Socio-economic impacts, challenges, and strategies for whole-region comprehensive land consolidation in China

Amid increasingly complex challenges of unsustainable rural development, China introduced the whole-region comprehensive land consolidation (WCLC) policy in late 2019. The WCLC aims to address issues such as farmland fragmentation, inefficient construction land use, disorganized village layouts, and ecological degradation. Building on the WCLC socio-economic and ecological benefits analysis framework, this study takes Dudu village in central Anhui Province, China, as a case study to assess its socio-economic benefits through cost-benefit analysis. Results indicate that WCLC represents a progressive phase in land consolidation, integrating a bottom-up approach with extensive collaboration across departments and stakeholders. Despite its high cost, WCLC proves economically viable and yields substantial socio-economic benefits, including enhanced land utilization efficiency, reduced costs, increased gain yields, improved agricultural conditions, and strengthened community cohesion. WCLC has indeed played a significant role in optimizing rural production-living-ecological spaces. However, challenges persist, encompassing an inadequate and underdeveloped mechanism for diversified funding inputs, limited societal engagement, insufficient impetus from local governments for implementation, a lack of comprehensive systemic consideration, and the absence of well-defined performance evaluation criteria for the project. Addressing these issues through innovative policies and institutional reforms is essential to enhance WCLC's effectiveness, contributing to rural revitalization and sustainable development. These findings provide valuable insights for China and other nations seeking to refine land use policies for optimal resource allocation and regional sustainability.