Do environmental conservation programs contribute to sustainable livelihoods? Evidence from China's grain-for-green program in northern Shaanxi province

Impact of livelihood capital and rural site conditions on livelihood resilience of farm households: evidence from contiguous poverty-stricken areas in China

Farm households around the world are increasingly exposed to both external and internal shocks and stressors. Enhancing the resilience of farm households to frequent disturbances holds paramount importance in fostering the sustainability of their livelihoods and the revitalization of rural areas. Based on 1500 household samples from 14 contiguous poverty-stricken areas (CPSA) in China, this study explores the causal pathways between livelihood capitals of farm households and rural site conditions of rural communities, as well as quantifying their impacts on farm households' livelihood resilience using structural equation models. In particular, the livelihood resilience of farm households is measured based on the "Exposure-Sensitivity-Adaptability" framework. The results show that livelihood resilience is positively represented by exposure and adaptability, but is negatively correlated with sensitivity. Specifically, households with lower mean health and higher dependency ratio are more sensitive to risks, while exposure to agroforestry pests and diseases will lead farm households to diversify their livelihood activities and increase crop and livestock variety to enhance their adaptability. The livelihood capital of farm households has a significant positive effect on livelihood resilience (β = 0.874, p < 0.001). Rural site conditions have both significant direct and indirect impacts on livelihood resilience, with the direct impact (β =  - 0.207, p < 0.05) being negative and a bit larger than the positive indirect impact (β = 0.163, p < 0.05), as mediated by livelihood capital. The government should, therefore, invest more in health insurance, education and training, financial support, and infrastructure, and implement village planning to enhance both the quality of household livelihood capitals and rural site conditions in CPSA.

Problems and Countermeasures of China's Greenway Economic Development from the Perspective of Computer Internet

Given the advantages of urban greenways (UGCs) to urban populations' health and well-being, the growing usage of UGCs has gotten a lot of attention. However, most studies on UGCs have been undertaken in Western nations, but the understanding of greenway usage in underdeveloped countries is scarce. China's current environmental change in urban enhancement has been emphasized by a rush of urban green projects. The greenway is a kind of green infrastructure that has lately been the focus of many municipal governments. The federal government's new, ecologically friendly approach to urbanization is the subject of this article, which offers a preliminary assessment of the role played by greenways in that strategy. UGCs are green landscape routes designed for walkers and bicycles in cities, according to landscape design. A growing number of regions and cities in China are participating in the development of UGC, with some projects meeting their goals on an annual basis. UGCs are being built in China; however, a number of challenges exist, including a lack of legal basis, the public's incorrect understanding of UGCs, and insufficient scientific investigation. According to research on UGC construction and analysis of the peculiarities of various urban developments, the article highlighted current challenges in China's UGC construction and provided corresponding remedies in order to enhance China's UGC construction. In this survey, we performed statistical analysis using the chi-square test as well as the ANOVA test.

Temporal-spatial pattern and driving factors of cultivated land use transition at country level in Shaanxi province, China

The county-level Cultivated Land Use Form index (CLUF) in Shaanxi province in 2000, 2005, 2010, and 2015 was measured with the entropy method and the linear combination method. Then, the spatial differentiation characteristics and driving mechanism of CLUF were characterized and identified through exploratory spatial data analysis, standard deviation ellipse model, kernel density estimation, multiple linear, and spatial regression analysis. The conclusions drawn from empirical results were as follows. First, the CLUF presented a spatial differentiation pattern of high in the middle and low in the north and south, and the CLUF had a strong positive spatial correlation. The local spatial patterns were mainly the high-high agglomeration and low-low agglomeration. Second, the gravity center of CLUF moves from northeast to southwest, but it is always located in the central part of Shaanxi province. The CLUF showed a trend from expansion and decentralization to contraction and centralization in geographical space, with an obvious spatial spillover effect. Third, the results of nuclear density estimation showed that the difference in the CLUF between counties displayed a trend of first shrinking and then expanding. Fourth, the cultivated land use transition was promoted by the combination of the natural environment, economic growth, and urbanization development, and factors of the driving mechanism of the cultivated land use transition are complicated. Finally, policy recommendations to promote the rationalization and cultivated land use transition were put forward, such as strengthening infrastructure construction, formulating differentiated policies, and giving play to the role of neighboring demonstrations.

