Study of poverty alleviation strategy based on labor force quality improvement and ecological protection in Western China

Fragile ecological environment and poverty correlate to and reinforce each other closely in Western China.At the same time,Western China is also the most prominent area of the knowledge and human poverty with very low labor force quality.On the basis of analyzing the characteristics of poverty in Western China,this paper studies the coupling relationship between fragile ecological environment and poverty in Western China,including the impacts of fragile environment on poverty occurrence and the effects of ecological construction on poverty alleviation.It also analyzed how low labor quality causes persistent poverty in the western region.At the end of the paper,strategies of diversity poverty alleviation in Western China are suggested based on sustainable development,including education improvement,ecological construction,industries development,infrastructure construction,planning institution innovation,and so on.     

A Non-confrontational Approach to Socially Responsible Air Pollution Control: The electoral experience of Kitakyushu

Social scientists have described Japan's urban anti-pollution protests in the 1960s as a national phenomenon. However, in Kitakyushu, Japan's most polluted industrial city at that time, no distinct citizens' movement developed. Because local politics and economics were so dominated by large industry, its citizens were reluctant to directly challenge these industries. Instead, local women's groups studied local pollution problems and presented their general findings to the public. These activities raised public awareness and resulted in increased support for local leftist politicians because leftist administrations had succeeded in cutting pollution in their cities. Kitakyushu's conservative mayor and local industry both became concerned that leftists would win the next local elections if pollution was not reduced. Thus the municipal government utilised scientific pollution data and prepared individualised pollution reduction recommendations in sulphur oxide pollution control agreements, which were accepted and complied with by all local industries. The result was a significant reduction in air pollution without the need for active intervention from Kitakyushu's citizenry. Cientificos sociales han descrito las protestas anti-polución urbana de Japon en los años 60 como un fenómeno nacional. Sinembargo, en Kitakyushu, ciudad industrial japonesa más polucionada en ese tiempo, no se desarrollóningún movimiento ciudadano evidente. Debido a que las políticas locales y económicas eran dominadas por la gran industria, sus ciudadanos no estaban dispuestos a retar directamente estas industrias. En lugar de eso, grupos locales de mujeres estudiaron problemas locales de polución y presentaron sus resultados al público. Estas actividades despertaron conciencia pública y resultaron en el incremento del apoyo para políticos izquierdistas locales debido a que las administraciones izquierdistas habían triunfado en la reducción de la polución en sus ciudades. El alcalde conservador y la industria local de Kitakyushu empezaron a preocuparse que los izquierdistas ganarían las próximas elecciones locales si la polución no era reducida. Asíque, el Gobierno Municipal utilizó información científica sobre polución y preparó recomendaciones de reducción de polución individualizada en acuerdos de control de polución en oxído sulfurico, los cuales fueron aceptados y obedecidos por todas las industrias locales. El resultado fue una significativa reducción en la polución del aire sin la necesidad de la intervención activa de parte de la ciudadania de Kitakyushu.     

The local governance of climate change: new tools to respond to old limitations in Esmeraldas,Ecuador

This article argues that climate change, seen as a socially constructed anticipation of natural disasters and a future-risk that plays out in present politics, is enabling the emergence of new modes of governance in cities of the global south. The article focuses on the process by which the city of Esmeraldas, Ecuador, developed a Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation Strategy. Within the context of climate change adaptation, Esmeraldas mobilised new discourses, stakeholders, and planning mechanisms to address pre-existing urban planning and development limitations. This discursively enabled the municipality's ongoing governance project by leveraging resources, creating consensus, and informing practice. Climate change adaptation thus became an important mechanism for engaging with local priorities, particularly those of the most vulnerable populations, and for bridging the gap between the formal world of policymaking and the reality of life in the city, which is more often structured by informality.     

Constraints to managing urban and housing land in the context of poverty: a case of Epworth settlement in Zimbabwe

This paper makes a proposition that Epworth's current housing management policies, regulations and practices do not promote easy access to formal standard housing and secure tenure in peri-urban and urban areas for low-income groups. In constructing this paper, both qualitative and quantitative methodologies were used. The qualitative methods adopted include key informant interviews, observations of the environmental aspects of the study area and documentary analysis of secondary data housed in the local board (Epworth Local Board) offices. The major findings demonstrate the reasons for high levels of squatting in Epworth, the local board's housing and development control policy, the relationship between poverty and informal settlements, the informal settlers' capacity to meet the costs of planned and serviced stands and policy options for both the central government and the local board which can be adopted to alleviate poverty in informal settlements. Evidence on the ground points to the fact that perpetuated animosity among groups in a settlement hinders the growth and development of that place. Epworth is a victim of disharmony of the groups residing there. It is the group dynamics that are very influential in making or breaking development in a place. The government official position on Epworth in this study stands unconvincing regarding the jeopardy of bad stewardship by the so-called responsible authority.     

