapidly in absolute and relative terms, but the process of
urbanization is comparatively slow.
Liu & Wang (2001) constructed a relational model to quantify the links between population
distributions, physical elements (e.g., precipitation, elevation, landforms) and socio-economic
variables (e.g., cultivation ratio of land, human development index, per capita GDP,
expenditure of residents, total fixed capital investment, built areas in cities, and area of arable
land). They modeled the optimistic or theoretical distribution of population in each province.
The comparison between the real and modeled densities of population provides an indication
of the degree of pressure on the human carrying capacity of the environment (Table 1). The
actual human supporting capacities of the lands in western provinces are all higher than the
theoretical values. Ningxia is in the worst situation to support its population. The deviation of
the actual and modeled carrying capacity of the environment also varies by region within a
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province. For example, in Dingxi prefecture 4 of Gansu province, the supporting capability of
the environment is estimated to be 7-8 persons/ km2, but the real population density reached
128 persons/ km2 in 2002.5 By contrary, the modeled carrying capacities in some eastern
provinces are far greater than the actual capacities. For instance, the real carrying capacity is
only one-quarter of its theoretical capacity in Guangdong. This suggests that there might be a
potential for these provinces to receive some migrants displaced from western provinces.
Table 1. Population density in west China and selected eastern provinces: actual vs. modeled.
Province Actual population density (persons/km2) (1)
Modeled population density (persons/km2) (2)
Ratio of (1)/(2)
In west China:
Ningxia 102.9 1.79 57.42
Guizhou 200.3 15.69 12.76
Gansu 60.8 7.94 7.66
Qinghai 6.8 1.17 5.77
Yunnan 106.2 23.47 4.53
Sichuan 203.7 52.46 3.88
Shannxi 169.6 51.52 3.29
Xinjiang 10.3 6.92 1.49
Guangxi 194.2 141.66 1.37
Inner Mongolia 20.0 19.69 1.02
Tibet 2.0 0.00 -
In east China
Guangdong 410.0 1421.04 0.29
Jiangsu 718.4 1486.54 0.48
Helongjiang 83.1 169.48 0.49
Liaoling 291.2 547.42 0.53
Shandong 565.9 871.85 0.65
Zhejiang 445.7 668.78 0.67
Source: adapted from Liu & Wang (2001, p.36).
Note: Chongqing was excluded in the modeling as it was a part of Sichuan before 1997.
In the poverty-stricken areas in west China, people are used to the traditional ways of
production. This way of production may lead to the over-exploitation of natural resources
when there is a rapid increase of population. As a result, environmental degradation and a
decline in land productivity is inevitable. Once population growth increases the pressure on
4 Dingxi prefecture administers 6 counties and 1 district, with total population of 2.96 million in 2006 and a total
area of 20,300 km2. 5 See http://www.envir.gov.cn/info/2002/10/1030119.htm.
agricultural land, more serious degradation will eventuate, which in turn leads to greater
poverty. Thus, people are trapped in a vicious circle: destruction of ‘environment – poverty –
more destruction of environment – more poverty’. Since most poverty-stricken counties in
western China are situated in EFZs, it is more rewarding to wage anti-poverty campaigns in
combination with environmental conservation and reconstruction.
5. Environment-related People Displacement in West China
5.1 Grand development in West China
Raising the living standards of the people, from simply having enough food and clothing to a
relatively comfortable life, has become a guiding principle of socio-economic development at
this stage of China’s modernization (Jiang, 2002a). In March 2000, China officially initiated
the ‘Grand Development in West China’ strategy, starting the spatial transformations of
social and economic development from east to west (Renmin Ribao, 2000b). This strategy
involves all dimensions of development (economic, social, environmental, and security). It is
being implemented through a range of programs: infrastructure construction, resource
development (especially water resource and energy), environmental protection and
rehabilitation, industrial restructuring, human capital, rural development and social welfare of
the people (Renmin Ribao, 2002). Four key environmental measures have been implemented
to halt the deterioration of fragile environments in China. These include: ‘afforestation’,
‘natural forest protection’, ‘control of sandstorm sources’; and ‘returning degraded
pastureland to grass’. The country explicitly sets forth the following aims:
• to achieve a breakthrough in basic infrastructure construction and the environmental
rehabilitation of West China in 5-10 years’ time;
• to do a good job in the protection of natural forests, management of sand movements,
rehabilitation of cultivated land at steep slopes with a gradient of 25 degrees or
greater to forest or grassland; and
• to pay close attention to combining the rehabilitation of cultivated land to forest or
grassland with the capital construction of cultivated land, establishment of power
supply in rural villages, environmental migration and restructuring of the agricultural
and animal husbandry industry (Jiang, 2002b).
