Assessment of sustainable livelihoods of different farmers in hilly red soil erosion areas of southern China |
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| Institution: | 1. Key Laboratory of Humid Subtropical Eco-geographical Process (Fujian Normal University), Ministry of Education, Fuzhou 350007, PR China;2. College of Geographical Sciences, Fujian Normal University, Fuzhou 350007, PR China;3. School of Forestry & Wildlife Sciences, Auburn University, AL 36849, USA;4. Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, 5825 University Research Court, Suite 1200, College Park, MD 20740, USA;5. Department of Geography, University of Lethbridge, AB T1K6T5, Canada;1. School of Geography and Planning, Center of Integrated Geographic Information Analysis, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, PR China;2. Department of Geography, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210, USA;3. Department of Geography, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH 45221-0131, USA;1. Laboratório de Ecologia de Bentos, Departamento de Biologia Geral, Instituto de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Av. Antônio Carlos 6627, CP 486, CEP 31270-901, Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil;2. Amnis Opes Institute and Department of Fisheries & Wildlife, Oregon State University, 104 Nash Hall, 97331-4501 Corvallis, OR, USA;3. Instituto de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Federal do Pará, Rua Augusto Corrêa 01, CEP 66075-110, Belém, PA, Brazil;4. U.S Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Research & Development, National Health & Environmental Effects Lab., Western Ecology Division, 200 SW 35 Street, 97333 Corvallis, OR, USA;1. GEOTOP Research Center and Département des sciences de la Terre et de l’atmosphère – Université du Québec à Montréal, C.P. 8888, succ. Centre-Ville, Montréal, QC, Canada;2. Institut de recherche en biologie végétale, Université de Montréal, Jardin botanique de Montréal, 4101 rue Sherbrooke est, Montréal, QC H1X 2B2, Canada;3. Groundwater Research Group, Research Institute on Mines and the Environment, Université du Québec en Abitibi-Témiscamingue, Campus d’Amos, 341, rue Principale Nord, suite 5004, Amos, QC J9T 2L8, Canada;4. INRS, Centre Eau Terre Environnement, 490 rue de la Couronne, Québec, QC G1K 9A9, Canada;1. College of Resources and Environment, Southwest University, Chongqing 400716, China;2. Key Laboratory of Land Surface Pattern and Simulation, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China;3. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 10049, China;4. Graduate School of Asian and African Area Studies, Kyoto University, Kyoto 606-8501, Japan |
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| Abstract: | Livelihood vulnerability in environmentally fragile areas is emerging as a key issue due to its positive feedback to environmental degradation. Assessment of sustainable livelihoods is a crucial prerequisite for targeting interventions. However, aggregated analysis usually obtained ambiguous conclusions because they ignored the heterogeneity of rural households. Here, we evaluated the livelihood sustainability of different rural households by constructing an improved Livelihood Sustainability Index (LSI) in hilly red soil erosion areas of southern China. Changting County was selected as the study case by virtue of its unique representativeness in soil erosion and poverty. The results showed that livelihood sustainability among rural households was far from equivalent. Different from previous studies, higher nonfarm income share was not always consistent with higher extent of livelihood sustainability. Besides nonfarm employment, agricultural specialization could be another viable pathway to attain sustainable livelihoods. We also found that intergenerational sustainability was one primary cause for long-term livelihood differentiation of rural households. The poor education in rural areas would aggravate livelihood vulnerability of the poor and threaten the sustainable livelihoods of specialized agricultural households. Policy implications include further investment in rural infrastructure, irrigation and drainage, and stimulus for land transfer and concentration to facilitate agrarian specialization; enhancing investment in rural education to improve intergenerational sustainability; as well as targeting of the most vulnerable households, for example, promoting development of social insurance, social relief, and medical services for orphans and widows. |
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| Keywords: | Sustainable livelihoods Livelihood asset Intergenerational sustainability Household heterogeneity Livelihood Sustainability Index |
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