Agricultural land protection in China: a case study of local governance inZhejiang Province

China's rapid economic development following the 1978 reforms has resulted in significant economic, social and environmental change. One consequence o f this change has been the accentuation of an existing trend of agricultura l land loss and degradation. Although the 1978 reforms and their impacts ha ve been subjected to considerable scrutiny, relatively little research has been directed towards the relationship between the evolution of local gover nment structures and practices and the implementation of agricultural land protection policies. This paper presents an analysis of this relationship i n Huzhou Municipality, Zhejiang Province. Zhejiang Province is situated on the eastern seaboard and exhibited the highest average annual per capita gr owth in China between 1978 and 1995. Huzhou Municipality is a growth centre in the northern part of the province. A synthesis of the factual knowledge and perceptions of 40 key-informants suggests that despite the development of a comprehensive legal framework for agricultural land protection, the i nterpretation of policy at local levels continues to permit the loss of agr icultural land (and attendant environmental costs) to be traded-off against increased economic growth. This suggests a need to re-evaluate the role of local levels of government in China with respect to agricultural land prot ection issues; to look as much at the ways policies are implemented as at p olicies themselves. The devolution of administrative responsibility in Chin a and the increasing influence of powerful local economic interests will pr ovide an impetus for such a re-focussing of research at local levels. (C) 2 001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.