Long Term Observation of Fractional Vegetation Cover in Qingyang of Gansu Province and Its Response to Climate Change

Vegetation is seen as a sensitive indicator of global change because of its crucial role in connecting the atmosphere, soil, and water. Fractional vegetation cover (FVC), in turn, is an important indicator of vegetation status. Qingyang is a typically ecologically sensitive region, with a range of changes in vegetation in the last decade as a result of climatic and non-climatic factors. However, the exact impact of climate change and human activities remains unclear. Satellite observations can help to clarify that impact, allowing us to assess trends in vegetation change in the last two decades (2000–2019). In this study, daily and composite time series vegetation variations were derived from moderate resolution imaging spectroradiometer (MODIS) data and the impact of climate and human activity factors was examined for different administrative districts. By deploying multiple regression models, the research revealed that human activity has contributed 46% to the FVC variation, while the remaining 54% was led by climate factors. In areas where FVC was increasing, human activity contributed 55.89% while climate factors contributed 44.11%. In areas where FVC was decreasing, human activity and climate factors contributed 24.58% and 75.42%, respectively. The study also looks at the impacts of El Nino/IOD events in FVC dynamics in the study site. The FVC inversion result from MODIS proved capable of capturing long-term and seasonal vegetation patterns and thus provide a valuable archive for decadal-scale vegetation dynamics in the study area. Moreover, the improvement in FVC was a dual effect of climatic and human activities, while the latter owns a higher contribution especially for the implementation of ecological construction projects.

Contribution of Livelihoods to the Well-Being of Coffee-Growing Households in Southern Colombia: A Structural Equation Modeling Approach

Coffee cultivation is one of the main agricultural activities in Colombia, which increases the well-being of coffee-growing families. In order to determine the impact of coffee production, the capital endowment and well-being of coffee-growing families in the municipality of Pitalito, in the south of Colombia, were analyzed using the community capital index (CCI). Likewise, the relationships between the variables were identified through a Pearson correlation analysis, and the increase in well-being was identified and modeled by employing structural equations. The structural equation model showed a suitable fit to the data, indicated by the non-significant value of the χ2 statistic (p = 0.85), a high CFI (0.97), a low RMSEA (<0.001), a low stability index (0.23) and a low variance inflation factor (VIF = 1.42). At the capital level, political capital in synergy with social capital increased the well-being of coffee-growing families; meanwhile, capitals such as natural and physical-built capital did not have the greatest impact on well-being. Political capital variables such as the “possession of the coffee identification card” (CPI), as well as the variable “participates in the activities carried out by the community action board of the village” (PAC), increased by 9.9% and 8.66%, respectively, in the well-being of coffee-growing families measured by the CCI. The social capital variables that boosted the CCI were the benefits of the National Federation of Coffee Growers (FNC) (BFN, %V(variation): 8.32) and associativity (Aso, %V: 7.51). Other variables that make up human capital with high incidence in the CCI were family size (FSi) and the number of people who can read in the family (FLE) with a variation of 9.12% and 8.6%, respectively. However, other variables such as labor cost for disease management (CDM) and labor cost for harvesting (HCL) had no significant effect on the variation of the CCI. It was found that the level of well-being increases due to variables such as associativity and participation in grassroots organizations in the community, such as being a member of the National Federation of Coffee Growers, a quality represented by the possession of a coffee identification card that, in synergy with other variables, reduce inequality and poverty.

Gray Forecast of Ecosystem Services Value and Its Driving Forces in Karst Areas of China: A Case Study in Guizhou Province, China

A sound ecosystem is the prerequisite for the sustainable development of human society, and the karst ecosystem is a key component of the global ecosystem, which is essential to human welfare and livelihood. However, there remains a gap in the literature on the changing trend and driving factors of ecosystem services value (ESV) in karst areas. In this study, Guizhou Province, a representative region of karst mountainous areas, was taken as a case to bridge the gap. ESV in the karst areas was predicted, based on the land use change data in 2009-2018, and the driving mechanisms were explored through the gray correlation analysis method. Results show that a total loss of CNY 21.47 billion ESV from 2009 to 2018 is due to the conversion of a total of 22.566% of the land in Guizhou, with forest land as the main cause of ESV change. By 2025 and 2030, the areas of garden land, water area, and construction land in Guizhou Province will continue to increase, whereas the areas of cultivated land, forest land, and garden land will decline. The total ESV shows a downward trend and will decrease to CNY 218.71 billion by 2030. Gray correlation analysis results illuminate that the total population and tertiary industry proportion are the uppermost, among all the driving factors that affect ESV change. The findings in this study have important implications for optimizing and adjusting the land use structure ecological protection and will enrich the literature on ESV in ecologically fragile areas.

