IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jlands/v9y2020i2p38-d314854.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Coupled Relationship between Rural Livelihoods and the Environment at a Village Scale: A Case Study in the Mongolian Plateau

Author

Listed:
  • Zhilong Wu

    (Institute of Ecological Civilization, Jiangxi University of Finance and Economics, Nanchang 330013, China)

  • Bo Li

    (School of Natural Resources, Faculty of Geographical Science, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China)

  • Xuhuan Dai

    (School of Natural Resources, Faculty of Geographical Science, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China)

  • Ying Hou

    (State Key Laboratory of Urban and Regional Ecology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China)

Abstract

Rural livelihoods, which are basic human activities, have long interacted with the environment. In light of the complexity of the human–environment system, more interdisciplinary analyses from geographical, environmental, and social sciences are needed. Using qualitative and quantitative methods from social, environmental, and geographical sciences, this study conducted a geographical regionalization and a comparative analysis of rural livelihoods in different zones in the Loess Plateau to explore the relationship between rural livelihoods and the environment. The results indicated that rural livelihoods are tightly coupled with the environment on a village scale, showing significant geographical regularity and spatial disparity. A combination of geographical location, resource endowment, and environmental sanitation affects rural livelihoods in terms of spatial patterns, development capacity, and quality of life in the context of the public ownership system, the utilization policy of land resources, and limited technical conditions. Coupling the relationship between rural livelihoods and a given environment on a village scale tends to lead to one of four types of relationships: “homeostatic”, “intense”, “transferred”, or “optimized”. Accordingly, governments and policymakers need to consider that countryside revitalization must be locally tailored and implemented through the four aspects of “rights revitalization”, “labor revitalization”, “industrial revitalization”, and “environmental revitalization”.

