If our EC scheme is implemented, we believe that the inhabitants of Bangui town could get ecological compensation funding for four reasons. The first reason is that they provide ecological services values. The second is the opportunity cost of the locals to protect the environment. The third is poverty because of geographic reasons, such as severe undulating surface and lack of water and soil resources.The last reason is that the development of karst areas is seriously lagging behind for historical reasons, and reducing regional differences is one of the Chinese government’s objectives. Past EC projects did not have the desired effects as the projects were implemented in wide-ranging areas, e.g., the whole of west China or the whole area around the southern parts of the Yangtze River. In addition, the compensation to the farmers was too small and it was impossible to mobilize any enthusiasm from them . The farmers definitely need a special EC to improve their living standards while achieving ecosystem restoration.
Sachs and Reid stressed that environmental goals cannot be attained without also addressing poverty; similarly,vertical grow system addressing poverty is essential for improving the environment; both need additional resources, particularly in developing nations. On the basis of field measurements, literature study and analysis, we find that it has become increasingly necessary to establish a particular Ecological Compensation scheme for karst areas, to save the rapidly degrading natural forest ecosystem and reduce poverty. Due to the particularity of the karst region of southwest China, we have built an EC scheme that is not restricted by opportunity costs or the value of ecosystem services or other factors. It is more suited to local conditions, and stresses ease of operation and promotion. Land degradation due to use of unsustainable agricultural practices has affected many communities in rural mountain areas.
The available evidence from the study by Salvati for example, shows that rural communities in inland,mountainous districts of Italy were particularly exposed to the extensive phenomena of land degradation and abandonment caused by bourgeoning human populations. Elsewhere,flower pot in the Bolivian mountain valley of north Chuquisaca,the study by Kessler and Stroosnijder also provides similar evidence of soil degradation which caused dwindling availability of water and nutrient resources.They stressed the need for urgent integrated action with regard to soil and water conservation. More interesting is perhaps the argument that population growth in mountain areas can lead to land degradation or enhancement or aspects of all . In their paper, Templeton and Scherr conclude that increases in the labour-land endowment ratios of households and local land demand and labour supply increase the opportunity cost of land relative to labour, consequently, people use mountainous land resources more intensively for production and consumption, thus tending to deplete resources and significantly alter habitats.
Yet, capital- and labour-intensive methods of replenishing or improving soil productivity may become economically more important and attractive, especially when production systems promise greater returns than that from the systems which degrade the land . Agroforestry is one of these systems. It entails a range of land-use and farming systems which involve the deliberate growing of woody perennials on the same land-management units as agricultural crops and or animals, in some form of spatial arrangement or temporal sequence . Agroforestry has huge potential to control land degrading and reduce vulnerability to poverty in mountain areas. It can help rural farmers in these areas to diversify and sustain production for increased social,economic and environmental benefits. In particular, agroforestry is crucial to small holder farmers in mountain areas because it can enhance their food supply,income and health .Agroforestry systems offer great solutions as they can be developed in unfavourable conditions where production would either rapidly degrade the land or otherwise would not be possible . They have the potential to mitigate land degradation problems through both the service and production functions played by the different components of agroforestry.