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5.2 Environmental migration
A typical feature of an ecological fragile environment is its low carrying capacity of
population. Environmental migration has been taken as a lever to adjust the population size
of an area and to reduce the population pressure on the fragile environment. Living in harsh
environments in the EFZs in west China, many people will never be able to rise above
poverty. Moving some people out of the fragile environments is perceived by the Chinese
government to be an effective strategy for relieving the pressure on the environment,
rehabilitating the deteriorating ecosystem, and eradicating poverty. There are three types of
environments in which people are needed to be displaced:
(1) Environments where primary environment is not suitable for people to live in, such as
high altitudes with low temperatures and scarce water, or severely arid areas where it
is very hard for people to find water sources;
(2) Environments where the ecosystem is in the process of regressive evolution although
they used to be a sound primary environment, such as grasslands that have suffered
serious desertification, the areas that are vulnerable to mountain hazards (e.g.,
landslide and debris flow), and areas that suffer from severe soil erosion;
(3) Nature reserves where all inhabitants, particularly those in the core areas, must be
resettled outside the reserves so that landscapes and biodiversities could be better
conserved.6
In 1983, people displacement was initiated in order to reduce poverty in some impoverished
areas, such as in Dingxi prefecture and Hexi7 district of Gansu and Xi-Hai-Gu8 district of
Ningxia. These three areas have been the poorest in China. Some 283,000 people were
displaced from the mountainous region in south Ningxia by 1998 (Song, 2000). People
displacement is carried out in accordance with the following four principles: the willingness
of the people to move, near resettlement, relocation within one’s capability, and being
granted appropriate subsidies (Renmin Ribao, 1994). In 2001, the State Council selected the
6 For example, in Gansu, 70,000 farmers were displaced from the national nature reserves in Qilian mountain
ranges and from the protected grasslands from 2001 to early 2007 (Gansu Ribao, 20 April 2007). 7 Hexi is a geographical region, located to the west of the Yellow River. This region, with some 270,000 km2,
encompasses the prefecture of Jiuquan and four prefecture cities (Zhangye, Wuwei, jiayuguan, Jingchang). 8 The district of Xi-Hai-Gu encompasses 7 national poverty-stricken counties in the southern part of Ningxia
autonomous region: Xiji, Haiyuan, Guyuan, Pengyang, Jingyuan, Longde, Tongxin. About 1 million Hui nationality people live in this area, which is the largest region where the Hui nationality people reside in China.
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provinces of Ningxia, Yuannan, Guizhou and Inner Mogonior in which to practice
experimental displacement and resettlement of environment-related migration. Since then,
emigration has gradually spread to other provinces.
However, the country had no direct compensation or funding for people relocation prior to
2002. Available but limited funding was usually connected with other aid programs,
primarily the ‘aid-the-poor’ program. According to the ‘Development-Oriented Poverty
Reduction Program for Rural China’ (Information Office of the State Council of China,
2001), the nation supports and encourages the poverty-stricken population in regions of
adverse environment and impoverished living conditions to explore new avenues of solving
their food and clothing problems through migration, including opening up and development
of new communities. As such, the central government stresses that the impoverished people
who volunteer to move away can not only enjoy the preferential policy of the ‘aid-the-poor’
program, but the local authorities also formulate specific policies and measures to provide
various favorable terms to ensure that each household moved out will be kept warm and fed.
It was not until 11 April 2002 that environment-related migration came to the policy of the
central government of China. The State Council put forth Some Suggestions about Further
Improving Afforestation Policy and Its Implementations (Official Document no. 10 [2002]).
