Environmental policy and administrative management

Targeted Location and Population: The project site is located in the middle of the Gansu province, which is in Hill and Gully Area of the Loess Plateau and has a very bad nature condition. The target village has 347 households with 1665 total population.The villagers are mainly living on agriculture. The per-capita income of farmers is about 1040RMB. The number of the households participate in the project will be 124. Problems: The immoderately consume the nature recourses and blindly expand the cultivable area cause the decrease of vegetation coverage and the increase the desertified land. The main problems are: 1. Due to planting too much crops, the soil are over developed and become desertification. The worse on environment, the quicker on the climate change, the more frequent on the drought, the poorer on the local villagers. 2. The local government is short of fund and professionals to better help the local farmers. 3. The current top to- bottom system is weak on reflecting the opinions of the local villagers and lacking of enough attention on traditional knowledge and available resources. 4. Current technology aid system mainly concern on technology training but doesn t pay much attention to the importance of environmental education, alternative livelihood training and so on. Solutions/ planned activities: 1. Conduct Participatory Rural Appraisal(PRA) to know local people s priority, evaluate their knowledge and empower the community. 2. Train the trainers on environment education and alternative livelihood. 3. Oganize the local farmers to plant seabuckthorn and Onobrychis viciaefolia to improve the local vegetation coverage and soil fertility and to reduce desertification. 4. Establish seabuckthorn farmer field school (FFS). 5. Build water and construct village road with support from local government to improve the locals` living condition. 6. Organize training for farmers on alternative livelihood and project management. 7. Compile a volume of FFS training methods and tools . Anticipated results/ immediate outputs of this project: 1.about 1000 Mu seabuckthorn trees are planted and the land degradation is reduced. 2. a farmer field school is established and the farmers can obtain technical and knowledge continously. 3. about 30 persons have the knowledge of land degradation, alternative livelihood and project management as trainers. 4. a volume of FFS training methods and tools is compiled as guide for FFS sustainability.

China