Undetermined Center, Non-Working Localities, and Inactive Farmers: The Implementation Failures of China's Reforestation Program

China's environmental protection efforts are characterized by reactive projects targeting specific environmental crises (e.g. devastating floods, dust storm, and emergent air pollution) or external stressors (international pressures). While the responsiveness may be efficient in solving urgent environmental problems in the short run, the lack of careful planning and detailed assessment of environmental impacts pose great challenges to these programs' long-term success. This study examines the implementation of the largest ecological restoration program in China, the Sloping Land Conversion Program (SLCP). To date, most studies regarding the SLCP have focused on its conservation and rural development impacts. While some of the studies praise the SLCP as a big success in alleviating environmental problems and offering alternative ways for people to make a living, other field studies reveal some implementation failures, including poor targeting, interagency conflicts, inefficient funding allocation, and a high tendency for farmers to reconvert to cropping after program compensation ceases. Few studies have further explored the reasons for these failures. My research fills this gap by examining the problematic motivations and behaviors of the three key parties involved in the SLCP: the central government, local governments, and individual rural households. The lessons and implications generated by this research extend beyond the forestry industry to other natural resources management fields.;The center's preference to short-term programs has led to many changes in forestry policies. The induced uncertainty has distorted land owners' harvesting decisions and has lowered the value of China's forest output. The study provides an analytical framework for assessing these effects. Without compensation, potential loss due to policy uncertainty leads to premature harvesting. Government payments may solve this problem by covering the immediate losses, but the policy-induced uncertainty may impose sizeable losses on other agents in the economy. As the mediating agency in the SLCP, local governments have not been properly funded. Due to lack of administrative funding, they tend to utilize the most parsimonious approaches in implementing the SLCP. This results in inefficient allocation of reforestation quota and lack of post-reforestation supports. Both problems may compromise the sustainability of the ecological services generated under the SLCP. Local governments also try to solve their funding shortage by seeking financial resources both within and outside the SLCP framework. However, none of the existing funding mechanisms explored by local governments would provide perfect solutions to the local deficit.;Further assessment and planning work are necessary for designing proper incentives for local participation in the SLCP. Rural residents are the core agents in implementing the SLCP. They take a general positive attitude towards the reforestation efforts under the SLCP, and show a high willingness to be involved in the program. However, their willingness could not be tempered by their concern about economic losses in the SLCP. Majority of the farmers surveyed in my study think government compensation is necessary if they are required to give up the right to crop on steep-sloping lands. Overall, the study suggests that motivational deficiencies with the three key players are the major cause of implementation failures of the SLCP, and significant revisions in institutional design are required for the future success of the program.