Targeted poverty alleviation promotes sustainable socio-economic and ecological development in China’s poor areas

Ending extreme poverty and achieving sustainable development by 2030 poses a significant challenge for developing countries. In the past decade, China has pioneered the Targeted Poverty Alleviation (TPA) strategy and implemented a range of anti-poverty programs, aiming to reconcile poverty reduction with environmental restoration. However, the effectiveness of the TPA strategy in facilitating sustainable development in the poor areas of China (PAC) remains unclear. Drawing on a perspective of systems, this study compiles a panel dataset of 832 nationally designated poverty-stricken counties in China from 2013 to 2020 and employ the coupling coordination degree model to examine the coupling and coordination relationships among economic, social, and environmental systems in the PAC. We find that during the TPA period, the socioeconomic level developed rapidly, while the environmental quality was slightly improved in the PAC. The TPA strategy promotes the coordinated development of social, economic, and ecological systems in the PAC, shifting the relationship between human and environment from imbalance to coordination. Our findings underscore the necessity for the Chinese government to persist in its environmental restoration efforts in the PAC to guarantee a sustained development progress.