Community forestry development has a long history worldwide, but community forestry development model is regarded as one of the most important forest resource management models until recent years. The characteristics of community forestry are common property right arrangement, participation of local people, satisfying their own economic, environmental and social demands by forest resource management. Community forestry development plays a key role in poverty alleviation in the areas of abundant forest resources.
Poverty still threats the development of human being, even today of highly developed technology and economy. Large poor people still exist in the world. China is a developing country, which is under the high growth period at present. After 20-year reform of economy, great achievement has been reached, but there are millions of the poor exist in the mountain areas and forest areas. The poor lack productive investment, employment opportunities, and basic education opportunities, professional training and health care, and resources for social, economic and political supports for improving their own low social positions. How to increase incomes of the poor with economic development is a critical issue to be solved, and more researches should be done.
Institutional economics indicates that the evolution of institution will lead adjust production possibility curve, the scale of production and benefit distribution models, incentives and etc., which will affect incomes of farmers. From the points of institutional economics, the authors analyze property right arrangement, operation institutions of community forestry and relative policies of poverty alleviation and community forestry development in community areas of China, and the relationship between community forestry development and poverty alleviation is also discussed. Jinzhai County, Anhui Province was selected as case study area.
The institutional arrangement and case study of community forestry and poverty alleviation has been analyzed as followings with above analysis framework and background. Ten chapters are presented in the book.
Basic issues of community forestry development and poverty alleviation are presented in chapter one and chapter two. The basic issues include definition of poverty, the causes of poverty, basic situation of farmers' income in China, the problems of the poverty in China rural areas, measurements for poverty alleviation, the environmental and economic contributions of community forestry development to poverty alleviation.
