IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/climat/v119y2013i3p891-904.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Rural livelihoods and climate variability in Ningxia, Northwest China

Author

Listed:
  • Yue Li
  • D. Conway
  • Yanjuan Wu
  • Qingzhu Gao
  • S. Rothausen
  • Wei Xiong
  • Hui Ju
  • Erda Lin

Abstract

This study addresses the role of climate variability in the livelihoods of agricultural communities in Ningxia, Northwest China. Data sources comprise meteorological observations and official reports, complemented by questionnaires and focus group discussions designed around a livelihoods framework. Sample villages were located in three different agricultural systems: irrigated, mixed irrigated/grazing, and rainfed. Much of Ningxia is perennially dry and this is a significant limiting factor to agricultural production in the region, exacerbated by drought and buffered by irrigation mainly supplied from the Yellow River. Climate observations show stable temperatures from the 1950s to the 1980s followed by a positive trend (0.38°C/decade 1961–2010). Precipitation shows very modest trends and low decadal variability. Recent climate variability, particularly a drought from 2004–2006, was perceived to have had a significant effect on agricultural production and access to water, but it was not the only challenge respondents had faced. Susceptibility to drought was higher in the mixed irrigated and grazing and rainfed areas, due to farmers’ greater exposure to climatic hazards and because a higher proportion of their income originated from farming activities. Respondents were using a wide range of measures to retain and enhance soil moisture and maintain agricultural production. The discussion examines challenges in disentangling the role of climate within rapidly changing livelihood systems. Copyright The Author(s) 2013

Suggested Citation

  • Yue Li & D. Conway & Yanjuan Wu & Qingzhu Gao & S. Rothausen & Wei Xiong & Hui Ju & Erda Lin, 2013. "Rural livelihoods and climate variability in Ningxia, Northwest China," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 119(3), pages 891-904, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:climat:v:119:y:2013:i:3:p:891-904
    DOI: 10.1007/s10584-013-0765-9
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1007/s10584-013-0765-9
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10584-013-0765-9?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Sunderlin, William D. & Angelsen, Arild & Belcher, Brian & Burgers, Paul & Nasi, Robert & Santoso, Levania & Wunder, Sven, 2005. "Livelihoods, forests, and conservation in developing countries: An Overview," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 33(9), pages 1383-1402, September.
    2. Ellis, Frank, 2000. "Rural Livelihoods and Diversity in Developing Countries," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780198296966.
    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. Pramod Singh & Abhishek Nair, 2014. "Livelihood vulnerability assessment to climate variability and change using fuzzy cognitive mapping approach," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 127(3), pages 475-491, December.
    2. Narloch, Ulf & Bangalore, Mook, 2018. "The multifaceted relationship between environmental risks and poverty: new insights from Vietnam," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 87553, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    3. Hui Ju & Qin Liu & Yingchun Li & Xiaoxu Long & Zhongwei Liu & Erda Lin, 2020. "Multi-Stakeholder Efforts to Adapt to Climate Change in China’s Agricultural Sector," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(19), pages 1-16, September.

