How to break the environment-economic trap in rocky desertification contiguous poverty-stricken areas: the mediating effect of industrial structure upgrading

The vicious cycle between economy and environment is a key issue affecting the sustainable development of poverty-stricken areas, and how to break the environment-economic trap in poverty-stricken areas is a hot topic concerned globally. Therefore, this study uses county data from 2011–2019 of Yunnan-Guizhou-Guangxi rocky desertification contiguous poverty-stricken areas, and investigates the correlation and mechanism among industrial structure, ecological environment and economic growth in poverty-stricken areas based on the fixed effect model and the mediating effect model. The results show that there is a significant contradictory relationship between environmental protection and economic growth in the Yunnan-Guizhou-Guangxi rocky desertification contiguous poverty-stricken areas, while the industrial structure upgrading can alleviate the contradictory relationship. The mode of developing characteristic industries based on ecological resource endowment and then promoting economic growth can more effectively solve the contradiction between environmental protection and economic growth, which is conducive to breaking the environment-economic trap in poverty-stricken areas. This study provides a reference for the development of other poverty-stricken areas in the world, and also provides experience for promoting poverty reduction and sustainable development in the world.