How Can Ecological Product Value Realization Sustainably Enhance the Well-Being of Farmers? A Case Study of Xingyuan Village in China

Abstract

Although recent years have witnessed a considerable increase in studies on the economic value of ecological products, the extant literature has overlooked the multidimensional enhancement of ecological product value from the perspective of farmers’ well-being. This research aims to examine how the Realization of Ecological Product Value (EPVR) serves as a crucial pathway to promoting the overall well-being of farmers in developing countries. Through a case study of a village in southeastern China, this research reveals that EPVR can enhance farmers’ well-being via various mechanisms as follows: (1) Economic solution to enrich farmers’ livelihood diversity, achieved by leveraging rural resource endowments and comparative advantages; (2) Fair social protection program enabling farmers to enjoy ecological benefits and further achieving urban-rural integration; (3) Environmental protection plan that balances production, living, and ecology; and (4) Grassroots governance tool promoting the governance ability to form collaborative governance model in a community of shared interests. This study offers theoretical support for enhancing human well-being through the realization of ecological product value in rural areas.

1. Introduction

Sustainable poverty reduction by harnessing the ecological advantages of forests has been a global challenge [1,2]. However, the issue of balancing conservation and economic development persists, especially in developing countries. For instance, 58% of the world’s total palm oil production came from Indonesia in 2019, yet forest losses reached 9 million hectares from 1995 to 2015 [3]. In Southeast Asia, 58% of threatened forests could be protected as economically viable carbon projects [4]. In the Amazon tropical rainforest region, approximately 17% of forest loss has occurred over the past 40 to 50 years, primarily due to deforestation for agriculture, leading to a decline in globally important carbon sinks [5,6]. Several scholars have found that local economies may benefit from forest conservation by improving ecosystem services rather than treating forest resources solely as production input factors [7,8,9]. Building on this, some studies suggest that forest conservation efforts with a focus on ecosystem services should be more directed towards addressing issues faced by surrounding farmers (e.g., sustainable poverty reduction) rather than overall regional economic development [10,11]. Given the significant overlap between poverty-stricken areas and ecological conservation regions, converting ecological advantages into economic development benefits and sustainably transforming these into farmers’ income presents a significant real-world challenge.

Leveraging ecosystem services to enhance the well-being of farmers and alleviate poverty is a complex endeavor [12,13,14,15,16,17]. Many scholars emphasize the importance of balancing the social, economic, and environmental dimensions of sustainable development, such as reducing poverty, enhancing farmers’ welfare, and achieving ecological sustainability [11,12,13]. The Realization of Ecological Product Value (EPVR) holds significant potential to contribute to this goal. EPVR refers to the processes of transferring the ecological value of products to economic benefits through the rational development and utilization of ecosystem products, all while preserving the stability and integrity of ecosystems [18,19]. Previous research on EPVR has focused primarily on the conversion efficiency of ecological product value [20,21], developing accounting indicators and methods for measuring ecological product value [22,23], and exploring operational mechanisms and optimization paths for realizing ecological product value [21,24,25]. Recent studies have increasingly demonstrated the significant impact of ecological products on farmers’ overall well-being across various dimensions, including basic material needs, economic stability, health, and subjective happiness [25,26,27]. However, there are certain limitations in existing research. First, these studies provide a limited understanding of the link between forest conservation policies and human well-being. In particular, the pathways through which the ecological product value creation strategy contributes to the well-being of local farmers remain unknown. Second, existing studies predominantly emphasize economic dimensions and livelihoods of farmers’ well-being, focusing on aspects such as increased employment opportunities and income levels [28,29,30]. Although some research has started incorporating concepts such as health and safety into the notion of farmers’ well-being [31,32], there is still a lack of comprehensive considerations of farmers’ well-being from a sustainable development perspective that combines economic, social, environmental, and governance aspects. These limitations lead to a lack of theoretical explanation and replicable practical guidance on how EPVR can truly and sustainably benefit agricultural communities, reduce poverty, and improve the overall well-being of farmers.

To fill these research gaps, this study investigates how the transformation of rural ecological advantages sustainably enhances the improvement of farmers’ well-being in underdeveloped regions. In particular, this research conducts a case analysis of the Xingyuan village in Fujian Province, China. Xingyuan village is highly representative of many villages characterized by abundant forestry resources and facing similar issues of poverty and ecological sustainability. Its underlying mechanisms and strategies for leveraging ecological advantages to improve farmers’ well-being in Xingyuan village can be applied in various global contexts, particularly in regions where similar socio-economic and environmental challenges exist. This study examines the potential pathways through which the EPVR strategy can improve farmers’ well-being in the case village. The pathways integrate four dimensions of sustainable development, i.e., economic efficiency, social equity, environmental protection, and governance capacity. The contributions of this paper are as follows: (1) providing new evidence for understanding the mechanisms by which the realization of ecological product value contributes to farmers’ well-being, thereby extending the goal of EPVR from economic development advantages to human well-being; (2) Evaluating the influence of EPVR on improving farmers’ well-being from comprehensive dimensions of sustainable development including economic, social, environmental, and governance, which highlights the important role of grassroots governance capacity in the EPVR process.

The rest of this paper proceeds as follows. The second section conducts a literature review and develops a theoretical framework for the promotion of farmers’ well-being by EPVR. The third section introduces the research area, data sources, and research methods. The fourth section presents the research results, analyzing the process of improving farmers’ well-being by realizing the value of ecological products in the selected case. The fifth section presents the key findings as well as the theoretical and managerial implications of this study. The sixth section concludes this paper and identifies directions for future research.

