Paper short abstract:

To what extent could government share its responsibility and power of governance with non-state actors in China? A comparative case study involving actors embodying different forms of neoliberal values explores how reforestation is being implemented in arid regions of Shanxi and Gansu province, China.

Paper long abstract:

In China, where civil society is shaped by rationalizing priorities of state structures and economic interests, environmental issues are considered critical for changing state and society relations. This paper distills environmental subjectivities through comparative case studies involving actors embodying different forms of neoliberal values to explore how reforestation is being implemented in rural China. I conceptualized the type of restoration imperative (scientific, utilitarian, ethical) that enabled the provincial forestry agency, local agencies and a Hong-Kong-based NGO to initiate collaborative reforestation in Shanxi and Gansu, to understand why farmers participated less in collaboration efforts. Data from interviews and ethnographic study are collected to understand how collaboration enable mental model changes about social actors' role in reforestation and what constitute sustainable development.