| The watershed ecological compensation plays a positive role in providing clean water and improving the environment.However,it is controversial regarding economic benefits,which will affect the sustainability of the policy.As participants and protectors of water quality in the basin,farmers’ livelihood improvement and income diversity are critical indicators to measure policy sustainability.Although scholars have carried out a lot of research work in recent years,most of the research needs to pay more attention to the importance of the family as the primary decision-making unit.Since farmers’ livelihood decision is not a single individual’s behavior but the result of mutual consultation among family members,it is vital to pay attention to their family life cycle for farmers’ behavior response.Based on the research background of ecological compensation in Xin’an River Basin and from the perspective of the household life cycle,this thesis discusses the impact of ecological compensation in Xin ’an River Basin on farmers’ livelihood strategies and household income.Firstly,this thesis studies the division of peasant household livelihood strategy into labor distribution and farmland utilization decisions.They are,secondly using the partial least squares structural equation(PLS-SEM)and binary logit model to investigate the effects of ecological compensation on farmers’ labor distribution and land-use decisions.Finally,on this basis,the PLS-SEM model is used to explore the impact of watershed ecological compensation on household income.The study reached the following conclusions:(1)Regarding labor distribution,job placement or training,and policy restrictions in the basin,ecological compensation policy can promote the off-farm employment transfer of laborers.In contrast,cash compensation reduces the possibility of laborers engaging in offfarm labor.Compared with the empty-nest stage,other life cycle stages,especially the burden period and stable period,were more prone to non-farm employment.The material capital,financial capital,and social capital of livelihood capital directly or indirectly influence farmers’ non-agricultural employment.In addition,the high-altitude remote environment inhibitions conducive to non-farm employment.(2)In the decision-making of agricultural land use,the ecological compensation policy of the watershed makes the agricultural land stable.The possibility of farmland abandonment was lower in the empty-nest period.Agricultural land use decisions are also influenced by human capital,natural capital such as agricultural land size,social and financial capital,and the distance to the nearest secondary school among village control variables.(3)Regarding farmers’ income,ecological basin compensation affects their household income by influencing their livelihood strategies.There is a path of "watershed ecological compensation policy → the family life cycle → labor distribution → household income".In the empty-nest stage,farmers’ agricultural income did not increase significantly.However,their non-agricultural and total income decreased,while the opposite was true in other life cycle stages.In addition,the high-altitude remote environment is not conducive to increasing farmers’ non-agricultural income and total income.Based on the above conclusions,the thesis puts forward suggestions from the family life cycle,basin ecological compensation policy,infrastructure,and local industry development. |