2. Literature Review

The concept of ecological products originated in China [19,33], similar to the well-known concept of “ecosystem services” in international literature. Ecosystem services are the conditions and processes through which natural ecosystems and their constituent species sustain and fulfill human life [34]. As essential assets supporting economic and social development and enhancing human well-being, ecosystem services provide various forms of material provisioning, environmental regulation, and other services that safeguard fundamental human needs and support higher levels of developmental aspirations [35,36,37]. Research on ecosystem services broadly encompasses the conceptual delineation of these services [38,39]; the measurement, accounting, and assessment of ecosystem service values [40,41]; and the connections between ecosystem services and resource management decision-making [42,43].

Ecological products encompass a range of natural and human-processed goods and services that provide material supply, life support, environmental improvement, and cultural inheritance [44]. They include purely natural items as well as human-produced products, such as ecological design products, eco-label products, and ecosystem services [45,46,47]. The value of ecological products consists of material product value and functional service value essential for human survival and development.

Based on previous literature on the realization of ecological product value (EPVR) and the relevant terms mentioned above, we have arrived at the definition of the EPVR concept used in this paper. EPVR refers to the process of converting the ecological value of these products into economic benefits through sustainable development and utilization, while preserving ecosystem stability and integrity [18,19,44,48,49,50]. This involves monetizing the protection costs or utilization value of ecological products, ultimately promoting the coordinated development of ecological conservation and economic growth [44,51]. EPVR aims to protect the ecological environment, foster harmonious coexistence between humans and nature, and address the disparity between private costs and social costs in environmental protection.

Previous studies on EPVR focus primarily on explaining and analyzing the concept, logic, and mechanisms of EPVR, emphasizing efficiency and economic development objectives [24,25]. For example, Wang et al. (2022) and Yu et al. (2022) explored the conversion efficiency of ecological product value [20,24]. Guo et al. (2022), Wang et al. (2021), and Zhang et al. (2023) developed accounting indicators and methods for determining ecological product value [22,23,52]. Cui et al. (2019), Yu et al. (2022), and Zhu et al. (2023) explored the operational mechanisms and optimization paths for realizing ecological product value [21,24,53]. Recent studies attached increasing importance to the issue of human well-being [31,53,54]. They found that EPVR can provide extensive benefits for human well-being, including offering various forms of products or services that benefit different societal groups and enhance public interests [19,55]. Among these benefits, the role of EPVR in promoting farmers’ well-being has received particular attention [27,56]. These studies not only emphasize the role of EPVR in reducing poverty and continually improving farmers’ livelihoods [57,58] but also evaluate its impacts on enhancing residents’ health and subjective well-being [59,60]. They provide growing evidence that EPVR enhances the wealth of farmers and potentially supports their well-being.

Increasing studies have begun to focus on small-scale villages as their primary research subjects and explore the relationship between EPVR and farmers’ well-being (e.g., poverty reduction, promoting farmers’ income growth, and enhancing resource utilization efficiency). For example, Li et al. (2021), based on a case analysis of seven nature reserves in the Qinling Mountains region of China, examined the relationship between ecosystems and human well-being, suggesting that improved ecosystem services effectively enhance farmers’ multidimensional well-being and promote sustainable development [61]. Heejoo et al. (2022), focusing on rural forest ecosystem services in South Korea, discussed the significance of ecological restoration and protection in enhancing ecosystem service functions and improving farmers’ well-being from an environmental perspective [15]. Yu et al. (2022) studied the Qilihai Wetland in China, assessing the value of wetland ecological products and exploring a sustainable ecological conservation mechanism [21]. Guo et al. (2022) conducted a case study on Nanshi Village in central China, examining the process of EPVR from a comprehensive perspective including ecology, economics, and geography, and proposing feasible pathways to convert ecological advantages into farmers’ well-being [23]. Zhu et al. (2023), based on cases of EPVR in underdeveloped villages in Yunnan Province, China, analyzed the relationship between EPVR and rural poverty reduction, suggesting that EPVR promotes incremental improvements in farmers’ well-being under specific conditions and stages [25].

However, a significant gap remains in understanding the pathways through which farmers’ well-being can be sustainably improved by realizing the value of ecological products in rural areas. Delgado et al. (2016), Berbés-Blázquez et al. (2017), and Chaigneau et al. (2019) argue that the ability of EPVR to truly promote farmers’ welfare is influenced by factors such as ecological product utilization methods, beneficiary mechanisms, and local socio-ecosystem conditions [10,58,62]. They suggest that, due to the strong public characteristics inherent in ecological resources, the realization of their value inevitably faces the problem of interest distribution among stakeholders. It is therefore worth contemplating how farmers can genuinely reap benefits from the conversion of ecological value [63,64]. Examining how the value of ecological products can benefit farming communities, alleviate poverty, and enhance the overall well-being of farmers is deemed a crucial question in the sustainable transformation of ecological resource values [23].

Furthermore, previous studies concentrate on EPVR and farmers’ well-being from economic, social, or environmental aspects, with less consideration given to grassroots-level governance capacity such as provisioning, regulating, and cultural services. For example, Wang et al. (2022), Guo et al. (2022), Cui et al. (2019), Costanza et al. (2017), Chettri et al. (2021), and Cook et al. (2022) have respectively explored the impacts of ecosystem services or EPVR on farmers’ well-being from economic, social, and environmental dimensions, including poverty reduction, promoting farmers’ income growth, and enhancing resource utilization efficiency [20,23,24,28,29,30]. However, comprehensive analyses that integrate social, economic, environmental, and governance dimensions of well-being are still lacking. This has resulted in a neglect of the multidimensional improvement of farmers’ well-being. While grassroot-level governance is a core element in promoting sustainable rural development [65], few studies provide sufficient understanding of the impacts of governance on farmers’ well-being during EPVR process. EPVR faces significant limitations, such as unclear property rights and ambiguous ownership, leading to externalities where farmers bear the costs of ecological value transformation while the benefits are shared without compensation [31]. Addressing these issues requires solutions rooted in grassroots-level governance. It is thus necessary to adopt a multi-dimensional perspective to explore how EPVR contributes to farmers’ well-being from not only the economic, social, and environmental dimensions but also the governance dimension. To investigate further, we conducted a case study in Xingyuan village, China, an underdeveloped area rich in ecological resources where local farmers benefit significantly from EPVR.

