Environmental dimension of regional development in China, with special focus on grassland ecological compensation in Alxa League of Inner Mongolia

• Main Authors: Yeoh, Emile Kok Kheng, Suruna, -
• Format: Article
• Published: Institute of China and Asia-Pacific Studies - National Sun Yat-sen University 2019
• Subjects: HC Economic History and Conditions; HN Social history and conditions. Social problems. Social reform
• Online Access: http://eprints.um.edu.my/22970/; http://icaps.nsysu.edu.tw/var/file/131/1131/img/CCPS5(1)-Yeoh-Suruna.pdf
• Institution: Universiti Malaya

There are four characteristics typical of the distribution of China’s population in poverty: (1) concentration in the mountainous areas; (2) concentration in the western region; (3) concentration in environmentally fragile areas; (4) concentration in ethnic minority areas. In particular, poverty in this large country is very much related to environmental factors. Out of the country’s 592 poverty counties, 366 are in the western region, and most of these poverty counties are distributed over several major areas of fragile environmental habitat, including among others Inner Mongolian plateau’s southeastern border area that suffers from desertification. The paper focuses on poverty in China’s western region, its determining factors especially environmental degradation that is dominated by the three main issues of soil erosion, desertification and grassland deterioration, and State policies to overcome these problems, and includes a specific case study of the grassland ecological compensation policy in the Alxa League of Inner Mongolia.