Does Livelihood Capital Influence the Livelihood Strategy of Herdsmen? Evidence from Western China

The deterioration of grassland ecology is threatening the livelihood of herdsmen and increasing their rates of poverty. This study aims to explore the characteristics of herdsmen’s livelihood and the impact of livelihood capital and environmental perception on livelihood strategy selection. Based on 453 herdsmen households in the Province of Gansu and Qinghai, five types of livelihood capital were measured under the sustainable livelihoods framework. The influence of herdsmen’s livelihood capital on their decisions regarding their livelihood strategies was evaluated in multiple logistic functions. Meanwhile, hierarchical regression analysis and grouping regression methods were used to explore the moderating effects of two dimensions of environmental perception: ecological consciousness and sense of responsibility. The following results were obtained: First, all types of livelihood capital have a significant influence on the livelihood diversification of herdsmen; second, the direction and strength of these effects differ among types of livelihood capital. Moreover, environmental perception played a negative moderating role in the relationship between herdsmen’s livelihood capital and livelihood strategies. Therefore, it is expected to introduce policies ensuring the development of herdsmen’s livelihood capital and improve their environmental cognition, which can help realize the coordinated economic and ecological development of grassland.

A Tale of Two Protected Areas: “Value and Nature Conservation” in Comparable National Parks in Estonia and Russia

This study explores how local communities reflect on institutional frameworks and protected area governance in two national parks (NPs) with similar nature values in Estonia and Russia, and aims to understand the role of value systems in these interactions. It is based on 50 in-depth interviews with a broad range of stakeholders, and a desktop analysis of relevant regulation and plans. Interview questions reflect on various aspects of well-being (including fairness of governance solutions), awareness of NPs’ function and restrictions, related value aspects, and covered basic personal data needed to interpret the interviews. The study reconfirms the pivotal role of social justice as a driver of wellbeing. In particular, it articulates the significance of value systems playing the role of filters between governance inputs and specific management activities of communities. It underlines the vulnerability of such systems at a community level, most of all to the impacts related to various instances of “centralization”. They are manifested through the choice of restrictive measures and top-down arrangements at the expense of transparency and inclusiveness (in Russia), as well as through the removal of governance autonomy from NPs and transferring monitoring and enforcement functions to local communities without clear mandates or sufficient capacity (in Estonia).

Can tourism development enhance livelihood capitals of rural households? Evidence from Huangshan National Park adjacent communities, China

Measuring the change of the livelihood capitals of rural households in park-adjacent communities under the background of tourism development is an important predictor to identify the sustainable development status of national parks. This paper constructs measurement indicators of the livelihood capitals of rural household in communities surrounding national parks and takes Huangshan National Park, located in eastern China, as an example to calculate characteristics of spatiotemporal changes in the livelihood capitals of rural households, analyze the effect of tourism development on livelihood capitals in adjacent communities in 2006 and 2015. The findings indicate that the annual growth of the total livelihood capital has comparatively strong rigidity. However, there are some differences in temporal changes between different types of livelihood capitals. The distribution of zones of medium and high livelihood capital is mainly distributed in the communities adjacent to the national park research, education and recreation area (RERA). In addition, the total livelihood capital takes the RERA as the centre and decays over distance, which demonstrates that tourism development is an effective way to enhance the livelihood capitals. On the other hand, there is a spatial attenuation effect of tourism development on the enhancement of the livelihood capitals.

Effects of payments for ecosystem services programs in China on rural household labor allocation and land use: Identifying complex pathways

Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES) is increasingly used in developing countries to secure the sustainable provision of vital ecosystem services. The largest PES programs in the world are embedded in China's new forest policies, which aim to expand forest cover for soil and water conservation and improve livelihoods of rural people. The objective of this study is to identify the complex pathways of impacts of two PES programs - the Conversion of Cropland to Forest Program (CCFP) and the Ecological Welfare Forest Program (EWFP) - on household livelihood decisions, and to quantify the direct and indirect impacts along the identified pathways. We fulfill this objective by developing an integrated conceptual framework and applying a Partial Least Squares-Structural Equation Model (PLS-SEM), based on household survey data from Anhui, China. Labor allocation (for on-farm work, local paid work, local business, and out-migration) and land use decisions (i.e., rent in, maintain, rent out, or abandon cropland) for participating households are key to understand PES program effects on livelihoods. Results show that the PES programs have only small direct effects but significant indirect effects via the mediating factor of capital assets. Moreover, group heterogeneity analysis shows that lower-income households do not benefit any more than the better-off households from the PES, while households with medium wealth increase dependence on agriculture. In addition, household demographics, individual attributes, and geographic settings differ in their impacts on labor allocation and land use decisions. We conclude that CCFP and EWFP programs would be more efficient in conserving the environment while improving the economic welfare of lower-income households if capital assets were taken into account in the design of compensation schemes.