3. Materials and Methods

3.1. Study Site

To develop the conceptual framework for the promotion of farmers’ well-being by EPVR, this study employs a single-case study method according to principles of theoretical sampling and typicality [66]. The case study method is an empirical research approach that investigates and analyzes a phenomenon or a specific problem in the real world, primarily addressing “how” and “why” questions [67]. We adopt a single-case study method in this research, based primarily on three considerations. First, this study explores the relationship between EPVR and the enhancement of farmers’ well-being in underdeveloped areas, addressing the ‘how’ question, making it suitable for a single-case study approach. Second, EPVR exhibits characteristic stages of evolution, and a single-case study facilitates the capture of the dynamic connection between EPVR and the improvement of farmers’ well-being from a process perspective, demonstrating strong relevance. Third, a single-case study allows for an extended and in-depth exploration of the research subject over a prolonged period, enabling a thorough analysis of the issues at hand and providing favorable conditions for reinforcing theoretical interpretation. Therefore, the case study method can offer substantial and subtle empirical evidence to strengthen our understanding of the core question of this study—how can EPVR in underdeveloped areas sustainably enhance the well-being of farmers?

We selected Xingyuan village as the case area. Xingyuan village is situated in Shunchang County, Nanping city, Fujian Province, China. It is located in the southern part of China. The Xingyuan village was chosen because it represents a typical underdeveloped rural area with abundant forest ecological resources and lagging economic development. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations’ 2015 Global Forest Resources Assessment, China has approximately 208.3 million hectares of forest land, accounting for 22.1% of its total land area. Forest land is a typical subject for analyzing the management of ecological resources, and it is widely distributed in rural China, involving over 2600 counties, more than 100 million households, and over 500 million farmers. Under these circumstances, a large number of villages in China are characterized by abundant forestry resources but lag behind in economic development. These villages significantly overlap with ethnic, border, and impoverished regions, posing challenges to improving farmers’ well-being. Therefore, Xingyuan village is highly representative of many such villages in China. It exemplifies how rural areas can leverage forest resources to realize the value of ecological products, making it valuable for disseminating the study’s findings to similar villages in other underdeveloped regions.

Xingyuan village covers an area of approximately 9.3 square kilometers, with mountainous terrain accounting for 8.49 square kilometers and arable land covering 0.8 square kilometers. Currently, the village comprises three natural villages, formed naturally based on where people live and interact, and seven village groups, formed based on natural villages and serving as the basic social unit for organizing village activities and governance, with a total of more than 340 households and a registered population of approximately 1300 people. Before 2018, Xingyuan village had a weak collective economy, and the development of secondary and tertiary industries lagged behind. Per capita annual income in 2017 was 7466 yuan (USD 1042). In terms of industrial structure, Xingyuan village centered its industry around forest management, and households primarily relied on extensive green mountains and forests for their livelihoods. The characteristic agricultural land and forest resources are mainly tobacco leaves, grapes, tomatoes, cedar trees, fruit trees, etc. Due to their monolithic industrial structure and decentralized operating model, villages face dual dilemmas related to forest conservation and economic development. As a consequence, the low level of industrialization and high operating costs of forest management led to relatively slow economic development. In pursuit of faster income growth, villagers began to extensively cut down forests. Deforestation and ecological damage seriously affected the recovery of the entire ecosystem, thereby hindering sustainable development in economic and social aspects.

In 2019, the village implemented the EPVR policy. Through EPVR, a path of coordinated development between ecological protection and sustainable rural development was explored. The village has transformed from a once remote, inaccessible, and economically underdeveloped impoverished village into a model village showcasing EPVR. This transformation has led to a shift from village poverty to prosperity, demonstrating significant development achievements that have received high praise and wide recognition in society. In 2020, 2021, and 2022, the per capita disposable income of residents in Xingyuan village continued to increase, reaching 14,339 yuan (USD 2001), 16,603 yuan (USD 2317), and 18,101 yuan (USD 2526), respectively.

3.2. Methods

The data for this case study primarily originated from three approaches: semistructured interviews, non-participatory observation, and document analysis. We used a means of triangulation to cross-check the same piece of information from different sources to enhance the reliability and internal validity of our findings and conclusions [68,69].

3.2.1. Semistructured Interviews

Semistructured interviews were conducted through in-depth discussions with stakeholders involved in EPVR in Xingyuan village. Key interviewees included the director of the county forestry bureau, the head of state-owned forest farms, other staff members, Xingyuan village cadres, and villagers. The critical issues addressed in the semistructured interviews encompassed three aspects: first, understanding the attitudes and perspectives of different stakeholders towards EPVR in Xingyuan village; second, gathering information on the involvement of each stakeholder in the process of realizing ecological product value; and third, focusing on stakeholders’ evaluation of the outcomes of EPVR, especially concerning its impact on enhancing the well-being of farmers. The in-depth interviews were conducted intensively from June 2023 to December 2023, involving a total of three interviews with key leaders and staff from the County Forestry Bureau, four with the head and staff of the state-owned forest farm, five with village cadres, and seven with villagers. This resulted in a transcript of 30,000 words from the interviews.

3.2.2. Non-Participatory Observation

Non-participatory observation has become a staple method in the social sciences [70]. The research team also conducted non-participatory observations concerning the ecological, productive, and daily life aspects of the village. During the field investigation, the research team, serving as observers, meticulously observed and promptly documented relevant phenomena, events, and activities. These included the construction of mushroom and vegetable greenhouses through carbon offsetting loans, the cultivation of edible mushrooms, and the management of bamboo within ecological industries. Information in various forms, such as text, images, videos, and audio, was obtained through conversations and discussions on village development with villagers.

