The Three Gorges Reservoir area is one of the most ecologically sensitive areas in China, and the forest landscape pattern in this region shows dramatic change due to the influence of the Three Gorges reservoir project. In this study, the locally parameterized Biome-BGC model, generated with long-term meteorological monitoring data, was used to simulate net primary productivity (NPP) and carbon density of the vegetation layer, the litter layer, and the soil layer for various forest types from 1992 to 2012 in this area. The total and unitary forest NPP presented obvious annual fluctuation under the combined influences of land use change and extreme weather events. Apart from the year 2006, from 1992 to 2012, the NPP values of each forest type showed an increasing trend, although the growth rates decreased. In 2006, due to abnormally high air temperatures and less precipitation, total and unit area forest NPP values decreased by 46.3% and 53.9%, respectively, compared to 2002. From 1992 to 2012, the carbon stocks of the forest vegetation layer, the litter layer, the soil layer, and the entire area gradually increased with decreasing growth rates. Additionally, forest carbon stocks were high in the east and the south and low in the west and the north. Generally, the forest productivity is greatly affected by the physiological and ecological characteristics of the plants themselves as well as the environmental factors, whereas total forest productivity is largely influenced by human activities. The increase in forest area and the optimization of the forest landscape pattern could improve the forest productivity and carbon sequestration.

To promote the sustainable development of agriculture and forestry economy, it is of great significance to guide farmers to consciously pursue pro-environmental behaviors in the development of the understory economy. Based on field survey data from Yong’an city of Fujian Province and Luoshan County of Henan Province, factor analysis and Oprobit models were mainly used to analyze the influencing factors and influencing the degree of the pro-environmental behaviors of farmer households participating in the understory economy. Quantitative data showed that individual characteristics of farmers (i.e., gender, education, career, feasibility evaluation, and the proportion of farming labor to household labor) and forest land management status (i.e., forest land transfer, the working time in understory economy, and proportion of understory economic income) have an obvious effect on the adoption of pro-environmental behaviors. Findings also revealed three key variables (i.e., the farmers’ environmental perception, social constraints, and government incentives) that are associated with the willingness to adopt pro-environmental behaviors. The contribution ratios of the influencing factors were environmental perception, social constraints, and government incentives. In addition to economic benefits, perceptual factors and informal institutions also play an important role in driving farmers to adopt pro-environmental behaviors. Based on the findings, it is necessary to strengthen the publicity and the education of farmers, increase environmental responsibility, accelerate the establishment and improvement of ecological reward-and-punishment mechanisms, and enhance the training of green production techniques.

The harmonious coexistence of man and nature is the primary goal of the establishment of national parks. Creating an ecological service supply model that takes into account the efficiency of ecological services, the fairness of residents’ livelihoods, and the reasonable distribution of rights and responsibilities is an important way of achieving that goal. China’s Northeast Tiger and Leopard National Park (NTLNP) is a typical national park with state-owned forest land as the main body. Before the establishment of the national park, state-owned forest enterprises (SOFEs) and local government forest departments (LGFDs) were always the undertakers of ecological services. Issues such as the distribution of rights and responsibilities between the NTLNP Administration, SOFEs, and LGFDs and the livelihood of forest workers need to be resolved urgently. This study takes the NTLNP as the study area and constructs a model of government purchasing of ecological services. The main results show the following: (1) The driving factors of the government purchasing of ecological services are increasing the workload of ecological services, the need for workforce transfer, and the optimization of subsidy standards. (2) In the construction of the responsibility system, the NTLNP Administration is the purchaser, SOFEs and Protection Stations are the undertakers, and groups such as third-party institutions and the public are the Supervisors and Evaluators. (3) Setting the purchase price in 2022 at CNY 47,654.44 per person while maintaining an average annual growth rate of 6.10% will match the per capita wage income level of urban workers nationwide in 2035. Based on the research results, it is proposed that payment for ecosystem services (PES) and ecological compensation (EC) have mature research paradigms in solving the problems of efficiency and fairness, but government purchasing of ecological services is a more appropriate policy tool in terms of arranging rights and responsibilities. This study attempts to construct a model of government purchasing of ecological services in order to provide a useful reference for national parks with state-owned land as the main body.

