Effects Of Ecological Project On Farmers’ Livelihood Capital And Social Networks

Ecological project is an important means to assist the recovery of degraded,damaged and destroyed ecosystems,and enhance ecosystem services.In recent years,China has implemented a large number of ecological projects,which have significantly improved regional ecological environment.With the massive investment of social and economic resources,ecological projects not only improved regional ecological environment,but also change stakeholders’ production and life style,as well as their social networks.Farmer is the most basic social unit and the subject of behavioral decisions in rural areas.Farmers’ social networks affect their production decisions and willingness to participate in ecological projects,which further determine the effectiveness of projects.Therefore,it is important to identify the impact of the implementation of the ecological projects on farmers’ social networks,for optimizing farmers’ livelihood structure and ensuring the sustainable operation of the programs.In this study,we chose “Jin’gouxing” ecological project,a pilot project of Integrative Ecological Protection and Restoration of Mountains,Rivers,Forests,Farmlands,Lakes,Grasslands and Deserts Program,which is located in Ganzhou City,Jiangxi Province,as the study area.We conducted field surveys on 198 households from Shangtang Village and Jitang Village,where ecological project was implemented,as well as Lintou Village and Yingyuan Village,where ecological project was not implemented.We also built a livelihood capital index system based on the sustainable livelihood framework and quantitatively analyzed the impact of the implementation of ecological project on farmers’ livelihood capital.We further applied social network analysis and exponential random graph models to analyze the structural and functional characteristics of different types of social networks,identify the formation mechanism of farmers’ social networks and explore the impact of ecological project on farmers’ social networks.The main conclusions were as follow:(1)There was a significant statistical difference between the livelihood capital of farmers in villages implementing ecological project and in those didn’t implementing ecological project.The implementation of ecological project significantly improved farmers’ livelihood capital level by providing diverse options livelihood through alterative awareness of environmental protection,and production and lifestyle.The total livelihood capital of farmers in villages implementing ecological project was 1.24 times higher than that of those in villages didn’t implementing ecological projects,especially in physical,financial and social capital.(2)Ecological project has increased the frequency of communication among farmers and enhanced the capacity of key nodes.Famers’ social networks have low density and are characterized by a "small world" and core-edge structure.Before the implementation of ecological project,there was little communication between farmers,and weak information dissemination in the social network.The key nodes,who served as a bridge between farmers and the outside world,mainly included village cadres,farmers with a large number of fields and supermarket owners.The implementation of ecological project,which changed the original planting structure,has seen a growth in active information exchange among framers,average level of recognition,and efficiency of information dissemination,due to the increasing demand of learning production techniques.Furthermore,village cadres became the most important key nodes.(3)Under a decentralized production model in China,geographical relationships has been a key factor in the formation of farmers’ social networks.As important endogenous structural variables,reciprocity and transmissibility positively promote the formation of farmers’ social networks,and farmers’ own attributes also have an impact on social ties.Before the implementation of the ecological project,farmers with high social capital and environmental awareness were more likely to form social ties with the outside world.The implementation of the ecological project changed the driving factors of network formation by improving farmers’ human capital,physical capital,social capital,environmental awareness and awareness of ecological project.