3.2.3. Document Analysis

The research team collected relevant documentary materials related to EPVR in Xingyuan village. These materials included internal documents issued by the local County Forestry Bureau, State-Owned Forest Farm, Shunchang County Government, and Xingyuan village Committee as well as external publicly available documents issued by the Ministry of Natural Resources, Local Government Departments, News Media organizations. Internal documents include project contract agreements (e.g., “Carbon Offset Protection” Commercial Forestry Carbon Offset Price Insurance Agreement and the “One Yuan Carbon Offset” Purchase and Sale Contract), meeting minutes (e.g., the minutes of the Xingyuan village Representative Assembly on 11 September, 2019, regarding the “Opinions on the Expected Disposition Plan for Xingyuan village’s Mountainous Areas”), and archives and statistical data (e.g., the “Shunchang County 2022 National Economic and Social Development Statistics Bulletin”). External documents include national typical cases of EPVR released by the Ministry of Natural Resources, materials related to Xingyuan village on the official websites of local government departments (e.g., “Notice on Further Promoting the Construction of Forestry Carbon Neutrality Pilot Projects”), and relevant news reports about Xingyuan village obtained through search engines.

3.3. Data Analysis

The qualitative data from interviews, observations, and documents were analyzed following inductive qualitative data analysis. The unit of text analysis is a sentence or paragraph that contains a central thematic idea [66]. There were three steps for the data analysis. In Step 1, we read all transcripts and pinpointed key concepts based on the literature review. This was followed by a general open coding to give the same code to events, acts, or happenings that share common characteristics. We identified eight concepts as first-order codes to present the mechanism that explains how ecological product value realization sustainably enhances the well-being of farmers. Step 2 involved axial coding that theorizes the first-order codes into higher-order themes by identifying relationships among them. Step 3 involved constructing a framework from the second-order themes. We continued with this process until additional analysis did not provide further insights in terms of new categories or relationships between the existing categories we had identified; in other words, until we reached data saturation. The data encoding process is completed using NVivo 12 Plus software. Figure 1 presents the coding process. We selected informative quotes to aid case reporting and illustrate key findings.

4. Results

4.1. Overview of the Xingyuan Village

Due to the limitations imposed by the natural environment and the dispersed nature of the traditional subsistence-oriented agricultural economic model, the early Xingyuan village was an underdeveloped and impoverished village. Following the collective forest tenure reform (refers to the reforms in forest land ownership, aimed to make forest management more efficient by clearly defining and securing property rights, which allows for better use and management of forest resources, giving farmers and communities more control and benefits from their forests) in Fujian Province in 2003 and the “equal distribution of mountain resources to households” policy implemented in 2007, the village encountered numerous new challenges, particularly in the management of mountainous forests. First, the challenge lies in the difficulty of accurately assessing and managing dispersed and highly fragmented resources. The decentralized nature of villagers’ operations results in high operational costs relative to lower returns. It becomes challenging to harness economies of scale associated with the utilization of ecological resource systems. Additionally, the fragmentation of resources complicates the process of land tenure regularization, leading to difficulties in property rights determination and potentially triggering disputes and conflicts among villagers. Second, the low level of industrialization in the management of mountainous forests contributes to slow income growth for villagers. Faced with the overall low returns from forest operations, a significant outflow of village labor occurs. This leads to the problem of land abandonment in mountainous areas, compounded by a reduction in the scale of forest operations, ultimately affecting the income of villagers. Third, ecological resources face challenges in being monetized, as there is a lack of a platform for the transformation of natural resources into farmer’s economic gains or earnings. The dispersed nature of mountainous resources and the absence of a unified operational platform hinder effective resource integration, supervision, and value transformation. This difficulty hampers the genuine transformation of resource endowments into economic advantages.

In February 2018, in accordance with the unified deployment of the municipal party committee and government, Shunchang County innovatively initiated the “Forest Ecological Bank” pilot project nationwide. In December of the same year, the Shunchang “Forest Ecological Bank” was officially established. Through the establishment of a platform for the unified management, development, and operation of natural resources, the initiative aimed to achieve the integration, optimization, and value enhancement of resources. Seizing this opportunity, in September 2019, Xingyuan village convened a village representative assembly to discuss and approve the “Opinions on the Expected Disposition Plan for Xingyuan village’s Mountainous Areas”. The village established a village-level operating platform for the “Forest Ecological Bank”. Subsequently, in June 2021, Xingyuan village initiated the “One Yuan Carbon Offset” project, covering an area of 1.51 square kilometers with a duration of 30 years. This initiative aimed to centralize resource management while establishing channels for the transformation of natural resources into farmer’s income. Based on these measures, the Xingyuan village has explored a path of coordinated development between ecological protection and sustainable rural development. The key points of the EPVR strategy of Xingyuan village are shown in Figure 2. As shown in

Table 1. Changes in Xingyuan Village’s sustainable development performance pre- and post-EPVR strategy.