The government stresses that environment-related migration needs to be incorporated with
the national major environment projects such as ‘afforestation’, and that the central
government will provide financial subsidies for the building of basic infrastructure to assist
migrants’ livelihood and production restoration. The government plans to displace some 7
million environmental migrants within 10 years or so. The country will arrange 3-5 billion
yuan each year for environment-related displacement and resettlement.
Around 2 million poverty-stricken people were relocated over the period from 1983 to 2006.9
Of these, 1.02 million people were displaced from the fragile environments in west China
over the period 2000-05 (West China Development Leadership Office of the State Council,
2005). At least one-third of them were from Gansu, Ningxia, and Inner Mongonia.10
9 See http://www.china.com.cn/zhuanti2005/txt/2006-03/07/content_6146011.htm. 10 Environment-related migrations are especially marked in the three provinces. In Gansu, 208,000 poverty-
stricken people from 73 counties in 12 prefectures were displaced from 2001 to 2007, at a total cost of 910 million yuan (Gansu Ribao, 20 April 2007). In Ningxia, 76,000 emigrants were displaced from 2002 to 2005 (http://www.china.com.cn/zhuanti2005/txt/2006-03/07/content_6146011.htm). In Inner Mongolia, 45,000 migrants displaced from the grassland in Xilinguole during the period of 2000 to March 2006 (http://www.chinawest.gov.cn/web/NewsInfo.asp?NewsId=30452).
The mainstream of the environment-related migrants are involuntary and displaced by the
government-organised schemes, while a smaller number of people are voluntarily displaced
by themselves, as the evidence in Yunnan (Wen et al., 2005) and Sichuan (Li, 2007)
suggests. Some people are resettled within the vicinity of their origin county, while some are
resettled beyond their origin counties or even in other province. The majority of people are
settled in the agricultural sector, while some are settled in non-agricultural sectors in urban
areas. Resettling migrants in urban or peripheral areas provides more opportunities for these
people to establish their production after removal. This measure meets many migrants’
excessive expectations in improving social and economic status through displacement and
diverse income sources (non-agricultural and agricultural) to sustain living and production by
their families. This measure also facilitates urbanisation. Some migrants are resettled in
villages of host people, some are settled in newly established villages, and the others are
resettled in county or township sites.
The government in some areas creatively makes adjustments to environment-related
displacement policy and plans, based on the changing and real situations of resettlement
practice. They actively seek more workable approaches to lead people displacement towards
development-oriented resettlement. An innovative approach, in combination with
‘government-organised’ and ‘voluntarily scattered’ displacement and resettlement schemes,
is being advocated and practiced in the Three Gorges reservoir area. 11 This approach aims to
tackle the issues related to the different categories of migrants to be relocated. It enables
migrants to be resettled in wider areas, which do not confine them in the countryside through
land- or agricultural-based resettlement schemes, but motivate some people to resettle by
voluntary self-employment schemes, settling in urban areas to engage in secondary or tertiary
industry activities.
11 The Three Gorges reservoir area, produced by the Three Gorges dam project, is situated at the lower section
of the upper reaches of the Yangtze River. It involves Chongqing municipality and Hubei province. More than 1.3 million people will be displaced by the completion of 17 years of dam construction in 2009.
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To reduce the strain of the inadequate human carrying capacity of the land in the Three
Gorges reservoir area, the Chinese government has arranged for the removal of rural
residents from the reservoir area and resettled them in distant locations since 2000. By the
end of June 2006, some 164,000 rural residents had been moved out of their origin counties
in the reservoir area and resettled in 11 designated provinces or municipalities (some 95,000)
and in other non-flooded counties in the reservoir area (some 69,000). Taking into account
some 25,000 migrants who voluntarily moved out the reservoir area and resettled in 26
provinces nationwide in earlier years (mainly from 1996 to 2000), some 189,000 rural
migrants have moved out of their origin counties in the reservoir area and resettled in distant
locations (Tan, 2007). Nevertheless, in the Three Gorges reservoir area, the present
population density is as high as 302 persons/km2. This more than twice the average in China
(Nanfang Baoye, 19 March 2007). Moreover, more than 470,000 people from 130,000
households still live below the national poverty line in Chongqing municipality. These people
are distributed among 2,000 villages in mountainous areas, characterised by deteriorating
environments, underdeveloped local societies, scarce resources and poor accessibility. The
municipal government plans to displace these people in the next 15 years to 2020. During the
‘11th Five-Year Plan (2006-11)’ period 90,000 people from 25,000 households were planed to
be displaced (Chongqing Shang Bao, 2 March 2007).
