Environmental engineering and resources

The Conversion of Cropland to Forest Program (CCFP), or Grain-for-Green, is an example of an ambitious environmental services program in China. Like many ongoing agri-environmental payment programs in Asia that aim to increase forest cover and promote community development (Toma et al., 2004), the CCFP is facing issues such as government budgetary limitations and inefficiencies in its implementation and monitoring mechanisms (Bennett and Wang, 2008). Under budget constraints, the critical challenge for the CCFP is to maintain the program’s integrity in addressing the multiple objectives of alleviating poverty, increasing agricultural incomes, and reducing sediment inflows to the Yellow River (State Council, 2007).