Dimensions of Sustainable Development	Indicators	Before the EPVR	After the EPVR
Economic Efficiency	Development of Ecological Industrialization	The primary mode of operation is dispersed management of mountain forests, with lagging development in ecological industries.	The “One Yuan Carbon Sink” project involves funds totaling $114,848, while the annual output value of edible mushroom greenhouses is nearly $441,670.
	Rural Collective Economy	Year 2017	Year 2020	Year 2021	Year 2022
		$13,755	$51,171	$87,183	$99,866
Social Equity	Per Capita Annual Income	Year 2017	Year 2020	Year 2021	Year 2022
		$1042	$2001	$2317	$2526
	Number of Employed Villagers	Year 2017	Year 2020	Year 2021	Year 2022
		45	260	258	280
Environmental Protection	Sustainable Ecological Conservation	Extensive deforestation is causing damage to the stability of the ecosystem. The forest coverage rate is only 80%.	Centralized management of the 6.1 square kilometers of forest land, aiming at strengthening the cultivation and protection of forest resources. The centralized management rate of forest land resources has reached 100%. After EPVR policy, the forest coverage rate has reached 90%, much higher than the county average of 80.55% where the case village is located.
	Reasonable Utilization of Resources	Ecological resources are fragmented. Each household has only approximately 0.2 hectares of forest land, and the rate of forest land abandonment due to lack of management has reached 43%.
Governance Capacity	Involvement of Villagers	Farmers’ participation in village public affairs is relatively low. The proportion of households joining the cooperative is less than 10%.	Farmers, as shareholders of the “Forest Ecological Bank”, are both participants and beneficiaries. The proportion of households joining the ecological bank has reached 90%.
	Grassroots Governance Capacity	The level of social capital participation is low, and grassroots governance capacity is weak.	The grassroots government, social capital, village collectives, and villagers collectively participate in the process of EPVR. The village collective use a loan of 3,896,500 yuan (USD 536,043) from the “Forest Ecological Bank” to achieve collective action, such as scaling up mushroom cultivation by villagers, through the provision of technology and funding.

, the implementation of the EPVR strategy has significantly altered Xingyuan village’s sustainable development performance.

4.2. Mechanisms for Promoting Farmers’ Well-Being through EPVR

Based on the coding of data, we developed a conceptual framework to present the findings from the Xingyuan experience, which depicts what specific mechanisms explain how ecological product value realization sustainably enhances the well-being of farmers, as illustrated in Figure 3. These mechanisms are further elaborated upon in more detail in the following subsections.

The conceptual framework depicts the relationship between EPVR and the continual improvement of farmers’ well-being, which encompasses four dimensions of sustainable development—economic efficiency, social equity, environmental protection, and governance capacity. On one hand, the transformation from EPVR to the improvement of farmers’ well-being should fully embody the three core dimensions of sustainable development: economic, social, and environmental [71]. This approach implies the achievement of multiple goals, including economic efficiency, social equity, and environmental quality. Furthermore, considering the collective ownership characteristics of rural communities in China, a deep exploration of EPVR from the governance perspective is necessary. There are two main reasons for incorporating the governance dimension. First, EPVR is a complex systemic project involving various stakeholders, such as the government, the market, village collectives, and villagers. Relying solely on a single governance mechanism, whether it is the government or the market, is insufficient to effectively achieve the goals of ecological resource governance. This requires multicenter governance to address the dilemma of collective action [72]. Second, in the governance context of China, governance capacity is a key factor influencing the level of public governance [73]. The strength or weakness of governance capacity is directly related to the level of development in the EPVR; consequently, it will also impact farmers’ well-being. Therefore, this study not only integrates the three core goals of sustainable development theory but also, in combination with the practical governance of ecological resources in China, constructs a theoretical analytical framework for this paper from four dimensions: economic, social, environmental, and governance.

First, from an economic perspective, the inherent purposes of EPVR are promoting the development of rural industries and increasing farmers’ income. Providing farmers with a sustained income stream is also an inevitable requirement for the long-term and continuous implementation of the resource-income conversion model. Second, from a social perspective, establishing a reasonable mechanism for connecting interests is crucial for ensuring the effective transformation of economic development and farmers’ well-being. The reasonable allocation of benefits from ecological value transformation is conducive to maintaining social equity and promoting integrated development between urban and rural areas. Third, from an environmental perspective, a good ecological environment is the distinct foundation for sustainable development. Sustainable EPVR is contingent upon adhering to the path of sustainable development, thereby promoting the organic integration of ecological environment protection, improvement of rural landscapes, and prosperity in farmers’ lives. Fourth, from a governance perspective, the sustainable EPVR requires the collective participation of diverse entities, including governments, enterprises, village collectives, and farmers. It is essential to avoid excessive dominance by the government or enterprises while preventing the marginalization of village collectives and farmers. Therefore, the question of how EPVR promotes farmers’ well-being requires a comprehensive analysis and evaluation of the role of ecological value transformation in driving sustainable development in rural areas, ultimately fostering the sustained improvement of farmers’ well-being.

4.3. Economic Efficiency in EPVR

From the economic efficiency perspective, the benefits of realizing the value of ecological products in enhancing farmers’ well-being are evident in driving the development of ecological industrialization and strengthening the collective economy in rural areas.

By utilizing methods such as natural resource demarcation and property transactions, the channel for the transformation of resources into economic gains is opened, accelerating ecological industrialization. Ecological industrial operation, as a market-oriented approach to realizing the value of ecological products, involves integrating ecological elements into the market trading process. This transformation turns these elements into commodities, directly tradable in the market. The essence of this process is to achieve market allocation and transactions. Introducing social capital and engaging in ecological industrial operation, by transforming resources into products and then into commodities, enhances the efficiency of ecological resource utilization. This, in turn, promotes the growth of farmers’ income through the development of rural ecological industries. Xingyuan village, through the establishment of the “Forest Ecological Bank” operational platform, has centralized the management of dispersed and idle resources. Simultaneously, initiatives such as the “One Yuan Carbon Offset” have been leveraged to drive the ecological industrialization of rural areas, providing a solid foundation for the improvement of farmers’ well-being. This initiative has garnered subscriptions from 11,925 individuals, totaling 8312 tons of carbon offset, involving funds amounting to 831,200 yuan (USD 114,337). A total of 769 households engaged in forestry were benefited, contributing to the overall prosperity of the village.

Based on the collateralization of carbon sequestration rights, we applied for the first provincial credit from the County Rural Credit Cooperative Union, with a credit line of two million yuan (USD 275,114). The initial credit utilization was 500,000 yuan (USD 68,778), earmarked for the construction of 10 mushroom greenhouses. Each greenhouse generates an annual rental income of 50,000 yuan (USD 6877), contributing 5000 yuan (USD 687) per year to the village’s financial revenue.