The other new initiative to motivate more people to move out of the reservoir area by
themselves, rather than being organised by the government, is in the pipeline. People with
strong survival capabilities or capable of settling themselves in non-agricultural sectors are
encouraged to move out. Eligible people consist of those: who have worked outside their
hometowns over a long term; who have relatives working and living in urban areas; who
serve the army; who study in higher education or professional institutions; and who are
acquiring skills for the purpose of labour export. The objective of this initiative is to reduce
the population in the reservoir area at a relatively lower cost. An estimated, 1.7 million
farmers from the reservoir area have experience of working outside the reservoir area for 3
months or more. This indicates the possibility for these migrants to consider giving up their
rights on holding farmland and residential land in their villages, and resettling themselves and
their families in urban areas.
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5.4 Issues of environmental migration
Inadequate Preparation
An understanding of the numbers of people to be displaced and their social, economic and
demographic characteristics is essential for designing suitable relocation policies and
schemes (Operation Evaluation Department, 1998). However, the precise numbers and
characteristics of people affected by different environmental factors are not accurately
known in China. Baseline data provides an important foundation for setting criteria on
eligible migrants, compensation and rehabilitation. Such data constitute a baseline against
which the incomes and standards of livelihood and reconstruction of production of
migrants may be measured after physical removal.
Potential resettlement areas, infrastructure situations, reclamation of waste land and
improvement of low yielding land, non-agricultural employment opportunities in any
resettlement community, are important factors in human resettlement planning. These aspects
can be included in an social impact assessment or environmental impact assessment, or the
report of a resettlement implementation project. The generic principle for the environment-
related relocation in China is to resettle people in agricultural sectors, providing each migrant
with a plot of land to restore their livelihoods and reconstruct production. Yet land is scarce
in most areas, especially in economically developed or urban regions. It is becoming
increasingly difficult to adjust farmland from host people in the resettlement communities
because land-use rights are guaranteed by the country under the second, 30-year, term of land
tenure.
The government has put forwarded some broad policies to encourage people displacement,
but specific policies tailored for environment-related displacement and resettlement are still
lacking. This leads to difficulties in implementing resettlement schemes. Specific polices to
solve migrants’ problems such as land provision, household registration, school enrolments,
and access to medical services are imperative. Many farmers/herdsmen lack the techniques
and skills to cope with changes in livestock farming and other agricultural activities,
production modes and tools in the resettlement areas (Bao & Meng, 2005; Liu, 2002). Skills
training and job creation are big issues in successfully sustaining migrants’ livelihoods and
production after their physical displacement.
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In the ecologically fragile areas or migrant sending areas, it is crucial to understand the
process, mechanism, extent and degree of land degradation or deterioration of the
environment. It is important to model the human carrying capacities of various types of land
and analyze the status of rehabilitation of the degraded land. Such quantitative analysis and
modeling provide convincing data and indications on whether or not environmental migration
is needed and the scale of displacement if it is needed. With respect to the migrant receiving
communities, research into the effects of settling migrants on the local environment is equally
important. Receiving migrants should not run the risk of bringing about adverse impacts on
the environment in the resettlement communities.
