Environmental Concerns and Population Displacement. in West China

Transcription

1 Paper presented at the 8 th APMRN Conference, May, 2007, Fuzhou, China Environmental Concerns and Population Displacement in West China Yan Tan National Institute of Labour Studies Flinders University, Australia yan.tan@flinders.edu.au Fei Guo Department of Business Macquarie University, Australia fguo@efs.mq.edu.au (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

2 1. Introduction Population migration, especially labour migration, has become an increasingly important part of China s rapid economic development in recent decades. It was estimated that by the end of 20 th century, between 80 and 120 million people moved across county boundary for various reasons (Liang, 2007). It has also been identified that the main patterns of migration in China have been from interior to costal regions and from rural to urban centers (Fan, 2005; Guo and Iredale, 2004; Liang 2001). However, most migration studies focused on a number of main migration streams labour migration, family and marriage migration, and employment-related migration. One important migration stream in contemporary China environment-related population displacement has not been examined adequately. Environment-related migration has been an important dimension of population movements in China, especially since the beginning of the 21 st century. This dimension is of large scale and significance, particularly in its connection with environmental regeneration and anti-poverty programs in China. Due to the impetus to carry out environmental protection and rehabilitation in China, west China in particular, and the complexity and difficulty associated with doing so, research on environment-related migration is certain to increase in scope and depth. Issues of environmental protection and rehabilitation, alleviation of poverty in the ecologically fragile zones, construction of nature reserves, and conservation of biodiversity have attracted the attention of scholars both in China (e.g., Hou, 2002, 2006; Niu, 2001; Wang, 2004, 2006; Wang, 1998) and overseas (e.g., Lai, 2002; Moneyhon, 2003; Tan & Wang 2004). Nevertheless, knowledge about how migration and environmental variables interact and affect the social and economic transformations in China remains very limited. The present paper seeks to address this gap in knowledge by focusing upon people displacement produced by accelerated environmental degradation in China. This paper begins with a brief review of the literature on environment-related migration. Section 3 discusses the distribution and features of the major ecologically fragile zones. Section 4 considers poverty as an independent variable in the environment-migration relationship. Section 5 examines the processes and some consequences of environment-related displacement and resettlement. 2

3 Finally, some of the policy responses to emergent issues of people displacement are addressed. 2. Environment-related Migration Since its first official mention in 1985 by El-Hinnawi (1985), the concept environmental refugee has appeared with increasing frequency in the literature on environment, migration and development. Jacobsen (1988) defines environmental refugee as referring to people who have been forced to leave their origin area because of environmental disruption. He estimated the number of environmental refugees in the world to be 10 million in the mid- 1980s, a figure that Myers (1997) put at 25 million by the mid-1990s. Studies of migration caused by the gradual deterioration of the environments in which people live have dominated the literature of environmental refugees since the 1990s (e.g., Black, 1998; Black & Sessay, 1997; Hugo, 1996; Millikan, 1992; Myers, 1997, 1995; Otunnu, 1992; Ramlogan, 1996; Suhrke, 1994; Westing, 1994). These studies view population pressure and an overloading of the land s human carrying capacity (whereby population growth increases demands for natural resources and thus causes environmental degradation) in the origin areas of emigrants as the primary causes of environment-related migration. Despite the lack of standing given to environmental factors among social scientists, many environmentalists take it for granted that population growth, environmental deterioration, and emigration are essentially correlated (e.g., Hermsmeyer, 2005). Increasing demands of the environmental certainly lead to land competition and encroachment on ecologically fragile areas, which in turn lead to the impoverishment of the local economy and society. The effects of environmental deterioration are therefore manifested through the influences they have on the local economy (Bates, 2002). Moreover, people residing in fragile environments are characteristically poverty-stricken and their wellbeing is inherently tied to their immediate environments. Since they are least likely to be able to relinquish immediate returns from the environment for the purpose of long-term protection measures, they are highly vulnerable to environmental degradation and its consequences. It is also not sufficient to consider the migration-environment relationship only in terms of migration produced by particular environment events. Richmond (1993, p.8) argues that when environmental degradation leads to migration it is generally as a proximate cause linked to questions of economic 3

4 growth, poverty, population pressure, and political conflict. These issues create difficulties in treating this class of environment-related migrants in the same way as those that evacuate due to direct environmental changes such as disasters and expropriations (also Bates, 2002). With respect to methods of migration, environmental migration is, more often than not, the purposeful, planned, organised, and orderly involuntary displacement and resettlement of a population. In this sense, environmental migration is similar to another category of involuntary migration produced by development projects such as dams, reservoirs, urban expansion and transportation infrastructure (e.g., Cernea, 1990), but is essentially different from refugees. Refugees are defined by the 1951 United Nations Convention on Refugees and its 1967 Amendment as persons who escape from or are driven out of their original regions by persecution arising from racial, religious, nationality, organizational, political or other differences. Hence, refugees have difficulties in gaining assistance within their own country and have to obtain external protection. There is no absolute distinction between voluntary and involuntary migrations (Speare, 1974). Hugo (1996, p. 107) points out that: Population mobility is probably best viewed as being arranged along a continuum ranging from totally voluntary migration, in which the choice and the will of the migrants is the overwhelmingly decisive element encouraging people to move, to totally forced migration, where the migrants are faced with death if they remain in their present place of residence. 3. Ecologically Fragile Environment in China 3.1 Distribution and features of the ecologically fragile zones (EFZs) China is confronting serious environmental degradation (Fu et al., 2004; Li, 2004; Wang, 2004; Wang et al., 2004; Zhang et al., 2006). The most pressing environmental problems are extensive soil erosion and desertification. An ecologically fragile environment is an environment with little resistance to external disturbance and poor stability under external pressure. Its main characteristics are sensitivity and instability (Huang & Ai, 2003; Liu, 1993; Xiao, 2003; Yang et al., 1992; Zhao, 1999; Zhao & Liu, 1996). Sensitivity refers to the relationship of factors within the environment that is vulnerable to alteration such that any disturbance may result in a series of reactions and have negative impacts on the environment. 4

