Natural resources and environmental analysis for local-level planning: a case from China

M.G. Quieti

M.G. Quieti is an Agricultural Policy Support Officer in FAO's Policy Assistance Division (TCAS) at FAO headquarters in Rome; e-mail: mariagrazia.quieti@ fao.org

This article summarizes the experience of a natural resources and environmental analysis carried out in the county of Xichang in Sichuan Province, China, as part of an FAO programme of capacity building in decentralized rural development planning. The aim was to show how county-level officials could undertake such an analysis without recourse to specialized expertise or in-depth studies, in a relatively short period of time and within the institutional and financial constraints in which they normally operate. A three-person team¹ carried out the analysis by means of a review of the secondary data and a ten-day field visit that used rapid rural appraisal methods and a set of analytical tools selected for their potential applicability to development planning in the counties of Sichuan. The experience was reported in a case study which is now used by academic institutions in the province and by other organizations.² A full version of the case study is available in Chinese and a synthesis report has been written in English (FAO, 1998). The present article is based on the case study work and reflects comments and feedback from the principal author of the original report.

Analyse des ressources naturelles et de l'environnement pour une planification au niveau local: une étude de cas en Chine

Cet article résume les résultats des travaux d'analyse des ressources naturelles et de l'environnement effectués dans le comté de Xichang, dans la province du Sichuan, en Chine, dans le cadre d'un programme de la FAO pour le renforcement des capacités en vue de la planification du développement rural décentralisé. Le but était de montrer comment les fonctionnaires au niveau du comté pouvaient effectuer cette analyse sans recourir à des expertises ou à des études approfondies, dans un laps de temps relativement court et sous les contraintes institutionnelles et financières habituelles. Une équipe composée de trois personnes a effectué l'analyse comme suit: étude des données secondaires et visite sur le terrain de 10 jours en utilisant des méthodes d'évaluation rurale rapide et un ensemble d'outils d'analyse sélectionnés comme étant les plus appropriés dans le contexte de la planification du développement des comtés du Sichuan. Cette expérience a été reprise dans une étude de cas qui sert maintenant de référence à des institutions académiques dans la province ainsi qu'à d'autres organisations. La version complète de l'étude de cas est disponible en chinois et un rapport de synthèse a été écrit en anglais (FAO,1998). Le présent article est basé sur les travaux de l'étude de cas et reflète les commentaires et les réactions de l'auteur principal du rapport original.

Análisis de los recursos naturales y el medio ambiente para una planificación de ámbito local: ejemplo de China

En este artículo se resume la experiencia de un análisis de los recursos naturales y el medio ambiente realizado en el distrito de Xichang de la provincia de Sichuan, China, como parte de un programa de la FAO de capacitación para la planificación del desarrollo rural descentralizado. El objetivo era demostrar de qué manera los oficiales de distrito podían realizar dicho análisis sin recurrir a personal especializado o estudios pormenorizados en un período relativamente breve de tiempo, dentro de las limitaciones institucionales y financieras en las que se mueven normalmente.Un equipo de tres personas realizó el análisis mediante un examen de los datos secundarios y una visita sobre el terreno de 10 días, utilizando métodos rápidos de evaluación rural y un conjunto de instrumentos analíticos seleccionados por su posible aplicabilidad en las condiciones de la planificación del desarrollo de los distritos de Sichuan. Esta experiencia se describió en un estudio monográfico que utilizan ahora las instituciones académicas de la provincia y otras organizaciones. Una versión completa del estudio monográfico en chino y un informe de síntesis en inglés está disponible (FAO, 1998). El presente artículo se basa en la labor del estudio monográfico y se recogen las observaciones y la información recibidas del autor principal del informe original.

