Seasonal Land Fallowing Policy in Response to Groundwater Overdraft in the North China Plain
The Seasonal Land Fallowing Policy (SLFP), designed to mitigate serious groundwater overdraft in the North China Plain, was introduced in Hebei Province in 2014. This paper offers a comprehensive review and assessment of its implementation status, effectiveness and challenges. Based on data at both...
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Water Alternatives Association
2021-06-01
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doaj-112188166f8e41ddba2cd5db3cdc37332021-06-10T07:22:32ZengWater Alternatives AssociationWater Alternatives1965-01751965-01752021-06-01142 371394Seasonal Land Fallowing Policy in Response to Groundwater Overdraft in the North China PlainHongbo Deng0Baozhu Guan1Jinxia Wang2Alec Zuo3Zhuanlin Wang4Tianhe Sun5University of Chinese Academy of SciencePeking UniversityPeking UniversityUniversity of AdelaidePeking UniversityHebei University of Economics and BusinessThe Seasonal Land Fallowing Policy (SLFP), designed to mitigate serious groundwater overdraft in the North China Plain, was introduced in Hebei Province in 2014. This paper offers a comprehensive review and assessment of its implementation status, effectiveness and challenges. Based on data at both macro and micro levels, we witnessed the rapid expansion of the SLFP from 2014 to 2019. With a high targeting efficiency, the SLFP reduced groundwater consumption and contributed to real water saving. However, further analysis is needed on the influence of the SLFP on water levels. As a means of payment for ecosystem services, the currentsubsidy offered by the SLFP is not sufficiently flexible to reflect the heterogeneity in farmers’ opportunity cost. Obstacles to the effective and sustainable implementation of the SLFP include unstable and ineligible participants, insufficient incentive for farmers to shift surplus labour to off-farm jobs, and underuse of fallowed land. Based on these challenges, this paper offers policy suggestions to further aid the SLFP’s effective and sustainable implementation in the future.https://www.water-alternatives.org/index.php/alldoc/articles/vol14/v14issue2/633-a14-2-11/fileseasonal land fallowing policyimplementationgroundwater overdraftconservation of groundwater irrigationnorth china plain |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Hongbo Deng Baozhu Guan Jinxia Wang Alec Zuo Zhuanlin Wang Tianhe Sun |
spellingShingle |
Hongbo Deng Baozhu Guan Jinxia Wang Alec Zuo Zhuanlin Wang Tianhe Sun Seasonal Land Fallowing Policy in Response to Groundwater Overdraft in the North China Plain Water Alternatives seasonal land fallowing policy implementation groundwater overdraft conservation of groundwater irrigation north china plain |
author_facet |
Hongbo Deng Baozhu Guan Jinxia Wang Alec Zuo Zhuanlin Wang Tianhe Sun |
author_sort |
Hongbo Deng |
title |
Seasonal Land Fallowing Policy in Response to Groundwater Overdraft in the North China Plain |
title_short |
Seasonal Land Fallowing Policy in Response to Groundwater Overdraft in the North China Plain |
title_full |
Seasonal Land Fallowing Policy in Response to Groundwater Overdraft in the North China Plain |
title_fullStr |
Seasonal Land Fallowing Policy in Response to Groundwater Overdraft in the North China Plain |
title_full_unstemmed |
Seasonal Land Fallowing Policy in Response to Groundwater Overdraft in the North China Plain |
title_sort |
seasonal land fallowing policy in response to groundwater overdraft in the north china plain |
publisher |
Water Alternatives Association |
series |
Water Alternatives |
issn |
1965-0175 1965-0175 |
publishDate |
2021-06-01 |
description |
The Seasonal Land Fallowing Policy (SLFP), designed to mitigate serious groundwater overdraft in the North China Plain, was introduced in Hebei Province in 2014. This paper offers a comprehensive review and assessment of its implementation status, effectiveness and challenges. Based on data at both macro and micro levels, we witnessed the rapid expansion of the SLFP from 2014 to 2019. With a high targeting efficiency, the SLFP reduced groundwater consumption and contributed to real water saving. However, further analysis is needed on the influence of the SLFP on water levels. As a means of payment for ecosystem services, the currentsubsidy offered
by the SLFP is not sufficiently flexible to reflect the heterogeneity in farmers’ opportunity cost. Obstacles to the effective and sustainable implementation of the SLFP include unstable and ineligible participants, insufficient incentive for farmers to shift surplus labour to off-farm jobs, and underuse of fallowed land. Based on these
challenges, this paper offers policy suggestions to further aid the SLFP’s effective and sustainable implementation in the future. |
topic |
seasonal land fallowing policy implementation groundwater overdraft conservation of groundwater irrigation north china plain |
url |
https://www.water-alternatives.org/index.php/alldoc/articles/vol14/v14issue2/633-a14-2-11/file |
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