Inadequate Funds
The displacement of people from their customary habitat involves substantial hardship and
suffering. There are social and psychological costs which cannot be quantified using
available analytical tools. Certain types of intangible assets or social capital losses cannot be
calculated in monetary terms, such as production relationships, culture, kinship networks, and
employment opportunities. Shortage of capital resources is another crucial problem in the
implementation of environmental migration. There are three financial sources in connection
with the country’s environmental regeneration and poverty alleviation. One is derived from
the environmental protection projects (e.g., ‘afforestation’, ‘natural forest protection’ project
in the upper reaches of the Yangtze and Yellow rivers). The other comes from the nation’s
‘aid-the-poor funding’, and ‘work-relief funds’ (yi gong dai zhen) 12 . The Chinese
government puts aside part of the ‘national bond for west China development’ (3–
5 billion yuan per annum) for environmental migration. Yet, the aid for people displaced for
reasons of environmental sustainability is usually lower than that for making way for
transportation, urban expansion or hydro projects in China (Tan et al., 2003). The aid for
relocating a migrant from the central financial sources, the major source of aid for
environmental migration, is on average 4,000–5,000 yuan per migrant, but the actual cost
totals at least 10,000 yuan per capita. The gap is huge concerning resettling people in distant
communities. The surveys of grassroots officials in Inner Mongonia, Hebei and Ningxia
12 This kind of fund is essentially a form of governmental functions, which dates back to the Ming (A.D. 1368–
1644) and Qing Dynasties (A.D. 1644–1911) in China. The government aided the areas suffering from disasters, through offering income to the labourers in traditional industrial sectors and in return the victims of natural calamity provide labourers to rebuild the disaster areas. This strategy has played an important part in the battle against poverty since its initiation at the end of 1989 in China.
19
provide evidence in case (Jiang et al., 2006). The compensation is inadequate for providing
basic infrastructure and facilities. Lacking stable sources of income after displacement is an
imperative issue that most migrants are confronting. For example, some 80,000 people were
displaced from 2001 to 2006 in Ningxia, but three quarters of these people have not solved
basic food and clothing problems. One reason is that the majority of land allocated to the
migrants in the resettlement communities is newly reclaimed waste land, which needs a few
years before crops will grow due to the infertility of the soil. They have little money left to
invest in the new land after spending a large portion of their savings and subsidies on house
building in the resettlement areas. Migrants find it had to get loans from any financial
agencies; when they do successfully receive a loan, it is usually very small and on a short
term (usually 1 year). Some migrants have even returned to their origin areas.
Some migrants have been displaced under the national ‘afforestation’ program since 2001.
The country committed to compensating the farmer families for their loss in the returned
cultivated land for 8 years. For example, farmers residing in the upper reaches of the Yangtze
River and Yellow Rover can get a grain subsidy of 150kg plus 70 yuan (50 yuan for seedlings
and 20 yuan for health care and education) (US$ 1 = RMB 8.27 yuan as of October 2004) for
each mu (1 ha = 15 mu) of cultivated land which has been returned to forest or grassland for
as long as required.13 People affected by this program will face the imminent ‘big issue’ of
how to effectively sustain their basic living after the end of aid.
Land provision
Land is an essential resource for agricultural production and is the basic means upon which
most migrants’ livelihoods depend. Several factors result in limited capability of the land in
resettlement communities. First, most migrants are resettled within their origin counties or
provinces where the carrying capacity of land is considerably low. Second, in the areas where
afforestation has been carried out, there is no land to resettle people who fully returned their
cultivated land at steep slopes to forest or grassland. Third, the current land policy ensures
farmers 30-year land-use tenure rights on their contract land. Local government or any other
institutional organisations in the resettlement communities do not have rights to adjust 13 On 9 March 2000 the Forestry Bureau, the State Planning Commission and the State Financial Ministry issued
the ‘Circular on Carrying out Preparatory Work of Returning Cultivated Land to Forest or Grass in the Upper Reaches of the Yangtze River and in the Upper and Middle Reaches of the Yellow River’ (Government document No. 111 [2000]). To achieve the objective, China adopted the policy of returning farmland to forests and pasture, closing off mountains to logging, growing samplings, substituting grain for poverty aid, and signing contracts with individuals.
20
farmland from host farmers under the national Land Administration Law (2004 Revision).14
Fourth, since 2006 the Chinese government has exempted agriculture taxations, which has
been levied on farmers for more than 2,000 years. This beneficial policy greatly enhances
farmers’ awareness of the significance of farmland. Engaging in agricultural production can
generate some income for their families. Consequently, resettling migrants through an
agriculture or land-based approach becomes more difficult than ever before.
Social integration
Displacement causes the disruption or termination of people’s social and production networks
in their original areas. The social and cultural integration of migrants with the host people in
the resettlement communities is seen as a long-term process. Displacement influences and
shapes the ways in which migrants interact with their new environments, the types of social
structures and relationships they build and participate in, and the values and norms they hold.
