ABSTRACT
Under budget constraints, the critical challenge for the SLCP is how to maintain the program’s integrity in addressing the multiple objectives of alleviating poverty, increasing agricultural incomes, and reducing sediment inflows to the Yellow River (State Council, 2007). However, little is understood about the relationship between environmental improvement and the economic situation of participating farmers (Cao et al., 2009). Although the SLCP was supposed to be voluntary, the Chinese Government determined the scale of the program and the types of trees, and local officials decided which plots would be included following “consultation with village leaders and sometimes farm households” (Lohmar et al., 2007 p. 9). As a “quasi-voluntary” program, the viability of the SLCP is dependent on farmers’ subjective perceptions (Uchida et al., 2009).