The Impact of COVID-19 on the Management of European Protected Areas and Policy Implications

The COVID-19 pandemic led to many European countries imposing lockdown measures and limiting people’s movement during spring 2020. During the summer 2020, these strict lockdown measures were gradually lifted while in autumn 2020, local restrictions started to be re-introduced as a second wave emerged. After initial restrictions on visitors accessing many Nature Protected Areas (PAs) in Europe, management authorities have had to introduce measures so that all users can safely visit these protected landscapes. In this paper, we examine the challenges that emerged due to COVID-19 for PAs and their deeper causes. By considering the impact on and response of 14 popular European National and Nature Parks, we propose tentative longer-term solutions going beyond the current short-term measures that have been implemented. The most important challenges identified in our study were overcrowding, a new profile of visitors, problematic behavior, and conflicts between different user groups. A number of new measures have been introduced to tackle these challenges including information campaigns, traffic management, and establishing one-way systems on trail paths. However, measures to safeguard public health are often in conflict with other PA management measures aiming to minimize disturbance of wildlife and ecosystems. We highlight three areas in which management of PAs can learn from the experience of this pandemic: managing visitor numbers in order to avoid overcrowding through careful spatial planning, introducing educational campaigns, particularly targeting a new profile of visitors, and promoting sustainable tourism models, which do not rely on large visitor numbers.

How Does Improve Farmers’ Attitudes toward Ecosystem Services to Support Sustainable Development of Agriculture? Based on Environmental Kuznets Curve Theory

Agroecosystems are complex socio-ecological systems that are managed by farmers to achieve desired outcomes, including economic income and environmental benefits contributed by ecosystem services (ES). Therefore, understanding farmers’ attitudes for ES will provide references for targeted agricultural environment management, which is critical to achieving the sustainable development of agriculture. The aim of this study is to identify the attitudes of farmers regarding ES, and to test whether and how annual household income and social demographic characteristics affect farmers’ attitudes toward ES. Using face-to-face interviews to collect data and the hypothesis of environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) to provide an analytical framework, the results reveal that, in general, the perceptions of farmers’ attitudes on ES are highly complex, caused by characteristics of the farmers. Furthermore, the inflection points of the U-shaped curves, where priorities change from increasing income to paying more attention to waste assimilation and biological pest control, are identified at 17,091 and 25,071RMB, respectively. Initiatives that aim to achieve sustainable agricultural development by strengthening ES provisions should be sensitive to farmers’perceptions. Therefore, it is necessary to strengthen farmers’ educational attainment, concentrate fragmented cultivation area and create reasonable incentives for preserving and restoring of ES and increasing farmers’ income together, which then can enhance the positive outcomes from income growth.

Loess Plateau: from degradation to restoration

United Nations established 2021-2030 as the decade for ecosystem restoration and "prevent, halt and reverse the degradation of ecosystems worldwide". Ecosystem and land degradation are a global phenomenon. As a consequence of land degradation, in the late 1990s, the "Grain for Green Program" (GFGP) was established in Loess Plateau (China). It converted slope farmlands to forest or grassland over the, resulting in a visible "greening" trend. Other effects of GFGP on soil properties, land production, hydrological conditions, ecosystem services, and policy implications are the topics of this Special Issue. This Special Issue includes 17 contributions that cover recent research carried out in Loess Plateau in the mentioned topics at different spatial and temporal scales. The collection of papers presented in this Special Issue discusses critical issues in vegetation restoration and sustainable land management in the region. This Special Issue will contribute to United Nations strategy for ecosystems restoration.

Social impacts of European Protected Areas and policy recommendations

Effective designation of Protected Areas (PAs) requires the careful consideration of their social impacts as these are perceived by people. These refer to a variety of issues such as the distribution of power, social equity, social relations and more importantly the impact of PAs on human wellbeing. A number of studies have emerged in the past decade aiming to capture social impacts of PAs across the world through non-monetary assessments taking into consideration people's perceptions. Although Europe is the region with the largest in proportion number of Protected Areas across the world it is also a region with very limited scientific evidence on this topic. As the European Union is preparing to implement its new Biodiversity Strategyto ipkmplement this paper aims to provide the first comprehensive review of the literature regarding social impacts of European PAs and highlight new directions for current policy frameworks in the region. The paper focuses on the perceived non-economic social costs and benefits of PAs and identifies 7 key categories of social impacts. We propose that policy planning for biodiversity conservation in Europe should incorporate subjective assessments of social costs and benefits with the aim to achieve an increase of benefits for people and their equal distribution across social groups.