As Bartolome et al. (2000) correctly stated, involuntary relocation usually results in people
being transferred from a social environment in which they were primary actors to one in
which they are aliens. Displacement and resettlement also result in a painful and traumatic
experience of socio-cultural dismantling. People displaced via a near resettlement approach
can retain some of their existing social networks and continue to use some of the current
production systems, paying lower costs (both social and economic) compared with the distant
resettlement approach. The people resettled in distant communities pay higher social costs in
terms of adapting to their new society. Their kinship and neighborhood networks disappear
completely. Former social networks are lost and anxiety in the process of distant resettlement
is prevalent. Creating new social capital and building new social networks requires some
time. Most people, especially older people, do not want to displace their families via
resettlement in distant communities. Social integration is a focal issue of social re-
establishment and development. It is a process integrating various factors and parts of a
society in a harmonious way. Policies and schemes of environmental migration need also to
consider the distinctive characteristics of diverse ethnic groups (Wu, 2003, 2006). For
minority groups of people who are resettled in urban or peri-urban areas in the ethnic regions,
changes in production activities, culture, language, lifestyle and customs are substantial and
they confront a variety of problems in their new environments.
14 The Land Administration Law of the People’s Republic of China (2004 Revision) was passed by the National
People’s Congress of China on 28 August 2004 and has come into effect since then.
21
6. Some Suggestions for Coping with Emerging Issues
6.1 Policy response to people displacement People displacement is a logical and immediate response to environmental deterioration, but
it is rarely a medium or long-term solution to environmental problems. This will be only be
achieved by controlling the growth of rural population at low levels through continuing to
carry out family planning policy and adopting ecologically sustainable ways of using the
environment and natural resources. Both of these goals will only be achieved via eradicating
poverty and inequality among the people living in areas subject to environmental
deterioration and hazards. Only through creating income generating opportunities for people,
improving health, education, human rights and enhancing the status and roles of women in all
societal and economic spheres can long-term sustainability be achieved.
Further reforming the family household registration system (hukou) to enable some migrants
and their families to resettle in distant resettlement areas or urban areas is an important
strategy for coping with the increasing difficulty in displacing environment-related migrants.
For those that have worked or lived in urban areas for a long period, they and their family
members should not be restricted from transforming their agricultural hukou status into non-
agricultural status (i.e., urban citizenship).
6.2 Establishing ‘ecological compensation’ and ‘later assistance’ mechanisms It is crucial for the country to establish the mechanism of ‘ecological compensation’ to
compensate the entire cost to people of displacement. Such a mechanism works through
mediating the interrelationships between regions where environmental deterioration must be
prohibited for the sustainable development of other regions and the whole country and
regions which benefit from environmental protection in the former regions. Such a
mechanism reflects the cost-benefit relations in western and eastern regions in China. This
implies that the provinces in eastern and coastal areas have responsibilities in resettling
migrants, and/or in providing adequate assistance to compensate people displacement and
resettlement in cash or kind (including preferential policies).
22
The weak basis of industries and a lack of economic development potency in many
resettlement communities in west China are the essential reasons why the ‘later assistance’ at
the transition stage after physical displacement is imperative for the environment-related
migrants. Due to the uncertainty of the source of funding and a lack of policies on the
programs for ‘later assistance’, it is difficult for any resettlement area to make effective plans
concerning livelihood rehabilitation. The central and/or provincial governments should set up
the time frame of the transition phase. Measures of ‘later assistance’ mainly include: setting
up ‘aid funds’ and preferential policies; arranging industrial projects; nurturing new
industries; and providing skills training for the displaced people. All the ‘later assistance’
measures aim not only to improve or at least restore the living, production and employment
conditions of the majority of the displaced people, but also to develop the economy in the
resettlement communities in the long run.
6.3 Strengthening skills training To tackle the current enormous difficulty in restoring livelihoods and production of displaced
people, it is crucial for local governments in the resettlement communities to work out a
‘migrant/labour training plan’ to help migrants re-skill themselves and enhance their
employability. Training should focus on the production techniques and skills required in the
resettlement areas, and on the increasing demand for the ‘export of (migrant) labour’.
