China is the largest carbon emitter in the world, with agricultural carbon emissions accounting for 17% of China’s total carbon emissions. Agricultural carbon emission reduction has become the key to achieving the “Double Carbon” goal. At the same time, the role of the digital economy in achieving the “dual carbon” goal cannot be ignored as an important engine to boost the high-quality development of China’s economy. Therefore, this paper uses the panel data of 30 provinces in mainland China from 2011 to 2019 to construct a spatial Durbin model and a mediation effect model to explore the impact of the digital economy on agricultural carbon intensity and the mediating role of agricultural technological progress. The research results show that: (1) China’s agricultural carbon intensity fluctuated and declined during the study period, but the current agricultural carbon intensity is still at a high level; (2) The inhibitory effect of the digital economy on agricultural carbon intensity is achieved by promoting agricultural technological progress, and the intermediary role of agricultural technological progress has been verified; (3) The digital economy can significantly reduce the carbon intensity of agriculture, and this inhibition has a positive spatial spillover effect. According to the research conclusions, the government should speed up the development of internet technology and digital inclusive finance, support agricultural technology research and improve farmers’ human capital, and strengthen regional cooperation to release the contribution of digital economy space.

Cropland, as the largest land use type in the human landscape, contributes to not only biodiversity but also global food security. However, cropland abandonment not only is harmful to agricultural cultural landscapes but also threatens food security. Prior studies have suggested that changes in the social environment drive farmers to abandon cropland. In contrast, this study reveals that factors of the natural environment (e.g., landslides) have steadily and significantly affected cropland abandonment after controlling the factors of the social environment. More specifically, based on the survey data of a large sample of 4850 mountainous households in 24 provinces of China and following the theoretical framework of “environment → land use”, this study quantitatively identified the impacts of landslides on cropland abandonment in mountainous areas using the Probit and Tobit models. The results show that: (1) There is a similar spatial agglomeration trend between landslides and cropland abandonment. Namely, an area that has a high incidence of landslides also has a high incidence of cropland abandonment. (2) There is a significant and positive correlation between landslides and cropland abandonment. Namely, compared with peasants who have not suffered from landslides, the probability that peasants suffering from landslides will abandon cropland and the area abandoned increase by 6.8% and 0.064 mu, respectively. (3) Elderly farmers (over 64 years old) and the development of urbanization help curb cropland abandonment in the mountains. The results of this study may provide reference for the government to implement effective policies for managing landslides and revitalizing unused cropland resources.

Ecological or environmental compensation policies are usually designed with multiple policy objectives such as protecting the ecological environment and promoting farmers’ livelihoods, but in the enforcement process, there are often inconsistencies between realistic choices and policy objectives. Based on pooled cross-section data from the 2017–2019 public announcement of the selection of ecological forest rangers (EFRs, who mainly refers to manage and protect forests, grasslands, deserts and rivers, and report or prevent the situation or behavior of the forest area disasters, animal and plant resources, and infrastructure damage in time) among the poor in Sichuan Province in China, we used the Probit model to analyze the influencing factors of the re-employment behavior of EFRs among the poor, with the aim of assessing the differences between central government goal positioning and local government enforcement options. We find that (1) EFRs from poor households who have not yet escaped poverty and have a high per capita income level are given priority to be re-employed. This finding shows that the policy of ecological forest rangers for the poor (PEFRP, it mainly refers to an environmental protection policy that only hires the poor) pays close attention to poverty reduction goals, but it does not consider the poorest people because the EFRs with a higher income obtain higher re-employment opportunities. (2) Age, health, and education, which represent the human capital level, have no significant impact on renewal. This finding shows that the local government has not jointly achieved the goal of “poverty reduction and environmental protection” in the enforcement of the PEFRP and has deviated from the initial goal positioning of the central government. Therefore, in order to achieve the multiple policy objectives such as poverty reduction and environmental protection together, future policy enforcement needs to be adjusted in terms of local administrative assessment and the selection and recruitment of EFRs.

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At present, the world’s countryside needs to be revitalized urgently, and cultivated land is the critical factor in promoting the countryside’s revitalization. The reduction of uncultivated land contributes to the efficient use of rural land resources, contributing to global rural revitalization. This study uses data from 3938 Chinese peasant households conducted in 2014 and the OLS method to investigate the quantitative impact of institutional social insurance on cultivated land abandonment. The empirical results point to the following conclusions: (1) Institutional social insurance will weaken the social insurance function of land, which will lead to the generation of peasant households’ cultivated land abandonment. More specifically, for every 1% increase in the level of institutional social insurance of peasant households, the area of cultivated land abandoned increased by 0.002 mu; (2) The influence of institutional social insurance on peasant households’ cultivated land abandonment is heterogeneous, that is, endowment insurance can weaken the social insurance function of land more than medical insurance, and households with a higher proportion of pensioners are more likely to abandon cultivated land. This study’s conclusions may help understand the relationship between institutional and non-institutional social insurance and provide a reference for the effective use of cultivated land resources in the global rural revitalization.