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Understanding Household Vulnerability and Relative Poverty in Forestry Transition: A Study on Forestry-Worker Families in China’s Greater Khingan Mountains State-Owned Forest Region

Author

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  • Hao Chen

    (Beijing Key Lab of Study on Sci-Tech Strategy for Urban Green Development, School of Economics and Resource Management, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China)

  • Juanjuan Cao

    (Beijing Key Lab of Study on Sci-Tech Strategy for Urban Green Development, School of Economics and Resource Management, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China)

  • Hongge Zhu

    (Synergy Innovation Center of Under-Forest Economic Resources Development and Utilization, Northeast Forestry University, Harbin 150040, China)

  • Yufang Wang

    (Commercial College, Shanghai DianJi University, Shanghai 200036, China)

Abstract

China’s logging ban policy has profoundly transformed the forestry industry, creating substantial impacts for forestry-worker households. Empirical evidence is needed to examine whether and how severe the transition policy produces vulnerability and relative poverty for the affected households. This paper samples forestry-worker households from the Greater Khingan Mountains state-owned forest region as the study subjects to evaluate their household vulnerabilities with the LVI approach proposed by IPCC. This study computes the relative poverty scores of the families and further identifies the relationships between the selected household’s socio-economic factors and the estimated vulnerability and poverty scores with OLS regression. This study derives a sleuth of valuable points. (1) The majority of the forestry-worker households have had to suffer downsized, vulnerable livelihoods with escalated relative poverty due to the policy’s impact. (2) Poverty closely connects with vulnerability, where the more impoverished the household, the more vulnerable it is. Poverty is, however, not the only factor affecting household vulnerability. Other factors, particularly of public and social-financial factors, are interconnected with poverty and, thus, compound the vulnerability issue. (3) Factors, e.g., family size, age and gender of household head, bank deposits, and life and job satisfaction, which are typically very beneficial for improving family vulnerability and poverty. (4) Regular financial assistance programs, particularly the commonly-trusted one-off household compensation program, might not provide solid support for addressing long-term household vulnerability and poverty. This study contributes to a broader understanding of household vulnerability and relative poverty for improved policy and program development addressing forestry workers and household vulnerabilities.

Suggested Citation

  • Hao Chen & Juanjuan Cao & Hongge Zhu & Yufang Wang, 2022. "Understanding Household Vulnerability and Relative Poverty in Forestry Transition: A Study on Forestry-Worker Families in China’s Greater Khingan Mountains State-Owned Forest Region," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(9), pages 1-18, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:9:p:4936-:d:797753
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    Cited by:

    1. Yue Jiang & Yufang Wang & Rui Wang, 2022. "Coupling and Coordination Relationship between Economic and Ecologic-Environmental Developments in China’s Key State-Owned Forest Areas," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(23), pages 1-18, November.

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