Drawing on its experience in different countries, FAO collaborated from 1994 to 1998 with a number of government and academic institutions in Sichuan Province in a capacity building programme aimed at county-level officials. The programme's purpose was to enhance decentralized rural development planning capability in response to China's shift towards a market economy and the greater degree of autonomy and decision-making at the county level that has resulted. It covered such areas as strategic county development planning and identification and preparation of investment microprojects, for which specific training materials had been prepared by Chinese trainers and an FAO consultant (FAO/Sichuan Territorial Bureau/Piemonte Region of Italy, 1999).
The overall aim of the capacity building was to instil more intersectoral, interdisciplinary and participatory approaches in development planning that focuses on facilitating individual initiatives. The county officials came from various technical backgrounds and different ministries and bureaux. The training consisted of a combination of classroom study and fieldwork and resulted in the preparation of investment microprojects and county development strategies. It soon became apparent that, as in other provinces of China, the identification of microprojects was greatly influenced by the search for sector-specific economic development opportunities without due attention to sustaining natural resources and the environment (Hu Tao, 1999). The pedagogy of the programme, consisting of iterative feedback among theoretical understanding, the setting of methodology and practical experience, led the team to focus on sustainability and environmental issues.
The three-person team that was set up had disciplinary backgrounds related to economics, agronomy, geography and sociology. The team set itself the task of showing how county-level development planners, i.e. officials with different backgrounds, can take environmental and sustainability issues into consideration without resorting to in-depth studies or specialized expertise. The team first reviewed secondary data, which guided the fieldwork in Xichang county; it then analysed the results and wrote a case study which is now being used for training (FAO, 1998). Xichang was selected as an exemplary case of natural resource degradation and environmental pollution because of the rapid economic growth in its lowlands and relative poverty in its mountainous areas. The county has a population of 530 000 and covers an area of about 2 655 km2.
The team's guiding questions were: Which conceptual grids can be used to make environment and sustainability an explicit, singular concern? and which practical, appropriate methodologies and analytical tools can be proposed, given the county officials' work context? This article provides a summary of the case study, focusing on the methodology it followed and the tools it applied.

Background concepts and principles

Although the environment has high priority on the government's agenda, the experience of the capacity building programme showed that the environment and sustainability need to be distinct conceptual categories in training and distinct concerns in development planning practice. County officials made reference only to the legislative, administrative control and enforcement measures, without considering the significance of the environment and sustainability for the development of their county. The main concepts and principles conveyed through training drew on China's numerous national initiatives related to the environment, as well as on current conceptualizations and experiences of natural resources management at the international level. The concepts included:

• Natural resource management and environmental protection encompass, not only biophysical factors, but also economic, social, cultural and institutional dimensions. A multidimensional analytical approach and a multisectoral perspective are therefore needed.
• External enabling (or disabling) factors and social and economic incentives (or disincentives) play vital roles in household resource rights. Appropriate price relationships (inputs and outputs) are preconditions for households' decisions to adopt environmentally beneficial practices.
• Sustainable development requires good governance and application of the subsidiarity principle. This principle states that decisions affecting a community should be taken by its members, or on their behalf by the authorities closest to them, unless the problem and its solution lie outside the community's control.
• Solutions need to be specific to the location, community or household type in order to take into account the diversity of situations and perceptions of the different natural resource user groups. The adoption or prescription of "off-the-shelf" practices based purely on technological considerations (e.g. farm forestry or conservation models) should be avoided.
• In order to ensure appropriate specificity, participation in decision-making should be sought among all the relevant stakeholders - i.e. the people, institutions and organizations who share a common interest, or stake, in a particular system or issue.

Analytical framework and tools

The team found it necessary to establish an analytical framework at the outset. It needed to decide in which phase of the planning cycle to carry out environmental and sustainability analysis, which unit of analysis to apply, and the starting point at which to determine analytical and data needs.

Planning phase. The team decided it would be best to tackle environmental and sustainability analysis in strategic development planning, drawing on the work already done within the training programme (FAO, 2000). The facilitation of development was included as an area where there was particular need and where county councils could play an important role in helping to resolve or minimize conflicts of interest among different users of natural resources, when these were unable to reach agreement by themselves.

Unit of analysis. The great diversity in agro-ecological and socio-economic conditions, and therefore in farming system typologies, led the team to go beyond the current practice of countywide parameters and agricultural planning zones. It considered variations within counties as well as among communities or farm households. In view of this, and of the fact that some of the problems encountered went beyond Xichang's county boundaries, the team retained the following units of analysis: i) the administrative unit of the entire county/city of Xichang, with an intracounty breakdown; ii) the various natural domains and physical features of the area, such as Qionghai Lake and Luojishan Nature Area; and iii) the different socio-economic and agro-ecological units within a problem subwatershed, such as an upstream Yi community at Daqing township and a downstream Han community at Hainan township.

Starting point for analytical and data needs. The team focused on practical issues concerning natural resources and the environment, such as:

• location, quantity, quality and characteristics of the existing resource endowments;
• current usage of the various resources, and their environmental status and trends;
• interest groups or stakeholders in a given resource use issue;
• causes and effects of resource degradation;
• relationships among different resource uses and users;
• potential conflicts of interest and trade-offs in development objectives.

Assessment of these issues depends on answering basic questions regarding what the resources and hazards are; where they are located; which of them require attention, and when; who the stakeholders are, and what are their characteristics; why is there a problem; and how can the problem be resolved. Specific analytical tools for the different units of analysis were identified to answer these questions. These are listed in Table 1.

