Does the “Returning Farmland to Forest Program” Drive Community-Level Changes in Landscape Patterns in China?

Abstract

In China, the Returning Farmland to Forest Program (RFFP) has afforested large areas, transforming land and livelihoods. By impacting vegetation cover, it may also drive spatial pattern changes across landscapes. Most studies have focused on time series data as a means to determine the effectiveness of the program, but there is a paucity of community-level comparative studies. Twelve communities in Northwest Yunnan Province were selected to test whether the RFFP changed landscape patterns by testing the following hypotheses: with (or without) the RFFP, forest and shrubland fragmentations would decrease (or increase) and farmland fragmentation would increase (or decrease). Remote sensing images from 2000, 2010, and 2014 were used to compare the differences in landscape patterns. Survey data from 421 households were used to examine the socioeconomic and ecological factors that affect the differences in landscape fragmentation across communities. The results showed that landscape patterns and fragmentation metrics were not significantly different between communities with or without the RFFP, regardless of the class or landscape level. These communities showed consistent patterns of change in their fragmentation parameters between 2000 and 2014, with forest fragmentation decreasing and the fragmentation of farmland and the overall landscape increasing. The regression models suggest these changes were affected by the local natural conditions, socioeconomic patterns, policy implementation, and farmer livelihoods, with the proximity to market towns and elevation being significant factors. The RFFP alone did not directly drive the changes in landscape patterns for the considered region. For the new RFFP to effectively contribute to reducing fragmentation, managers of afforestation efforts should carefully consider livelihoods and biophysical factors that influence changes in landscape patterns.

Has China’s New Round of Collective Forest Reforms Reduced Forest Fragmentation? A Case Study of the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei Region

“…This is important for exploring the relationship between economic growth and forest conservation. Thirdly, the implementation of GGP significantly reduces forest fragmentation, and the result is consistent with the analysis of Li, W. et al [9]. The implementation of GGP in China was piloted in 1999 in Sichuan, Shaanxi, and Gansu provinces, and has been replicated on the full scale since 2002, as a reforestation activity implemented in China from the perspective of environmental protection.…”

“…Forests are one of the important terrestrial ecosystems and play a decisive role in global biodiversity conservation. Socio-economic development [1][2][3][4][5] and rapid population growth have resulted in environmental pollution and expansion of land demand [6][7][8][9][10][11]. Global forests are facing the threat of area reduction and quality degradation.…”

Exploring cultivated land evolution in mountainous areas of Southwest China, an empirical study of developments since the 1980s

“…However, the impacts of these variables on cultivated land changes may occur at different rates and with different intensities in different regions and stages (Kang et al, 2018). Expressly, changes in cultivated land in mountain areas are directly limited by local natural conditions and are also greatly affected by socioeconomic modes, policy implementation, and farmers' livelihoods (Li, Zinda, & Zhang, 2019). For instance, due to different interest objectives of policy implementation departments, social, economic, and agricultural intensification factors have significant differences on the impact of cultivated land undertaken on slopes at a prefecture‐level city in Sichuan Province (Xiao et al, 2019); 66.20% of the differences in cultivated land change drivers of Chongqing come from the district/county level (Song, Cao, Zhou, Su, & Qiu, 2020).…”

Revealing Impacts of Human Activities and Natural Factors on Dynamic Changes of Relationships among Ecosystem Services: A Case Study in the Huang-Huai-Hai Plain, China

“…For the starting position (b value) on the SC_FP constraint line, the proportion of forest area had a significant negative effect on it, and the increase in the proportion of forest area would enhance the constraint effect between SC_FP. This was due to the implementation of the project of returning farmland to forest and grass in some areas of the HHHP [ 57 , 58 , 59 ], which improved SC. Conversely, the decrease in arable land area would lead to the decline of FP.…”