(Interview on 1 December 2023)

Facilitating the transformation of resource brand advantages can strengthen rural collective economies—an economic system where the basic production materials are collectively owned by the members of the rural community and the benefits from communal resources are shared among the members. EPVR creates brand advantages (such as quality and price advantages) and then stimulates the vitality of rural collective economies, enhancing the capacity for the sustainable development of rural areas. In practice, Xingyuan village is leveraging the “Rural Revitalization Carbon Credit Loan” project to distribute the benefits of ecological compensation to both forestry farmers and the village collective. This serves to stimulate their enthusiasm for ecological protection and promote increased income for the collective economy. Furthermore, the extension of the ecological industry chain and the development of distinctive industries have resulted in continuous economic benefits from economies of scale and distinctive brand. Through the implementation of the Bamboo Mountain Mechanization Upgrade project, the contracted price for the bamboo mountain in Xingyuan village increased from 36,000 yuan (USD 4952) per year to 89,900 yuan (USD 12,366) per year. This has facilitated an annual increase of 53,900 yuan (USD 7414) in the village’s financial revenue, leading to a total increase of 1,078,000 yuan (USD 148,286) over the 20-year operating period.

In the process of exploring the path to realizing the value of ecological products, our village’s collective economy has experienced rapid development. In 2017, the collective economic income was less than 100,000 yuan (USD 13,755), and by 2020, it had grown to 372,000 yuan (USD 51,171). In 2021, it reached 633,800 yuan (USD 87,183), and in 2022, it reached 726,000 yuan (USD 99,866).

(Interview on 1 December 2023)

4.4. Social Equity in EPVR

The benefits of realizing the value of ecological products include not only the efficiency of the conversion of resources into the economy but also the mechanism for transforming economic growth into well-being [17]. From the perspective of social equity, a crucial aspect of EPVR lies in its effectiveness in promoting farmers’ well-being, mainly including sustainable income for farmers and integrated development between urban and rural areas.

Sustainable income stream for farmers was ensured by promoting the transformation of resource elements. The green mountains and clear waters that farmers have been protecting for the long term should be transformed into products and commodities that generate sustained revenue streams. This, in turn, facilitates the reasonable distribution of income from resource conversion, increasing farmers’ income and consolidating a positive feedback mechanism. Ultimately, this leads to the establishment of a long-term, stable model for EPVR that involves the enduring integration of ecological protection, economic growth, and shared welfare. Xingyuan village, leveraging the “Forest Ecological Bank” operating platform, entrusts the management of mountain and forest resources to the platform. The platform, following a combined approach of “guaranteed income and annual dividends”, reasonably allocates the benefits derived from the transformation of ecological resource value. This approach ensures sustained financial income for forest farmers. The rural statistical yearbook of Xingyuan village shows the per capita annual income in the village was 14,550 yuan (USD 2001) in 2020, increased to 16,850 yuan (USD 2317) in 2021, and reached 18,370 yuan (USD 2526) in 2022. This approach also provides employment opportunities for villagers, safeguards the equitable enjoyment of ecological dividends by the farming community, and enhances farmers’ sense of well-being in the pursuit of sustainable development.

Through cooperation with the “Forest Ecological Bank”, the collective income from village forestland increased from 13,500 yuan (USD 1857) per square kilometer per year to 45,000 yuan (USD 6190) per square kilometer per year. For forest farmers, the income from forestland per square kilometer increased from 31,500 yuan (USD 4333) per year to 105,000 yuan (USD 14,443) per year. In a single logging period, the collective income of the village increased by 324,450 yuan (USD 44,630) and the income for all shareholders increased by 757,050 yuan (USD 104,137).

(Interview on 8 August 2023)

Integrated development between urban and rural areas is driven by advancing the flow of factors. The essence of enhancing farmers’ well-being through EPVR is facilitating the interconnectedness of urban and rural areas through the market economy and social capital. First, this involves the free flow of factors and the transformation of the “resources-products-commodities” form, ultimately leading to more extensive and profound urban-rural integration [74]. Through the social production processes, distribution, exchange, and consumption, ecological value is transformed into comprehensive values, including economic and social values. This process simultaneously drives rural industrial development and decreases the urban-rural gap. The second aspect involves leveraging rural resource endowments and comparative advantages. The “resource-product-commodity” transformation process accelerates the bidirectional flow of factors between urban and rural areas and promotes complementary advantages. Gradually, this helps breakdown the dualistic economic and social systems between urban and rural areas, continually driving urban-rural integration development. Xingyuan village promotes the flow of capital, technology, labor, and other factors and the integration of resources through avenues such as the development of the “Forest Ecological Bank”, “One Yuan Carbon Offset”, and edible mushroom cultivation. Through the internalization and marketization of resources and environmental positive externalities, farmers’ income increases, urban-rural integration is facilitated, and value co-creation and welfare sharing are simultaneously achieved. Therefore, EPVR directly closes the urban-rural development gap and, consequently, improves social equity. Documents show:

… the mushroom cultivation industry generates additional income of 40,000 yuan (USD 55,502) to 60,000 yuan (USD 8253) per greenhouse per year for the villagers and 1.2 million yuan (USD 16,506) in revenue for the participating enterprises. These green industries provide numerous employment opportunities for villagers. A total of 260 villagers were employed with an income of 1.3 million yuan (USD 17,882) in 2020, 258 villagers were employed with an income of 1.25 million yuan (USD 17,194) in 2021, and 280 villagers were employed with an income of 1.38 million yuan (USD 18,982) in 2022.

4.5. Environmental Protection in EPVR

EPVR adheres to the dual logic of environmental protection and transformation. This involves promoting the reasonable integration of ecological resource protection and value transformation through market mechanisms, government regulation, public participation, and other means. This involves achieving a balanced combination of rational resource development and ecological protection.