(1) Background: It is of great significance to evaluate the impact of forestry subsidies on the income of forest farmers to improve policy and enhance efficiency. (2) Methods: Based on the static panel data of household tracking surveys from 2014 to 2018 in Sichuan, Liaoning, and Zhejiang provinces in China, the impacts of forestry subsidies on forest farmer income and impact paths were systematically verified via parameter estimation with the Fixed-Effect model. (3) Results: Forestry subsidies significantly increased forest farmer income. The impact paths could be summarized as follows: First, from the perspective of operating income, forestry subsidies effectively motivated forestry production and promoted the expenditure on forestry production, and thus increased forest farmer operating income. Second, from the perspective of wage income, forestry subsidy policies played a negative role in releasing the forest farmer labor force for off-farm employment. Third, from the perspective of transfer income as a kind of transferred governmental financial subsidy, forestry subsidies covered a large proportion of transfer income for forest farmers. (4) Conclusions: Forestry subsidies could directly increase the transfer income, effectively improve the forestry production capacity, and increase the income of forest farmers. However, forestry subsidies could also bind forest farmers to forestry production to a certain extent, which was not conducive to the liberation of the labor force.

Ecological or environmental compensation policies are usually designed with multiple policy objectives such as protecting the ecological environment and promoting farmers’ livelihoods, but in the enforcement process, there are often inconsistencies between realistic choices and policy objectives. Based on pooled cross-section data from the 2017–2019 public announcement of the selection of ecological forest rangers (EFRs, who mainly refers to manage and protect forests, grasslands, deserts and rivers, and report or prevent the situation or behavior of the forest area disasters, animal and plant resources, and infrastructure damage in time) among the poor in Sichuan Province in China, we used the Probit model to analyze the influencing factors of the re-employment behavior of EFRs among the poor, with the aim of assessing the differences between central government goal positioning and local government enforcement options. We find that (1) EFRs from poor households who have not yet escaped poverty and have a high per capita income level are given priority to be re-employed. This finding shows that the policy of ecological forest rangers for the poor (PEFRP, it mainly refers to an environmental protection policy that only hires the poor) pays close attention to poverty reduction goals, but it does not consider the poorest people because the EFRs with a higher income obtain higher re-employment opportunities. (2) Age, health, and education, which represent the human capital level, have no significant impact on renewal. This finding shows that the local government has not jointly achieved the goal of “poverty reduction and environmental protection” in the enforcement of the PEFRP and has deviated from the initial goal positioning of the central government. Therefore, in order to achieve the multiple policy objectives such as poverty reduction and environmental protection together, future policy enforcement needs to be adjusted in terms of local administrative assessment and the selection and recruitment of EFRs.

Tea farmers in Wuyishan National Park face the dual challenges of promoting sustainable tea production while adhering to strict ecological protection policies. This study investigates the key factors influencing tea farmers’ pro-environmental behavior and the transmission mechanisms that encourage the adoption of sustainable development. Based on the theory of planned behavior, the theory of externalities, and place attachment theory, 346 valid questionnaires were collected through household interviews across 12 villages within Wuyishan National Park and its surrounding areas. The results indicate that environmental responsibility and concern for community well-being are major motivators of pro-environmental behavior. Market orientation, production intensification, and adoption of clean technologies significantly enhance environmental outcomes at the farm level. While ecological compensation policies help offset the costs of conservation, their impact is constrained by inconsistencies in standard-setting and implementation. The establishment of the national park has enhanced pro-environmental behavior among farmers within the park and influenced those in peripheral areas by strengthening place attachment and social norms. Tea farmers in the core areas of the national park exhibit higher levels of pro-environmental behavior compared to those on the periphery. This study offers several policy recommendations and contributes new insights into understanding the mechanisms behind tea farmers’ pro-environmental behavior within national park contexts, providing valuable reference for pro-environmental practices in the global protected area system.