    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. Soltani, Arezoo & Angelsen, Arild & Eid, Tron & Naieni, Mohammad Saeid Noori & Shamekhi, Taghi, 2012. "Poverty, sustainability, and household livelihood strategies in Zagros, Iran," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 60-70.
    2. Sunderlin, William D. & Dewi, Sonya & Puntodewo, Atie & Müller, Daniel & Angelsen, Arild & Epprecht, Michael, 2008. "Why forests are important for global poverty alleviation: A spatial explanation," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 13(2).
    3. Porro, Roberto & Lopez-Feldman, Alejandro & Vela-Alvarado, Jorge W., 2015. "Forest use and agriculture in Ucayali, Peru: Livelihood strategies, poverty and wealth in an Amazon frontier," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 47-56.
    4. Wunder, Sven & Angelsen, Arild & Belcher, Brian, 2014. "Forests, Livelihoods, and Conservation: Broadening the Empirical Base," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 64(S1), pages 1-11.
    5. Muhammad Zada & Syed Jamal Shah & Cao Yukun & Tariq Rauf & Naveed Khan & Syed Asad Ali Shah, 2019. "Impact of Small-to-Medium Size Forest Enterprises on Rural Livelihood: Evidence from Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(10), pages 1-17, May.
    6. Cristian Vasco & Rodrigo Valdiviezo & Herman Hernández & Valdano Tafur & David Eche & Estefanía Jácome, 2020. "Off-Farm Employment, Forest Clearing and Natural Resource Use: Evidence from the Ecuadorian Amazon," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(11), pages 1-16, June.
    7. Wiebe, Pia Christine & Zhunusova, Eliza & Lippe, Melvin & Ferrer Velasco, Rubén & Günter, Sven, 2022. "What is the contribution of forest-related income to rural livelihood strategies in the Philippines' remaining forested landscapes?," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 135(C).
    8. Coomes, Oliver T. & Takasaki, Yoshito & Abizaid, Christian & Arroyo-Mora, J. Pablo, 2016. "Environmental and market determinants of economic orientation among rain forest communities: Evidence from a large-scale survey in western Amazonia," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 129(C), pages 260-271.
    9. Johnson Nkem & Olufunso Somorin & Cyprian Jum & Monica Idinoba & Youssoufa Bele & Denis Sonwa, 2013. "Profiling climate change vulnerability of forest indigenous communities in the Congo Basin," Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change, Springer, vol. 18(5), pages 513-533, June.
    10. Tesfaye, Yemiru & Roos, Anders & Campbell, Bruce M. & Bohlin, Folke, 2011. "Livelihood strategies and the role of forest income in participatory-managed forests of Dodola area in the bale highlands, southern Ethiopia," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 13(4), pages 258-265, April.
    11. Kamanga, Penjani & Vedeld, Paul & Sjaastad, Espen, 2009. "Forest incomes and rural livelihoods in Chiradzulu District, Malawi," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(3), pages 613-624, January.
    12. J. Runk & Gervacio Ortíz Negría & Wilio Quintero García & Cristobalino Quiróz Ismare, 2007. "Political economic history, culture, and Wounaan livelihood diversity in eastern Panama," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 24(1), pages 93-106, March.
    13. Moses Kazungu & Eliza Zhunusova & Gillian Kabwe & Sven Günter, 2021. "Household-Level Determinants of Participation in Forest Support Programmes in the Miombo Landscapes, Zambia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(5), pages 1-20, March.
    14. Mohammad Abdullah, Abu Nasar & Stacey, Natasha & Garnett, Stephen T. & Myers, Bronwyn, 2016. "Economic dependence on mangrove forest resources for livelihoods in the Sundarbans, Bangladesh," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 15-24.
    15. Jung, Suhyun & Rasmussen, Laura Vang & Watkins, Cristy & Newton, Peter & Agrawal, Arun, 2017. "Brazil's National Environmental Registry of Rural Properties: Implications for Livelihoods," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 136(C), pages 53-61.
    16. Vasco, Cristian & Torres, Bolier & Pacheco, Pablo & Griess, Verena, 2017. "The socioeconomic determinants of legal and illegal smallholder logging: Evidence from the Ecuadorian Amazon," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 133-140.
    17. Wenjia Peng & Brian E. Robinson & Hua Zheng & Cong Li & Fengchun Wang & Ruonan Li, 2019. "Telecoupled Sustainable Livelihoods in an Era of Rural–Urban Dynamics: The Case of China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(9), pages 1-17, May.
    18. Nielsen, Martin Reinhardt & Pouliot, Mariève & Kim Bakkegaard, Riyong, 2012. "Combining income and assets measures to include the transitory nature of poverty in assessments of forest dependence: Evidence from the Democratic Republic of Congo," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 37-46.
    19. Angelsen, Arild & Jagger, Pamela & Babigumira, Ronnie & Belcher, Brian & Hogarth, Nicholas J. & Bauch, Simone & Börner, Jan & Smith-Hall, Carsten & Wunder, Sven, 2014. "Environmental Income and Rural Livelihoods: A Global-Comparative Analysis," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 64(S1), pages 12-28.
    20. Rao, Nitya, 2017. "Assets, Agency and Legitimacy: Towards a Relational Understanding of Gender Equality Policy and Practice," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 95(C), pages 43-54.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:spr:climat:v:119:y:2013:i:3:p:891-904. 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: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.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.