China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

initiated its "Grain for Green" program in 1999 as an ambitious conservation program designed to mitigate and prevent flooding and

soil erosion Soil erosion is the denudation or wearing away of the upper layer of soil. It is a form of soil degradation. This natural process is caused by the dynamic activity of erosive agents, that is, water, ice (glaciers), snow, air (wind), plants, and ...

. It is an example of

Payment for ecosystem services Payments for ecosystem services (PES), also known as payments for environmental services (or benefits), are incentives offered to farmers or landowners in exchange for managing their land to provide some sort of ecological service. They have been ...

which is helping to solve

Environmental issues in China Environmental issues in China had risen in tandem with the country's rapid industrialisation, as well as lax environmental oversight especially during the early 2000s. China was ranked 120th out of the 180 countries on the 2020 Environmental ...

. The program is designed to retire

farmland Agricultural land is typically land ''devoted to'' agriculture, the systematic and controlled use of other forms of lifeparticularly the rearing of livestock and production of cropsto produce food for humans. It is generally synonymous with bot ...

that is susceptible to soil erosion, although some farmers may go back to farming the land after the program ends.

started the Grain for Green program in the western parts of the country for example

Shanxi Province Shanxi (; ; Chinese postal romanization, formerly romanised as Shansi) is a landlocked Provinces of China, province of the China, People's Republic of China and is part of the North China region. The capital and largest city of the province is ...

. These areas were known for their rather poorly performing economy that was affiliated with an

endangered An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching and inva ...

ecological Ecology () is the study of the relationships between living organisms, including humans, and their physical environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community, ecosystem, and biosphere level. Ecology overlaps wi ...

environment Environment most often refers to: __NOTOC__ * Natural environment, all living and non-living things occurring naturally * Biophysical environment, the physical and biological factors along with their chemical interactions that affect an organism or ...

. The environment was being further damaged by

which was a result of cultivation on sloping land as people were changing forests into farmland. Grain for Green has involved 124 million people in 1,897 counties in 25 provinces. The program was set to end 8 years after it initially began, but was extended for another 8 years in 2007. By 2010, around 15 million hectares of farmland and 17 million hectares of barren mountainous wasteland were converted back to natural vegetation. The programme has generally been economically positive for most areas involved, and initial concerns about income inequality and corruption were abated. Specifically, research found that the income status of households was not a determining factor in inclusion in Grain for Green. The programme has also generally addressed the environmental problems it set out to deal with, including soil erosion and flooding. Nevertheless, in many locations it has failed to deliver benefits for biodiversity on the land it has converted - many tree plantations were mono-cultures which were cheap to plant and easy for the farmers to maintain. Research has found that with minimal extra cost, Grain for Green can promote biodiversity by planting mixed forests.

References

External links

Liu, Can, and Bin Win. (2010, April). "'Grain for Green Program in China': Policy Making and Implementation?"
Briefing No. 60, China Policy Institute, University of Nottingham University Grain production Soil erosion 1999 in China Agriculture in China {{China-stub