Higher water tariffs for less river pollution—evidence from Min River and Fuzhou City, People’s Republic of China

Upstream nonpoint source pollution has become a significant threat to urban drinking water safety in the People’s Republic of China. Payment for environmental services (PES) is seen as a promising mechanism to deal with the situation. In designing a sound PES, it is crucial to determine the willingness to pay (WTP) of urban beneficiaries for upstream water pollution controls. An analysis of household data from a contingent valuation survey conducted in Fuzhou in 2009 reveals that household income is the most important factor in determining respondents’ positions on water tariff increases as well as WTP under a PES scheme. Mean WTP varies from Yuan (CNY) –0.45 per cubic meter to CNY0.86 for different income groups. The overall mean WTP is estimated to be CNY0.21, which is equivalent to a 10% increase in the current tariff, with the 95% confidence interval at (CNY0.12, CNY0.31). The point estimate implies a total annual WTP of Fuzhou City equal to CNY22 million, which is 27% less than the contribution of Fuzhou to an ongoing government-financed PES. However, with continuous water tariff increases, affordability among low-income households might arise as an issue. This calls for subsidies targeting low-income households to be incorporated in water tariff reform.water tariff, river pollution, upstream nonpoint source pollution, payment for environmental services, willingness to pay, Min River, Fuzhou City, China

Young Weekend Farmers in Lusaka, Zambia: Motivation and Their Role in Agriculture

When it comes to describing the activities of urban youth in Lusaka agriculture is not likely to be a word that will come up so often. This is changing with observable increment in numbers of urban youths trying to venture into agriculture through weekend farming. This is a group of youths who are rarely considered when the debate of how to attract youths into agriculture is discussed because the focus of agriculture policy is biased towards rural youths. Driven by the desire for extra income, passion, desire to grow their own food and hoping to retire early from formal employment they travel dozens of kilometres from Lusaka to surrounding districts to farm. With the help of hired local or family labour they farm on their personally acquired, family or rented land growing various crops and keeping livestock. Their role in agriculture development includes that of creating employment, promoting local food security, enhancing technology adoption, building the image of agriculture and as investors in small scale agriculture. Keywords: Weekend Farming, Lusaka Urban Youth, Small Scale Farming, Youth Employment, Motivatio

Households’ Coping Strategies to Food Insecurity: Insights from a Farming Community in Aguie District of Niger

Niger is affected by recurrent production shocks leading the country into food insecurity situation at varying magnitude across regions. Farm households are the most affected because their livelihood relies on the agriculture sector that has the highest sensitivity to climate change. During a food shock period, households implement a package of strategies to mitigate their vulnerability from food shock. The objective of this study is to analyze households’ coping strategies to food shocks. We randomly selected 160 heads of households from two villages in Aguie Department of Maradi Region. Probit model is also used to determine the effect of households’ characteristics on the adoption of coping strategies. The study identified that households employed different coping strategies, among the most regularly employed are expenditure reduction (92.6%), smoothing consumption (66.40%), borrowing food or money (55.00%), waged labor (45.00%), and undesirable food consumption. The results reveal that the adoption of specific strategy depends on a household’s livelihood strategy and its socio-economic characteristics. Results from probit analysis show that a household’s decision to adopt a specific coping strategy is significantly influenced by gender, ethnicity, annual revenue, food production, livestock size, food stock, education, adaptive capacity, and number of meal per day. Keywords: Adaptation, dry land, food security, livelihood, coping mechanis

Higher water tariffs for less river pollution—evidence from Min River and Fuzhou City, People’s Republic of China

Upstream nonpoint source pollution has become a significant threat to urban drinking water safety in the People’s Republic of China. Payment for environmental services (PES) is seen as a promising mechanism to deal with the situation. In designing a sound PES, it is crucial to determine the willingness to pay (WTP) of urban beneficiaries for upstream water pollution controls. An analysis of household data from a contingent valuation survey conducted in Fuzhou in 2009 reveals that household income is the most important factor in determining respondents’ positions on water tariff increases as well as WTP under a PES scheme. Mean WTP varies from Yuan (CNY) –0.45 per cubic meter to CNY0.86 for different income groups. The overall mean WTP is estimated to be CNY0.21, which is equivalent to a 10% increase in the current tariff, with the 95% confidence interval at (CNY0.12, CNY0.31). The point estimate implies a total annual WTP of Fuzhou City equal to CNY22 million, which is 27% less than the contribution of Fuzhou to an ongoing government-financed PES. However, with continuous water tariff increases, affordability among low-income households might arise as an issue. This calls for subsidies targeting low-income households to be incorporated in water tariff reform

Higher water tariffs for less river pollution—evidence from Min River and Fuzhou City, People’s Republic of China

