“I have already died in this PLACE:” livelihood impact pathways of conservation and land use change among highland Indigenous groups in northern Thailand

International conservation frameworks and targets have increasingly recognised the central role of Indigenous peoples in managing and preserving natural resources. However, a clearer understanding of the land use and conservation policy experiences, and the resulting livelihood impacts, of Indigenous peoples is essential to devise conservation policies that are not only more inclusive but also potentially more effective. This article argues that livelihood impact pathways analysis, operationalised through the activity space framework, can help unravel overlapping, counter-acting, and often invisible pathways of multi-dimensional livelihood that tend to remain fragmented or disconnected in prevailing livelihood research. We employed this approach in four Indigenous communities in northern Thailand, drawing on participatory qualitative research conducted from 07/2019 to 06/2021. The analysis identified five distinct yet interconnected pathways through which land use change and conservation policies interact with the relational systems linking communities, state actors, and local ecosystems. Spanning multi-dimensional livelihood impacts on inter- and intra-community relationships, meaning making, forest degradation, and state-community conflicts, these pathways were also shaped by contextual forces such as rural development processes and international legal developments. We recommend that consultative processes with stakeholders from affected communities and the sectors of policy, development, civil society, and academia employ the activity space framework as a systems mapping tool to identify and prioritise behavioural intervention options along direct and indirect impact pathways on livelihoods and related outcomes of forest health.