库区PREE协调发展的障碍因素及对策探讨——以三峡库区为例

作为生态脆弱区和全国集中连片分布的贫困地区之一 ,库区可持续发展面临一系列障碍 ,主要表现为人口超载 ,素质低下 ;耕地稀缺 ,人地矛盾尖锐 ;生态恶化 ,环境破坏严重 ;经济发展迟缓 ,贫困问题突出。针对上述问题 ,以三峡库区为例 ,结合其实际情况 ,文章给出了相应的治理策略。     

武陵山片区农旅融合脱贫效率评价及组态因素分析

运用DEA和fsQCA方法测度了武陵山片区37个县(市、区)2015—2020年农旅融合脱贫效率,分析了影响该片区脱贫效率的多重因素及其组合效应。结果表明:①武陵山片区农旅融合脱贫效率总体处于中等水平,存在低效率状况和明显的地区差异。②农业发展水平和旅游发展水平对脱贫效率的影响最为显著,两者在高脱贫效率的组态中同时发挥核心作用,而在非高脱贫效率的组态中没有一次同时发挥核心作用。③交通建设水平和政府支持水平对脱贫效率的影响较为显著,而居民参与水平和资本投入水平未发挥核心作用。     

中国农村贫困的测度与模拟:1995-2003

本文介绍了基予GQ Lorenz曲线的参数方法测度贫困的基本原理，测算了1995—2003年中国农村贫困状况，重点对贫困的变化进行模拟分析。不同贫困线的模拟分析表明：各贫困指标对贫困线较小的移动具有较商的敏感性，其政策涵义是扶贫不应当只注意贫困线以下的家庭。而且也应当注意陷入贫困风险商的家庭。贫困分解的模拟分析表明：不仅收入与贫困发生率有关，而且分配不合理却增加了贫困的深度和强度，其政策涵义是贫困问题的根本解决应将更多的注意力放在贫困人口的收入及其分配上。     

Water, Workfare and Poverty: The Impact of the Working for Water Programme on Rural Poverty Reduction

In 1995, the government of the Republic of South Africa launched the Working for Water (WfW) programme that links environmental and developmental goals through the removal of high water-consuming alien plants with pro-poor rural employment opportunities. Whilst bio-physical evaluations have widely reported on the hydrological, ecological and conservation components of the programme, there exists growing uncertainty over the programme’s role as a poverty reduction mechanism. This paper evaluates three projects in the Luvuvhu catchment, Limpopo Province, against five socio-economic workfare criteria and the underlying biophysical rationale. Results show that asset creation from incremental streamflow is economically efficient and is likely to improve significantly if biodiversity benefits, community harvesting of riparian goods and services, ecological non-use values and seasonal water demand values are incorporated into the analysis. However, socio-economic benefits are more questionable: poverty targeting is weak with wage rates failing to self-select the poor; a minor proportion (0.5%) of catchment households benefit from the highly-valued employment opportunities; high variability in monthly employment causes financial difficulties for labourers; labourers are not ‘empowered’ as is evidenced by the failure of the 2-year exit strategy; and programme efficiency is high in proportional allocation of cash-flow to non-management wage labour. It is concluded that the Working for Programme is a potentially replicable model in other semi-arid contexts in developing countries if based on its core biophysical remit but is a transitory and limited poverty reduction mechanism for improving rural livelihoods.     

农业自然灾害与农村贫困之间的关系——基于安徽省面板数据的实证分析

自然灾害的发生对农业生产会造成巨大的负面影响。特别是经济落后的不发达地区由于本身的抗灾救灾能力弱．受到的自然灾害影响也更加严重。甚至会导致贫困的发生。目前虽然已经有学者定性地研究过农业自然灾害对农村贫困的影响．但是缺乏定量的分析。本文旨在弥补以前定量研究的空白，选择安徽省的59个县（市）面板数据为研究样本，建立模型实证分析。发现农业自然灾害受灾面积占总播种面积的比重与农村贫困发生率量负相关关系．这与已有的研究结果不同。文章的最后．依据实证结果对正确认识农业自然灾害与农村贫困之间的关系．构建农村自然灾害舫御体系．增强贫困地区农民的抗灾能力提出了政策建议。     

Smallholder agriculture in Northeast Brazil: assessing heterogeneous human-environmental dynamics

A qualitative model of smallholder agriculture with a few core variables and two allocation rules for labour and investment in agricultural resources was developed to cover spatial heterogeneity in Northeast Brazil. This region is characterised by large natural and socio-economic variance, recurrent droughts and widespread rural poverty. The resulting system dynamics essentially consists of a cycle of four qualitative states, each depicting a typical pattern of trends in smallholder agriculture. Municipal statistical data were used to identify the spatial distribution of these patterns for the 1990s and the internal transition likelihood between subsequent states. Additionally the influence of external perturbations like droughts and producer price shocks on the smallholder system was investigated.We regret to have to announce that since the writing of this article one of its authors, Gerhard Petschel-Held has died.