Analyzing Macro-Level Ecological Change and Micro-Level Farmer Behavior in Manas River Basin, China

Environmental degradation is closely related to unreasonable land use behaviors by farmers. In this study, participatory rural assessment (PRA) is used to conduct a detailed survey of farmers and plots and to collect relevant natural and social statistics. The accuracy of remote sensing data is verified by comparative analysis, and the change in status of various land use types in each research period is reflected by the change in the dynamic degree and change in range. We examine how farmers’ attitudes and behaviors affect environmental degradation, using a sample of 403 farmers in China’s Manas River Basin. Due to age, education, income and other differences, farmers’ land use behaviors, as well as their attitude toward and feelings about environmental degradation, vary greatly. We found that most farmers considered the environment to be very important to their lives and crop production, but nearly 21% did not know the causes of environmental degradation and nearly 8% did not consider the environmental impacts of their crop production activities. A new model for oasis expansion—land integration—is presented here. This model can increase the area of cultivated land, reduce cultivated land fragmentation, save irrigation water, improve the field microclimate and form a good ecological cycle. Through land transfer, ecological compensation and ecological protection incentives, the government should guide farmers’ land use behaviors toward cooperation with the river basin’s ecological protection and land use planning.