Protection-based resource development and utilization should be implemented. The sustainable EPVR in rural areas is fundamentally based on the effective protection of ecological resources. However, some current approaches to realizing the value of rural ecological products tend to prioritize short-term benefits. Relying on project-based models for the excessive development of ecological resources can lead to resource depletion and ecological damage, resulting in challenges such as high-cost supply and economic development stagnation. Consequently, it becomes difficult to genuinely enhance the well-being of farmers. To avoid these negative effects, the fundamental prerequisite for EPVR in rural areas is the sustainable protection of the environment. This involves promoting the transformation of resource advantages while ensuring ecological sustainability. To strengthen ecological protection, Xingyuan village has taken two main approaches. On the one hand, the village consolidated the dispersed 6.1 square kilometers of forestland into a unified operational platform. This centralized management facilitates the ecological stewardship of resources, promoting the enhancement of resource value. On the other hand, the village actively promotes the improvement of the living environment. This includes widening and hardening 1.7 km of village roads, cleaning long-standing garbage, rectifying dry toilets, and demolishing more than 20 makeshift structures and sheds that were constructed haphazardly. Through the protective development and utilization of ecological resources, Xingyuan village has comprehensively renovated its mountain and forest resources and living environment. This approach has not only addressed the previous issue of mountain and forest area abandonment but also improved regional air and surface water quality. The quality and stability of natural ecosystems have continuously improved, leading to a significant enhancement in ecological benefits.

Promoting ecological conservation and sustainable rural development through the rational utilization of the comparative advantage of ecological environments and resources is essential. Ecological conservation does not mean forsaking economic development, in contrast, the judicious development and utilization of ecological resources contribute to both ecological conservation and farmers’ well-being. EPVR involves a bidirectional transformation of resources and the economy, addressing the pivotal issue of achieving mutual symbiosis between ecology and the economy through the scientific and reasonable development and utilization of resources. Utilizing the “Forest Ecological Bank” platform, Xingyuan village has activated dispersed and idle resources. Through the development of eco-industries such as carbon offsetting, the village further promotes the organic integration of ecological value transformation and conservation. This approach, within a sustainable development model, has advanced the enhancement of farmers’ well-being. The funding transactions of the “One Yuan Carbon Offset” project exceeded 800,000 yuan (USD 110,045), not only helping the income growth of carbon offsetting entities and rural poverty reduction but also highlighting the enthusiasm of the public for participating in ecological conservation. The public can actively contribute to ecological protection by purchasing carbon offset indicators through online platforms such as WeChat.

The Forest Carbon Offset project should not only focus on the employment and livelihood needs of forest farmers but also continuously carry out forest protection. Development should not be sought at the expense of forest destruction. Our practice effectively balances this issue.

(Interview on 8 August 2023)

4.6. Governance Capacity in EPVR

Faced with multiple challenges, such as the modernization transformation of rural governance, the adjustment of stakeholder interest structures, and constraints on ecological resources, effective rural governance is essential for promoting EPVR. The case analysis reveals that in the process of realizing ecological product value, it is essential to promote the participation of diverse stakeholders, particularly by mobilizing the initiative of farmers, thereby continuously enhancing the capacity and level of rural governance.

Stimulating villagers’ enthusiasm for participating in the governance of ecological resources. Villager participation is a core element in leveraging the development dynamics of a village, establishing an endogenous development mechanism, and promoting sustainable rural development [65]. Villagers are always the main driving force behind village development, especially in governance systems where local autonomy is strong, such as in China. How to mobilize the active participation of villagers is an essential choice for ensuring that the benefits of ecological value transformation fully reach farmers. It is also a practical challenge that must be addressed for the sustainable EPVR in rural areas. Through the “Forest Ecological Bank” platform, Xingyuan village has transformed the traditional decentralized forestry management model. The transition from forest farmers to shareholders is achieved through a clear equity structure. Simultaneously, the village has established a mechanism for connecting interests, including guaranteed income and annual dividends, to ensure the reasonable distribution of benefits from resource transformation. This enhances villagers’ enthusiasm for participating in EPVR, leading to multiple achievements, such as increased income and employment, improved collective economic levels, and enhanced village governance capacity.

Forest farmers voluntarily participate in equity, forming a community of shared interests, and the awareness of “everyone is a shareholder” has significantly strengthened. The enthusiasm of the vast number of forest farmers for forest protection has been fully mobilized.

(Interview on 27 November 2023)

Through collaborative governance (deep participation, communication, and interaction to build consensus and take action), a community of shared interests can be formed, fostering a sense of shared fate and common benefits. This can be achieved through the matching of rights and responsibilities among stakeholders, joint governance, value co-creation, and benefit sharing. It involves reshaping the interaction among government, enterprises, village collectives, and farmers, and constructing a governance system that is adaptable to these interactions. In this regard, the grassroots government plays a guiding and regulatory role in the realization of ecological product value. Through relevant policy measures, it directs and regulates the development and utilization of ecological resources and environmental protection to achieve sustainable development. Social capital also plays a crucial role in financial investment and resource integration in the realization of ecological product value. It provides financial security, technical support, and management experience to facilitate the development and utilization of ecological products. Village collectives, meanwhile, serve as organizers and coordinators of resources. They organize and coordinate farmers’ orderly participation in the entire process of EPVR while effectively integrating resources to create conditions for the continuous transformation of ecological resource values. Additionally, villagers engage in activities such as planting, collecting, and processing ecological products to generate economic benefits. Therefore, they are both beneficiaries and participants.

In the past, there were many conflicts at the village level. Through the active participation of various forest farmers in the Forest Carbon Offset Project, everyone is now striving to become “forest guardians” and “firefighters”. Our community has become safer and more stable.