Upstream nonpoint source pollution has become a significant threat to urban drinking water safety in the People’s Republic of China. Payment for environmental services (PES) is seen as a promising mechanism to deal with the situation. In designing a sound PES, it is crucial to determine the willingness to pay (WTP) of urban beneficiaries for upstream water pollution controls. An analysis of household data from a contingent valuation survey conducted in Fuzhou in 2009 reveals that household income is the most important factor in determining respondents’ positions on water tariff increases as well as WTP under a PES scheme. Mean WTP varies from Yuan (CNY) –0.45 per cubic meter to CNY0.86 for different income groups. The overall mean WTP is estimated to be CNY0.21, which is equivalent to a 10% increase in the current tariff, with the 95% confidence interval at (CNY0.12, CNY0.31). The point estimate implies a total annual WTP of Fuzhou City equal to CNY22 million, which is 27% less than the contribution of Fuzhou to an ongoing government-financed PES. However, with continuous water tariff increases, affordability among low-income households might arise as an issue. This calls for subsidies targeting low-income households to be incorporated in water tariff reform

Impacts of Artisanal Small-Scale Mining in Rural Households: A Case of Mzimba District, Malawi

Most rural development related policies and programs in Malawi take up a farm first approach where most objectives of these programs are aimed at strengthening and/or improving rural peoples’ assets towards agricultural production. As Malawi is pursuing its interest in promoting its mining sector, especially the Artisanal and small-scale sub sector, gaps exist in literature on the impact of such artisanal and small-scale activities “have had” and/or “will most likely have” on the livelihoods of farmers now turned miners. The study aimed at finding out the impacts of Artisanal Small-scale Mining (ASM) on livelihoods in northern Malawi- Mzimba district. It also examines the Malawian mining policies and their implications on ASM. Methodologically and analytically, this study embodies the livelihoods approach. Results show that ASM is a viable livelihood strategy as long as it is synthesized with small scale subsistence farming. Mining in the district is mostly a seasonal activity that alternates with farming between the rainy and dry seasons. Environmental degradation, lack of infrastructure and markets impedes ASM related livelihood activities. The draft Malawi ASM Policy plans to formalize the sector. This study recommends that before any move into the formalization process is done, Malawi has to do more studies of the same as formalization is known to bar local people from access to mining activities thereby threatening their livelihoods. Keywords: Artisanal Small-scale Mining, Rural Livelihoods, Malaw

Households' vulnerability to Climate Change: Insights from a farming community in Aguie district of Niger

There is evidence that the effects of climate change constitute a serious problem for the development of sub-Sahara African. Developing countries are more vulnerable to extreme climate change due to their low adaptive capacity. The objective of this research is to analyze household vulnerability to climate change in Aguie district of Niger. Principal components analysis was used to construct the different index. Results of farmers’ perception of factors determining vulnerability outlined food expenditure (2.58), ceremonies (2.13), farming (1.34), and livestock (1.00) as the key factors. The vulnerability level of the study area is 0.075, However, farmers (0.093) are found to be the most vulnerable and pastoralists (-0.328) the least vulnerable. The study also shows that education rate, association membership, strategies index, soil fertility, food coverage, income and agriculture experience family size, income, association membership, strategies index, and farm tree coverage (a proxy of soil fertility) have a significant effect on vulnerability. As far as policy implication, specific attention should be given to small-scale farmers to reducing their sensitivity to climate change through soil fertility management. Keywords: Adaptation, Drought, Exposure, Sensitivity, Resilienc

Spatiotemporal characteristics and influencing factors of the coupling coordinated development of production-living-ecology system in China

The coupling coordinated development of production-living-ecology (PLE) system is of great importance to sustainable development. However, the influencing factors for the coupling coordinated development of PLE system remain poorly understood, especially in terms of spatial and temporal differences among the main factors. In this study, we chose the panel data of 295 China’s prefecture-level cities from 2007 to 2019 to explore the spatiotemporal characteristics and influencing factors of the coupling coordinated development of PLE system using coupling model, spatial regression model, GTWR model and K-means clustering method. From our results, the coupling index of PLE system showed an increasing trend with the spatial agglomeration. Social investment, terrain condition, infrastructure, and internet development are main factors affecting the coupling coordinated development of PLE system, and different influencing factors have different effects in different regions and different periods. The targeted policies should be combined with the effects of main influencing factors in different regions and different periods. We hope that this study can provide a valuable reference for the coupling coordination of PLE system and sustainable development

Higher water tariffs for less river pollution--Evidence from the Min River and Fuzhou City in China

Nonpoint source pollution in the upstream areas of a water basin has become a serious threat to urban drinking water safety in China. Payment for environmental services (PES) is seen as a promising instrument to address the problem, for which one key information is the willingness to pay (WTP) of urban water users for water source pollution control. Using a contingent valuation survey data, we estimate the WTP of Fuzhou City residents for pollution control by the livestock farms located at the upstream Min River. When the protest responses are not distinguished, the mean WTP is estimated at CNY0.21/m3, or 10% of the current base tariff. When the protestors are distinguished, the estimated mean WTP equals CNY0.51. The total annual WTPs of the two cases are CNY22 million and CNY53 million, respectively, which lead to potentially opposite conclusions about Fuzhou's participation in the provincial PES program, to which Fuzhou contributes CNY30 million. The results highlight the importance of addressing protest responses in contingent valuation as well as in policymaking and implementation. We find that the WTP varies greatly with income, which calls for attention to the affordability and distribution issues of a water tariff reform.Nonpoint source pollution Payment for environmental services Water tariff reform Protest