5 This means any alteration of a main element may lead to an immense environmental change. Instability has a strong spatial and temporal dimension Figure 1. Distribution of the ecologically fragile zones in China. Source: Modified from Zhao (1999, p. 24). Note: 1. Semi-arid and semi-humid areas in north China; 2. Semi-arid areas in northwestern China; 3. Lime rock mountains in southwestern China; 4. Mountainous areas in southwestern China; 5. Qinghai-Tibetan plateau; 6. Plain areas in northern China; 7. Hilly areas in southern China. An ecologically fragile zone (EFZ), which spans a large area, even crossing provincial boundaries, is interrelated with the biophysical features, social conditions and economic activities of that region/area. Fragility is not only indicated in the instability of its internal structure and sensitivity to any external disturbance to the environment, but also in the low capacity to support human socio-economic activities. 5

6 3.2 Crucial environmental problems in the EFZs in west China Serious water and soil erosion Water and soil erosion has been the number one environmental issue in China. The area with soil and water erosion is 3.56 million km 2, accounting for 37% of the total land area of China. Specifically, the eroded land area increases by 10,000 km 2 a year. Water and soil erosion causes a tremendous loss of soil, 5 billion tons a year, two-thirds of which is lost from west China. 1 In west China, soil erosion includes wind erosion in the northwestern parts (e.g., Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia, Gansu and Qinghai provinces), water erosion in the southwestern parts, and freeze-thaw erosion on Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau. Soil erosion occurs mainly in Yunan, Guizhou, Sichuan, Chongqing and Hubei provinces in the upper Yangtze River and Shanxi, Shannxi, Inner Mongolia, Ganshu and Ningxia provinces in the middle Yellow River. An increasing area of land in west China is exposed to water or wind erosion due to a reduction in vegetation cover, little rainfall and severe droughts in arid areas in recent years. Over-harvesting of trees, over-cultivation of arable land, irrational exploitation of inland water resources and the neglect of soil conservation practices during implementation of civil engineering are human-related causes for soil erosion. About 450,000 km 2 (or 70%) of land on Loess Plateau (mainly involving Gansu and Shaanxi) is prone to soil erosion. As the originating places of sediment in the Yellow River, Loess Plateau has suffered the most serious soil erosion in the world. In the upper and middle catchments of the Yangtze River, about 550,000 km 2 of land (35% of its total area) is affected by soil erosion. Soil erosion is not only a threat to the life-supporting system, but also results in land degradation and leads to siltation in rivers and lakes and floods downstream (Figure 2). Situated at an elevation of over 3000m, Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau has about 1.04 million km 2 of land threatened by freezing-thawing erosion. 1 See 6

7 Figure 2. Sediment accumulation due to soil erosion in Xichang prefecture, Sichuan province, in 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 km 2 ) in China have been seriously deteriorated (Wang, 2006). The land being increasingly desertificated is on an average of 20,000 km 2 a year (Xinhua News Agency, 10 November 2003). The provinces that have the largest area of desert land are Xinjiang (1.04 million km 2 ), Inner Mongolia (0.66 million km 2 ) and Tibet (0.44 million km 2 ) (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 km 2 (or 17%) of land which is suffering from desertification. Another 0.2 million km 2 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 7

8 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 3.16x10 5 km 2. 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 km 2, accounting for only 6.5% of the total area of forests (1.75 million km 2 ) 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). 8

9 Figure 3. Cleared forest in western Sichuan, in 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 km 2, 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 9

10 desertified land in this region expands at a drastic rate. According to a survey by Sichuan Agricultural Academy, about 40,000 km 2 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 In terms of this criterium, the poverty-stricken population was reduced from 250 million in 1978 to million in 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 In line with the international criteria, the poverty-stricken population in China would be million by 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

11 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 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 11

12 province. For example, in Dingxi prefecture 4 of Gansu province, the supporting capability of the environment is estimated to be 7-8 persons/ km 2, but the real population density reached 128 persons/ km 2 in 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 Modeled population density Ratio of (1)/(2) (persons/km 2 ) (1) (persons/km 2 ) (2) In west China: Ningxia Guizhou Gansu Qinghai Yunnan Sichuan Shannxi Xinjiang Guangxi Inner Mongolia Tibet In east China Guangdong Jiangsu Helongjiang Liaoling Shandong Zhejiang Source: adapted from Liu & Wang (2001, p.36). Note: Chongqing was excluded in the modeling as it was a part of Sichuan before 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 km 2. 5 See 12

13 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). 13

14 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 Hexi 7 district of Gansu and Xi-Hai-Gu 8 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 km 2, 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. 14

15 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 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 Of these, 1.02 million people were displaced from the fragile environments in west China over the period (West China Development Leadership Office of the State Council, 2005). At least one-third of them were from Gansu, Ningxia, and Inner Mongonia See 10 Environment-related migrations are especially marked in the three provinces. In Gansu, 208,000 povertystricken 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 ( In Inner Mongolia, 45,000 migrants displaced from the grassland in Xilinguole during the period of 2000 to March 2006 ( 15

16 5.3 Resettlement measures 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

17 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 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/km 2. 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 During the 11 th Five-Year Plan ( ) 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. 17

18 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 environmentrelated 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. 18

19 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 ) and Qing Dynasties (A.D ) 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

20 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 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

21 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 reestablishment 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

22 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 nonagricultural 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