Running away is the best? : Ecological resettlement of ethnic minorities in Guizhou, China

This paper investigates ecological resettlement of ethnic minorities in China, using Guizhou as a case study. Guizhou has the most multicultural population in China, where ethnic minorities account for 35.7% of the total population in2010. Its regional development has been characterized by interactions of ethnic minorities with their vulnerable, karst environment. The natural environment has been increasingly degraded, and the livelihood of rural people has substantially deteriorated. A large-scale ecological resettlement has been planned and implemented in Guizhou with intentions of both poverty alleviation and environmental conservation. This paper contextualizes the displacement, which involves a population of over two million ethnically diverse people, over half of which are ethnic minorities. The discussion includes environmental change and economic and cultural contexts in which the displacement occurs.