(Interview on 27 November 2023)

5. Discussion

While protecting and restoring forests, the sustainable improvement of the well-being of forest-dependent communities is crucial for achieving climate change mitigation and biodiversity conservation goals. The core issue in EPVR is the transformation of rural ecological resource advantages into economic development advantages and further promoting the enhancement of farmers’ well-being and sustainable development. This study reveals that EPVR contributes to improvements in farmers’ well-being by internalizing positive externalities of the resource-environment, which leads to the efficient transformation of ecological resource advantages into economic gains and earnings. Specifically, the strategies aimed at fostering rural prosperity encompass the following: (1) augmenting value conversion efficiency via the nurturing of ecological industries and collective economy, (2) executing reasonable distribution of benefits by augmenting farmers’ income and fostering rural-urban integration, (3) promoting environmental conservation through sustainable exploitation and protective development of ecological resources, and (4) fortifying governance capacity through active community participation and the cultivation of rural civility. Through these endeavors, the sustained advancement of farmers’ well-being is pursued via effective transformation of ecological advantages into developmental strengths.

Our finding that EPVR plays a crucial role in improving the well-being of farmers in underdeveloped rural areas is generally consistent with previous studies [29,61]. Moreover, compared with previous studies, this study provides new insights into the literature on EPVR and farmers’ well-being. This study examines the relationship between EPVR and farmers’ well-being not only from the perspectives of economic efficiency [20,30], social, and environmental aspects [31,32] but also from the perspective of governance. The case analysis shows that rural EPVR involves diverse stakeholders and entails a relatively complex implementation process. The comprehensive consideration of four dimensions—economic, social, environmental, and governance—cannot only address the three core goals of sustainable development theory [71] but also integrates the practical characteristics of China by highlighting the significant role of grassroots governance capacity. Therefore, by developing and examining a theoretical framework that combines governance capacity with sustainable development objectives, our study elaborated in detail the logical connection between EPVR and farmers’ well-being across multiple dimensions.

Our findings further show that underdeveloped rural areas can benefit from forest conservation through the improvement of natural infrastructure and ecosystem services. Some scholars have analyzed the relationship between ecosystem services and human well-being [29,31,52,58], as well as the practical challenges in enhancing human well-being through ecosystem services [54,75]. Their research has generated two divergent views: some indicated the coordinated development of sustainable development goals and human well-being [76,77,78], while others argue that there is a disconnection between human well-being and ecosystem services [31,79]. Our case analysis supports the former viewpoint by demonstrating the significant potential of coordinated forest conservation and economic development in underdeveloped regions. For example, EPVR can promote rural industrial development, foster collective economic growth, and enhance farmers’ income levels. This means that ecosystem services not only align with the requirements of sustainable development goals (e.g., poverty alleviation and environmental improvement) but also represent a crucial way of enhancing human well-being [80,81]. Therefore, EPVR, as a novel pathway for resource-economic transformation, serves as an effective means to facilitate the conversion of ecosystem services and human well-being. Our findings contribute to the broader global discourse on sustainable development, particularly in balancing economic development with environmental conservation. By offering a detailed examination of how EPVR can enhance the well-being of rural communities, our research provides insights that are applicable to other global rural regions characterized by abundant forestry resources but facing similar issues of poverty and ecological sustainability.

This study provides policy implications for both China and international policymakers on how to achieve forest conservation while promoting the coordinated development of rural poverty alleviation and farmer well-being through EPVR in rural areas. First, it emphasizes the need to base differentiated models and approaches for EPVR on local reality and geographical conditions. By enhancing rural development’s endogenous power through the creation of brand advantages, a development approach tailored to the specific characteristics of each region should be explored, leading to amenity-based development. Second, the study advocates for adhering to sustainable development principles and maintaining a balance between economic development and ecological conservation. A comprehensive examination of rural EPVR issues from various dimensions (including economic, social, and environmental) is recommended to avoid excessive development and ecological degradation driven by short-term benefits and enhance the sustainability of rural development. Third, the study highlights the importance of enhancing governance capabilities over rural ecological resources. The key is to coordinate the interests of different stakeholders and continually promote the sustainable EPVR. It is suggested that a multicenter governance model should be explored to address collective action dilemmas in the process of realizing the value of ecological products. A measure of constructing a multicenter governance system for rural EPVR includes improving institutional supply such as establishing a clear equity structure, optimizing governance mechanisms (such as connecting economic development and farmers’ well-being), and clarifying stakeholders’ role positioning (such as matching rights and responsibilities among involved parties).

6. Conclusions

The main objective of this research was to study how ecological product value realization can sustainably enhance the well-being of farmers based on a case study of Xingyuan village in southeastern China. Our results show that the realization of ecological products’ value of Xingyuan village represents an innovative model for leveraging ecological resources to alleviate rural poverty and promote sustainable development. The pathways linking EPVR and farmers’ well-being include the following: leveraging rural resource endowments to enrich the farmers’ livelihood diversity; ensuring farmers enjoy ecological bonus to promote social equity; protecting environment to balance production, living, and ecology; and improving grassroots governance ability to form collaborative governance model in a community of shared interests. This paper provides new evidence linking ecological product value realization to farmers’ well-being and reveals EPVR’s impact on well-being from economic, social, environmental, and governance dimensions from the grassroots. This study suggests policies for forest conservation and rural development through EPVR by tailoring models to local conditions, balancing economic and ecological goals, and enhancing governance to coordinate stakeholder interests and promote sustainability. By understanding the mechanisms, successes, and limitations observed in our case study, other regions may better design and implement their own initiatives tailored to local conditions.

This study has certain limitations. First, it primarily explores the relationship between EPVR and farmers’ well-being based on the practice of Xingyuan village in Fujian Province, China. The Chinese governance context and the unique characteristics of the village may limit the generalizability of the findings to other regions. Therefore, the research conclusions need to be empirically tested with large sample data in future studies. Second, due to time and economic constraints, the number of in-depth interviews with stakeholders was limited. Future research should conduct long-term follow-up investigations and multidimensional comparative analyses of EPVR practices across different regions and types of rural areas to achieve a more systematic understanding of EPVR and farmers’ well-being.