An important policy cornerstone for China to reduce poverty includes China’s goal of achieving complete poverty alleviation in its state-owned forest farms by 2020. This study describes and documents the poverty reduction effect in impoverished Chinese state-owned forest farms. Based on a sample of 4855 state-owned forest farms in 31 provinces in China from 2008 to 2017, this paper uses the difference-in-difference method to study the dynamic process of poverty reduction by policies for impoverished state-owned forest farms. The results show that the implementation of the policy significantly promoted the economic development of impoverished state-owned forest farms and caused the treatment group to increase by approximately 10.6% over the control group. Moreover, the establishment of a list of impoverished state-owned forest farms had an indirect impact on the economic performance of forest farms, through channels such as infrastructure poverty alleviation, human capital investment, and per capita income of forest farm employees. Additionally, the effects of the policy on non-impoverished counties were stronger than that on impoverished counties, and impoverished state-owned forest farms may not appear in impoverished counties. The degree of financial dependence of the local government had a significant positive impact on the economic development of impoverished state-owned forest farms. The effects of the policy on different forest farms were heterogeneous. Our study provides recommendations for the future development of impoverished Chinese state-owned forest farms and for the improvement of poverty alleviation efficiency.

To reveal the changes in the supply efficiency of forest farm ecological products after the reform of state-owned forest farms, this study uses the ecological product accounting method to calculate the physical quantity and value of state-owned forest farm ecological products using data from 2015 and 2020. Through exploratory spatial data analysis, the spatial distribution of the supply efficiency of ecological products of state-owned forest farms and its primary index are studied to explore the temporal and spatial evolution of ecological products from state-owned forest farms in China. The results show the following: (1) Through the reform of state-owned forest farms, the supply capacity of forest farms’ ecological products has been greatly improved, and the physical quantity and value quantity of ecological products have shown an increasing trend, with growth rates of 31.7% and 24.2%, respectively. (2) There is strong spatial heterogeneity in the supply efficiency of ecological products from state-owned forest farms in various provinces, and the overall distribution pattern is gradually decreasing from the northwest to the southeast coastal provinces. (3) There is a negative correlation between the supply capacity of ecological products and provincial GDP. The supply capacity of ecological products in provinces with high per capita GDP is relatively low. (4) The comprehensive index of the supply efficiency of ecological products and its first-level index of state-owned forest farms are characterized by different degrees of agglomeration in space, which are mainly represented by three distribution modes: “H–H”, “L–L”, and “L–H”. Therefore, it is necessary to clarify the ecological function orientation of state-owned forest farms, improve the endogenous power of ecological product supply, actively explore and connect social ecological needs, and achieve coordinated progress in terms of ecological environmental protection and economic development.

The population development of Asian elephants (Elephas maximus) has been greatly affected by the intensification of human activities. In this study, development of the Asian elephant population under the influence of human disturbance was analyzed logically, with expansion of the rubber forest area as the main influencing factor. The ecological–economic model of Asian elephant population development was constructed using the logical analysis method, the population growth model and the integrated environmental–economic control model. The results are as follows: (1) Theoretically, the ecological–economic model could be applied to the analysis of wildlife conservation and regulation and management policies; (2) The data show that in 2016, the intrinsic growth rate of Asian elephants in Xishuangbanna was 0.0216 head/day, which has a strong proliferation capacity, meaning the population will continue to grow under natural conditions. However, at present, the population development of Asian elephants has been negatively affected by human interference, which has reduced the population growth rate of Asian elephants to 0.0193 head/day, and this impact has a tendency to intensify; (3) From 2004 to 2016, the investment rate of Asian elephants increased by 0.182, while the anti-interference protection rate of Asian elephants decreased by 0.227. The overall development trend of Asian elephants was from equilibrium point one (golden age) to equilibrium point two (dark age).