Suggested Citation

  • Zhilong Wu & Bo Li & Xuhuan Dai & Ying Hou, 2020. "Coupled Relationship between Rural Livelihoods and the Environment at a Village Scale: A Case Study in the Mongolian Plateau," Land, MDPI, vol. 9(2), pages 1-22, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jlands:v:9:y:2020:i:2:p:38-:d:314854
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/9/2/38/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/9/2/38/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Liu, Zhen & Lan, Jing, 2015. "The Sloping Land Conversion Program in China: Effect on the Livelihood Diversification of Rural Households," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 147-161.
    2. Arunachalam, Raj & Shenoy, Ajay, 2017. "Poverty traps, convergence, and the dynamics of household income," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 126(C), pages 215-230.
    3. Lu, Jixia & Lora-Wainwright, Anna, 2014. "Historicizing Sustainable Livelihoods: A Pathways Approach to Lead Mining in Rural Central China," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 189-200.
    4. Jianmei Zhao & Peter Barry, 2013. "Implications of different income diversification indexes: the case of rural China," Economics and Business Letters, Oviedo University Press, vol. 2(1), pages 13-20.
    5. Sochanny Hak & John McAndrew & Andreas Neef, 2018. "Impact of Government Policies and Corporate Land Grabs on Indigenous People’s Access to Common Lands and Livelihood Resilience in Northeast Cambodia," Land, MDPI, vol. 7(4), pages 1-20, October.
    6. Barrett, C. B. & Reardon, T. & Webb, P., 2001. "Nonfarm income diversification and household livelihood strategies in rural Africa: concepts, dynamics, and policy implications," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 26(4), pages 315-331, August.
    7. Amarasinghe, Upali & Samad, Madar & Anputhas, Markandu, 2005. "Spatial clustering of rural poverty and food insecurity in Sri Lanka," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 30(5-6), pages 493-509.
    8. Nguyen Than Dao & Ottmar Edenhofer, 2014. "On the Fiscal Strategies of Escaping Poverty-Environment Traps (and) Towards Sustainable Growth," CESifo Working Paper Series 4865, CESifo.
    9. Rebecca Kariuki & Simon Willcock & Rob Marchant, 2018. "Rangeland Livelihood Strategies under Varying Climate Regimes: Model Insights from Southern Kenya," Land, MDPI, vol. 7(2), pages 1-22, April.
    10. Hu, Feng & Xu, Zhaoyuan & Chen, Yuyu, 2011. "Circular migration, or permanent stay? Evidence from China's rural-urban migration," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 22(1), pages 64-74, March.
    11. Ward, Catherine D. & Shackleton, Charlie M., 2016. "Natural Resource Use, Incomes, and Poverty Along the Rural–Urban Continuum of Two Medium-Sized, South African Towns," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 80-93.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Chunyang Zhang & Junjie Chen, 2023. "Spatial Morphology Optimization of Rural Planning Based on Space of Flow: An Empirical Study of Zepan Village in China," Land, MDPI, vol. 12(4), pages 1-23, April.
    2. Zhe Zhao & Xiangzheng Deng & Fan Zhang & Zhihui Li & Wenjiao Shi & Zhigang Sun & Xuezhen Zhang, 2022. "Scenario Analysis of Livestock Carrying Capacity Risk in Farmland from the Perspective of Planting and Breeding Balance in Northeast China," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(3), pages 1-13, March.
    3. Wu, Zhilong & Dai, Xuhuan & Li, Bo & Hou, Ying, 2021. "Livelihood consequences of the Grain for Green Programme across regional and household scales: A case study in the Loess Plateau," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 111(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Zhang, Qi & Bilsborrow, Richard E. & Song, Conghe & Tao, Shiqi & Huang, Qingfeng, 2019. "Rural household income distribution and inequality in China: Effects of payments for ecosystem services policies and other factors," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 160(C), pages 114-127.
    2. Wu, Zhilong & Dai, Xuhuan & Li, Bo & Hou, Ying, 2021. "Livelihood consequences of the Grain for Green Programme across regional and household scales: A case study in the Loess Plateau," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 111(C).
    3. Corral, Paul & Radchenko, Natalia, 2017. "What’s So Spatial about Diversification in Nigeria?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 95(C), pages 231-253.
    4. Mohammad Shamsul Hoq & Md. Taj Uddin & Shankar Kumar Raha & Mohammad Ismail Hossain, 2022. "Determinants of households’ livelihood diversification strategies to adapt to natural hazards: evidence from ecologically vulnerable haor region of Bangladesh," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 114(3), pages 3255-3291, December.
    5. Xuhuan Dai & Zhilong Wu & Yao Fan & Bo Li & Zihan Yang & Bo Nan & Xu Bi, 2019. "Characteristics and Determinants of Livelihood Diversification of Different Household Types in Far Northwestern China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(1), pages 1-20, December.
    6. Jiao, Xi & Pouliot, Mariève & Walelign, Solomon Zena, 2017. "Livelihood Strategies and Dynamics in Rural Cambodia," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 97(C), pages 266-278.
    7. Barbier, Edward B., 2012. "Natural capital, ecological scarcity and rural poverty," Policy Research Working Paper Series 6232, The World Bank.
    8. Liu, Zhen & Lan, Jing, 2015. "The Sloping Land Conversion Program in China: Effect on the Livelihood Diversification of Rural Households," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 147-161.
    9. Johny, Judit & Wichmann, Bruno & Swallow, Brent M., 2017. "Characterizing social networks and their effects on income diversification in rural Kerala, India," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 375-392.
    10. Hanjra, Munir A. & Ferede, Tadele & Gutta, Debel Gemechu, 2009. "Reducing poverty in sub-Saharan Africa through investments in water and other priorities," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 96(7), pages 1062-1070, July.
    11. Qi, Xiaoxing & Dang, Heping, 2018. "Addressing the dual challenges of food security and environmental sustainability during rural livelihood transitions in China," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 199-208.
    12. GAO Tianming & Anna Ivolga & Vasilii Erokhin, 2018. "Sustainable Rural Development in Northern China: Caught in a Vice between Poverty, Urban Attractions, and Migration," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(5), pages 1-20, May.
    13. Jan Fałkowski & Maciej Jakubowski & Paweł Strawiński, 2014. "Returns from income strategies in rural Poland," The Economics of Transition, The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, vol. 22(1), pages 139-178, January.
    14. Helene Bie Lilleør, 2008. "Can Future Uncertainty Keep Children Out of School?," CAM Working Papers 2008-06, University of Copenhagen. Department of Economics. Centre for Applied Microeconometrics.
    15. Almeida, Alexandre N. & Bravo-Ureta, Boris E., 2019. "Agricultural productivity, shadow wages and off-farm labor decisions in Nicaragua," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 43(1), pages 99-110.
    16. Kamaldeen Mohammed & Evans Batung & Moses Kansanga & Hanson Nyantakyi-Frimpong & Isaac Luginaah, 2021. "Livelihood diversification strategies and resilience to climate change in semi-arid northern Ghana," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 164(3), pages 1-23, February.
    17. Bagamba, Fredrick & Burger, Kees & Kuyvenhoven, Arie, 2007. "Determinants of smallholder farmer labour allocation decisions in Uganda," 106th Seminar, October 25-27, 2007, Montpellier, France 7920, European Association of Agricultural Economists.
    18. Tesfaye, Wondimagegn & Tirivayi, Nyasha, 2020. "Crop diversity, household welfare and consumption smoothing under risk: Evidence from rural Uganda," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 125(C).
    19. Pouliot, Mariève & Treue, Thorsten, 2013. "Rural People’s Reliance on Forests and the Non-Forest Environment in West Africa: Evidence from Ghana and Burkina Faso," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 180-193.
    20. Zeeshan & Geetilaxmi Mohapatra & Arun Kumar Giri, 2022. "How Farm Household Spends Their Non-farm Incomes in Rural India? Evidence from Longitudinal Data," The European Journal of Development Research, Palgrave Macmillan;European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), vol. 34(4), pages 1967-1996, August.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jlands:v:9:y:2020:i:2:p:38-:d:314854. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.