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①Last year marked the third year in a row of when Indonesia’s bleak rate of deforestation has slowed in pace. ②One reason for the turnaround may be the country’s antipoverty program.

①In 2007, Indonesia started phasing in a program that gives money to its poorest residents under certain conditions, such as requiring people to keep kids in school or get regular medical care. ②Called conditional cash transfers or CCTs, these social assistance programs are designed to reduce inequality and break the cycle of poverty. ③They’re already used in dozens of countries worldwide. ④In Indonesia, the program has provided enough food and medicine to substantially reduce severe growth problems among children.

①But CCT programs don’t generally consider effects on the environment. ②In fact, poverty alleviation and environmental protection are often viewed as conflicting goals, says Paul Ferraro, an economist at Johns Hopkins University.

①That’s because economic growth can be correlated with environmental degradation, while protecting the environment is sometimes correlated with greater poverty.②However, those correlations don’t prove cause and effect. ③The only previous study analyzing causality, based on  an area in Mexico that had instituted CCTs, supported the traditional view.④There, as people got more money, some of them may have more cleared land for cattle to raise for meat, Ferraro says.

①Such programs do not have to negatively affect the environment, though.② Ferraro wanted to see if Indonesia’s poverty-alleviation program was affecting deforestation. ③Indonesia has the third-largest area of tropical forest in the world and one of the highest deforestation rates.

①Ferraro analyzed satellite data showing annual forest loss from 2008 to 2012—including during Indonesia’s phase-in of the antipoverty program—in 7,468 forested villages across 15 provinces.② “We see that the program is associated with a 30 percent reduction in deforestation,” Ferraro says.

①That’s likely because the rural poor are using the money as makeshift insurance policies against inclement weather, Ferraro says. ②Typically, if rains are delayed, people may clear land to plant more rice to supplement their harvests.

① Whether this research translates elsewhere is anybody’s guess. ②Ferraro suggests the results may transfer to other parts of Asia, due to commonalities such as the importance of growing rice and market access.③And regardless of transferability, the study shows that what's good for people may also be good for the environment. ④Even if this program didn’t reduce poverty, Ferraro says, "the value of the avoided deforestation just for carbon dioxide emissions alone is more than the program costs. "

1、 According to the first two paragraphs, CCT programs aim to______.

2、 The study based on an area in Mexico is cited to show that ______ .

3、 In his study about Indonesia, Ferraro intends to find out ______ .

4、 According to Ferraro, the CCT program in Indonesia is most valuable in that ______ .

5、 What is the text  centered  on?