Effects of the Post-Relocation Support Policy on Livelihood Capital of the Reservoir Resettlers and Its Implications—A Study in Wujiang Sub-Stream of Yangtze River of China

Abstract

Hydropower energy is a clean alternative energy that has less impact on global climate change than fossil energy. However, the subsequent displacement and resettlement caused by dam construction is a global challenge perplexing the displaced population and the stability of the local socio-economic system. Without proper reconstruction and rehabilitation, the resettlers were highly risked in impoverishment. The Chinese government has formulated and implemented the post-relocation support (PReS) policy for reservoir resettlement and has continuously supported the resettlers to improve their livelihoods and socio-economic conditions since 2006. This paper focus on the 20 years dimension before and after policy formation, tests the variation of resettlers’ livelihood capital and explores the effectiveness of the PReS policy and its blank spots based on a survey of 360 affected households by three big hydroelectric dams in China. The results show that reservoir resettlers would have caused the overall decline of resettlers’ livelihood capital. The prominent problem is that the reduction of land resources and population relocation leads to the changes of resettlers’ livelihood diversification and lifestyle change, which puts forward new requirements for the improvement of job skills and personal capability; the policy plays a significant role in rapidly improving the social, economic, and physical assets of resettlers in the early stage of reservoir resettlement; from the time scale of 15 years of policy implementation, the resettlement policy has an obvious slow-release effect on making up for the improvement of natural resources development and human capital; there are still blank spots in the current resettlement policy. Therefore, it is necessary to adjust and extend the policy for specific groups of people.