TABLE 1 TOOLS FOR NATURAL RESOURCES AND ENVIRONMENTAL ANALYSIS
Tool and example of use	Questions answered
Group I. County and subcounty environmental strategy planning
Tool 1. Baseline establishment: inventory of natural resources and environmental hazards (Xichang county)	What, Where, When
Tool 2. Resource suitability and depletability analysis (Qionghai Lake and Luojishan Nature Area)	Which, Where, How
Tool 3. Resource use and stakeholder analysis (Qionghai Lake)	Who, What
Tool 4. Socio-economic analysis at the community and household levels (upstream and downstream villages)	Who, What, Why, How
Tool 5. Pressure-state-response and problem tree analysis (Qionghai Lake and related subwatersheds)	Why, What, Who
Group II. Development facilitation
Tool 6. Analysis of stakeholders: conflict-complementarity and policy trade-offs (Qionhhai Lake)	Who, How
Tool 7. Resource-power-influence analysis of stakeholders (Qionghai Lake)	Who, What
Tool 8. Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT) analysis (Qionghai Lake Management Bureau)	What, Why

Source: FAO, 1998.

The process that is synthesized in Table 1 was designed as follows. First, information was collected using checklists of questions. This information formed the basis of a natural resources inventory, a preliminary identification of hazards and an analysis of the depletability of resource suitability. Stakeholder analysis then helped identify the resource users; their socio-economic characteristics were investigated to establish the variables impinging on the community and on households' decisions about resource use. A pressure-state-response framework and a problem tree analysis allowed linkage of biophysical, socio-economic and institutional factors in order to examine the cause-effect relationships and obtain information on the perceptions and responses of government and individuals regarding the problems identified.
In the case study, the development facilitation role of county officials was confined to examining the conflicts and complementarities among the various stakeholders' resource uses and studying the resulting trade-offs in terms of policy options, the power-influence status of stakeholders and the organizational strengths and weaknesses of the Qionghai Lake Management Bureau, which had been specially created for the area.

Information collection

The team decided to gather information through secondary data (information that was already available from published and other sources) and a ten-day field visit that used rapid appraisal methods. Checklists of questions were prepared, and circulated to government agencies prior to the visit. These lists specified the years for which data were required (to enable the observation of trends), and the team cross-checked information from different sources - both key informants and official records and reports. One checklist included items and sub-items related to physiography and agro-ecology, climate, soil and natural vegetation, flora and fauna, water resources, mineral and tourism resources, environmental degradation and natural disasters, pollution, demography and settlement patterns, social and economic indicators, land use, agriculture and food production, land tenure and management typology, and approved and planned development strategies and projects. Another checklist of institutional items included current local legislation for environmental protection, organizational capacity, coordination mechanisms and the extent of community participation.

Inventory and hazards analysis

The information gathered was used to compile a natural resources inventory for the county, describing in quantitative and qualitative terms the different types of renewable and non-renewable resources within the county, as well as the hazards, i.e. the potential or actual risks to the environment induced by either nature or humans. Explicit reference was made to the need for a more detailed analysis on the intracounty distribution, usage and trends of each resource, for the formulation of an area strategy.

Depletability and suitability analysis

The team carried out an analysis of resource depletability (i.e. the extent to which renewable resources can be depleted through improper use) and resource suitability (i.e. existing and potential resource use) (FAO, 1991). This made it possible to assess the natural resource characteristics by relating them to the specific situation in the county.

1 Applies only when the depletability status is conditional renewable.
Source: FAO, 1998: 22.

Resource use and stakeholder analysis: Qionghai Lake

In order to understand and be able to address the environmental problems encountered in the area (e.g. soil erosion, landslides on hillsides, debris flow along the valleys and water pollution), as well as the potential institutional problems, the team found it necessary to analyse the various stakeholders in Qionghai Lake. It sought to identify who was using the lake's natural resources and establish these individuals' interests and influence.
The team compiled a table (an excerpt from which is shown in Table 4) listing the different stakeholders, both primary, i.e. those who are affected by the outcome of decisions and actions, and secondary, i.e. those who made the decisions and follow the actions.

TABLE 3 RESOURCE SUITABILITY ANALYSIS, SELECTED EXAMPLES
Natural resource category	Usage	Order of suitability	Limiting characteristics and conditions of use	Opportunities for enhancing suitability
Qionghai Lake:
Wasteland/ dryland soils in hills around lake	Food crops/ tobacco production	Medium	Only on slopes < 16o (30% slope), to minimize erosion risk; use of grass strips/hedge barriers or terracing may be necessary, depending on soil erodibility; good ground cover and high organic matter needed to prevent soil degradation.	Use of conservation farming practices, including agroforestry to increase ground cover, provide green manure/organic matter and enhance fertility.
	Fruit orchards	High	Only on slopes < 25o (45% slopes), but terracing is generally necessary; soil depth must be adequate for the tree root zone.	Legumes and grass species introduced to improve ground cover and provide green manure; farmers trained to build and maintain terraces to a good standard.