Training programs need to be tailored to job opportunities and to the gender, age and
background of the migrants to be trained. Different individual (e.g., age, sex, marital status,
skills), familial (e.g., size, composition, structure) and societal factors (e.g., local
village/urban norms, cultural values, religion) can influence the participation of migrants in
skills training and the outcomes of their employment. These factors influence whether a
migrant likes training, what occupation-related training is preferred, in what occupations they
might work after training, and the outcomes of skills training. Gender distributions vary
substantially along the occupational spectrum, and between and within industry. Thus,
training program design should be gender-differentiated, to meet the different needs of
distinct groups of migrants.
There is often a mis-match between the skills that migrants have and the production activity
that they are engaged in. Individual migrants will have a feel not only for what they like and
are good at, but where the future job opportunities lie. Based on the available information, the
training sector should focus on identifying skills that are in increasing demand from those in
23
declining demand, and on skills where demand for manual-labour or intellectual-intensive
labour are likely to be large. To fulfil such a daunting task, the government needs to have an
overall assistance strategy and policy framework for training, which should: (1) bring
together relevant government departments at all levels, public/private sector, and various
employment and training institutions, in a concerted and sustained effort; (2) overcome the
mis-match between skills supply and demand; and (3) put together funds from different
sources for planned training uses. To make the training programs and employment of
migrants more efficient and productive, the government should consider the following
measures. These include:
• Establish a labour/employment monitoring system, becoming sources of information,
quickly picking up emerging trends and for responding to skills demand for migrant
workers in the relatively developed provinces or elsewhere.
• Where more detail is required, retain a nationwide focus and disaggregate by age, sex,
occupation and skill level or type;
• Use local information from existing recruitment agencies and like sources to refine
the broad demand for migrant labourers.
• Migrant individuals are encouraged to seek employment after training by themselves,
or through their own social networks.
7. Conclusion
The above analyses suggest that the environment-related population displacement in China
has increased in scale in response to the scale and pace of environmental deterioration has
increased in China in the past decades. Environmental degradation in west China, particularly
in the ecologically fragile zones, has become an important driving force of people
displacement. This factor is linked to the economic push being exerted by poverty, population
pressure on resources (land, water), poor accessibility to infrastructure (e.g., transportation,
information), and the broadened disparity of economic development between western and
eastern regions. Environment-related migration is being utilised as an important measure to
realise the development of population, resources, environment, economy and society in
China. This measure is envisaged by Chinese policy-makers and researchers as an effective
24
way to protect the environment from further deterioration and to relieve people from poverty.
For the sustainability of the environment, the Chinese government has planned to displace 7
million people from the ecologically fragile zones, nature reserves, or the poverty-stricken
regions where the environment cannot support the present population, within 10 years or so
(commenced in 2001). Around 2 million (1.02 million from west China) people have been
relocated since then. In practice, environment-related migration is incorporated with four
major environmental projects: ‘afforestation’, ‘natural forest protection’, ‘returning degraded
grasslands to grass’, and ‘control the sources of sandstorms’.
Since the beginning of the 21st century, environmental pressures have become increasingly
significant in producing a large body of people displaced in China. Environment-related
migration, intrinsically involuntary in nature, is an important dimension of involuntary
population displacements in China. This presents a considerable challenge to both
policymakers and researchers. The government has committed to being principally
responsible for planning, organising and financially assisting people’s displacement and
resettlement. The deeper underlying causes of environmental migration are not only the
aggravated severity and scale of environmental fragility and degradation, but also related to
economic, social and demographic processes in China. Thus policy responses need to
emphasise the more fundamental causes of this stream of people displacement rather than the
environmental factors that precipitate the migration. With the growing number of people
(mainly poverty-stricken, ethnic) to be displaced from the ecologically fragile environments,
it is imperative for the government at all levels (central, provincial, county, township) to
make better informed resettlement policies and schemes. Policy responses to a range of
emerging issues are of urgent need. These include adjustments to current policies on
compensation types and standards, land provision, and hukou transferability (from rural to
urban residency status). It is suggested that the country set up concrete policies for ‘later
assistance’ for both the displaced people and the affected regions. Emphasis needs to be
placed on plans to enhance the capacity for self-development of the migrants (especially
females). Providing skills training for migrants, income sources and employment channels,
and helping them integrate into the host communities are especially important for migrants to
rehabilitate their livelihoods and production after displacement.
25
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