Source: FAO, 1998:23.

Socio-economic analysis at the community and household levels

After the stakeholder analysis, a socio-economic analysis traced the variables that were likely to impinge on community and household resource use decisions, i.e. the environmental issues and problems to be tackled at these levels. With the use of rapid rural appraisal techniques, the team was able to prepare a descriptive comparison of the socio-economic circumstances of local communities in upstream and downstream villages; historical timelines of the villages; transect and issues diagrams of the villages (showing the area under study and its problems and opportunities); and resource flow diagrams of typical farms, focusing on soil fertility maintenance.
Information on local communities' socio-economic circumstances was categorized as:

• general township information on downstream and upstream communities: population, altitude, cultivated land, fishing activities, income per capita, and ethnic groups;
• village and farm household system information: land resources and utilization, crop and farming systems, livestock, fishing, aquatic plants harvested, trees, fuel supply, household types, main problems and constraints, and possible household goals and strategies.

A table was prepared providing a summary description of the socio-economic circumstances of two communities in upstream and downstream villages. Although these differed considerably (in terms of per capita income, land availability and use, etc.), both communities depended on natural resources for their economic and social needs.

Pressure-state-response analysis

The next step was to discover the perceptions and responses of local government and people regarding the problems encountered. What actions, plans and strategies were ordinary citizens and governments undertaking? How effective were these proving to be? The use of the pressure-state-response (P-S-R) framework (Table 5), together with problem tree analysis, allowed a systematic examination of these aspects.

TABLE 4 RESOURCE USE AND STAKEHOLDER ANALYSIS, QIONGHAI LAKE
Type of use	Extent of use	Primary stakeholders (those affected)	Secondary stakeholders (those affecting)
Domestic water supply	Xichang urban centre, including lakeside towns and townships (approximately 195 000 people)	Xichang urban residents' city water company	Within Xichang county: Qionghai Lake Management Bureau (QLMB) Environmental Protection Bureau
Irrigated rice farms	Pumping of water to 14 000 mu (approximately 940 ha) of rice farms around the lake	Paddy farmers in Hainan, Chuanxin, Gaojian and Xijao townships	Within Xichang county: Qionghai Lake Management Bureau (QLMB) Environmental Protection Bureau
Dryland farmers	Village crops allocated dryland plots and converted waste-, pasture- and forest land	Farmers in hills around lake, especially Daxin township	Within Xichang county: Qionghai Lake Management Bureau (QLMB) Environmental Protection Bureau

Source: FAO, 1998: 25.

Development facilitation

The team addressed the issue of how county officials can analyse and accommodate the various stakeholders' needs, interests and power relations. In order to identify potential areas of conflict, the team then examined the interactions between different pairs of stakeholders in their normal resource use. Table 6 shows a conflict-complementarity policy matrix that sets out the interactions between different pairs of stakeholders. These may be conflicting (CX), complementary (CM), with no apparent relationship (OO) or as yet unclear (UC). The matrix links the various analyses carried out to policy decisions and the trade-offs involved, in terms of both the environment and the economic and social parameters identified.
The information obtained was to be used in the analysis of policy options and their trade-offs. The power and influence status of the various stakeholders and the organizational strengths and weaknesses of the Qionghai Lake Management Bureau were also analysed in order to gauge further the institutional and managerial feasibility of the policy options considered.

TABLE5 PRESSURE-STATE-RESPONSE FRAMEWORK, EXAMPLES FROM QIONGHAI LAKE
Environmental issue or problem	Pressure	State	Response
Deteriorating water quality of Qionghai Lake	Commercial, residential and fish farming activity: a) lakeside hotels' and restaurants' discharge of wastewater; b) about 1 000 lakeside households' discharge of wastewater; c) feedstuffs used in open water fish cage culture.	Eutrophication of lake: by the mid-1990s lake water quality indicators were below National Standard Class 2 for domestic water supply, but the trend has recently been reversed.	a) The Prefecture Peoples' Consultative Committee commissioned a survey of environmental problems (1993); b) prefecture and city governments took legislative action (1997 Regulations); c) Qionghai Lake Management Bureau was established (1995); d) prefecture- and city-level leading groups for the coordination of Qionghai Lake Protection were set up; e) regulations were enforced by the Environmental Protection Agency (including closure of restaurants and factories).

Source: FAO, 1998: 35.

Conclusions and lessons learned³