Search Results (108)

Licorice is an important specialty crop that links agricultural production, processing and trade, and rural livelihoods in the arid and semi-arid regions of China. Using UN Comtrade data for HS 130212 from 1990 to 2024, this study evaluates the international Trade Competitiveness of China’s licorice exports and identifies the sources of export growth. A multi-indicator static framework is constructed, combining International Market Share (IMS), the Trade Competitiveness Index (TC), the Revealed Symmetric Comparative Advantage index (RSCA) and the Revealed Competitive Advantage index (CA). The results show that China maintains a relatively large and stable global market share and a persistent net export position, but its comparative and net Competitive Advantages are weaker than those of high-end suppliers such as France and Israel, revealing a pattern of “large scale but weak competitiveness”. To capture dynamic drivers, an extended Constant Market Share (CMS) model is applied to decompose China’s licorice exports into world demand, structural and competitiveness effects. The decomposition indicates that export growth has gradually shifted from being mainly driven by global demand expansion to relying more on improvements in product competitiveness and market reconfiguration, particularly in emerging markets. These findings suggest that upgrading product quality and processing, strengthening standards and branding, and promoting more inclusive value-chain development are essential for transforming China’s licorice exports from scale expansion to high-quality growth and for enhancing rural incomes in producing regions. Full article

The global consensus on sustainable development hinges on the coordinated advancement of economic, social, and environmental dimensions, with high-quality development serving as China’s pivotal pathway for practical implementation. As the primary implementers, cities are confronted with the dual challenge of defining the level of high-quality development and mapping out clear actionable pathways. Therefore, unraveling the driving mechanisms of high-quality urban development is significant. This study constructed a high-quality development evaluation index system, employing a sustainable development index to measure Lianyungang City’s development level from 2008 to 2023. The interrelationships among driving factors were revealed through the coupling coordination degree model, entropy weight method, and Pearson correlation coefficient. The study indicated that innovation stood out as the primary contributor, with contribution rising from 0.09 (2008–2017) to 0.10 (2017–2023). High-tech enterprises and valid invention patents were core drivers of the innovation index’s rise, with weights of 30.35% and 28.92%. Innovation investment promoted the transformation of cities toward technology-intensive development models while effectively supporting Sustainable Development Goals such as industrial upgrading, environmental improvement, and livelihood enhancement. Overall, advancing high-quality urban development required focusing on innovation-driven strategies while catalyzing other areas of development to achieve Sustainable Development Goals. Full article

Against the backdrop of rapid urbanization, megacities have become crucial drivers of development. As the country with the largest number of megacities (seven in total), China is confronted with significant challenges such as population–resource–environment conflicts, which render high-quality development an imperative pursuit. This study employs a system dynamics approach to assess high-quality development in China’s megacities. It analyzes interactions among economic growth, technological innovation, environmental quality, and livelihood security under policy regulation, clarifying their evolutionary mechanisms and constructing a model to project the high-quality development index (HQDI) and coupling coordination degree (CCD) among subsystems. Findings reveal an upward trend in both HQDI and CCD across the seven megacities, with notable stratification. Beijing, Shanghai, and Shenzhen form the top echelon, leveraging financial and technological resources, driven by science and green development. Guangzhou and Chongqing constitute the second tier, supported by regional integration and industrial clusters, while Chengdu and Tianjin form the third echelon via regional strategic transformations. In coordinated development, Shanghai, Beijing, Shenzhen, and Guangzhou lead with multi-link synergy, whereas Chengdu, Chongqing, and Tianjin advance industry–ecology–livelihood coordination through regional strategies. This study offers insights for overcoming development bottlenecks, optimizing policies, and enhancing urban governance to foster a coordinated, high-quality development pattern. Full article

Evaluating rural households’ subjective well-being (SWB) and identifying its determinants is crucial for rural sustainable development. This study takes Diqing Prefecture in the Tibetan region of China as a case, aiming to address two key research questions: (1) How do livelihood assets affect subjective well-being (SWB)—directly or indirectly—through the mediating role of the agricultural-income proportion? (2) Do these effects vary across different livelihood strategies? A questionnaire survey was administered to 489 randomly selected rural households in mid-2022. Two index systems were constructed: one for livelihood assets based on the Sustainable Livelihood Framework and another for SWB based on the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment. A subgroup Tobit regression model was utilized to analyze the heterogeneous effects. The results revealed deficiencies in SWB regarding basic material for a good life and health. Human, financial, and social assets are positively associated with SWB. However, natural assets directly negatively impact SWB across dimensions of basic material, security, and freedom, although the negative effect is masked by the mediating effect of farming livelihood strategies. Notably, human assets’ positive influence significantly strengthens with the agricultural income proportion rising. Whether physical, financial, and social assets positively affect SWB depends on farm work participation. These evidence-based findings contribute to a better understanding of the heterogeneous role of sustainable livelihoods in affecting rural households’ subjective well-being and highlight the need for policymakers to design diverse, targeted policies to support rural development. Full article

In the rapid development of rural tourism, multiple disturbances, such as capital reorganization, uneven resource distribution, and the marginalization of farmers as the main body, have emerged. This has led to the dual challenges of increased vulnerability and insufficient resilience of farmers’ livelihood systems in the face of risk shocks. Based on survey data of the “Agri-Tourism–Commerce–Culture Integration” demonstration zone in China, this study integrates the Pressure–State–Response model into the analysis of livelihood resilience and constructs a “vulnerability–adaptability–recuperability” tri-dimensional framework. Through methods such as the entropy weight method, the synthetical index method, grey relational degree analysis, and the obstacle degree model, this study measures the levels of different livelihood types of farmers in each dimension of livelihood resilience and their influencing factors. The research findings indicate that the overall livelihood resilience of farmers in the study area was at a medium level, with vulnerability making the most significant contribution, reflecting that the current livelihood system is dominated by risk resistance. Different types of farmers exhibit heterogeneity in resilience, with tourism-oriented farmers showing the highest resilience and agriculture-oriented farmers the lowest. However, tourism-oriented farmers also display the most prominent vulnerability, revealing the tension between short-term efficiency enhancement and long-term risk diversification in single livelihood strategies. Key factor analysis reveals that vulnerability correlates most strongly with livelihood resilience. The most correlated indicators are the price increase rate, proportion of migrant workers, and neighborhood trust in the vulnerability, adaptability, and recuperability dimensions. Diagnosis of obstacle factors reveal that loan accessibility, land resource dependency, and agricultural risk perception rank as the top three common obstacles, with tourism-driven farmers exhibiting higher obstacle degrees than other farmer categories. These findings not only validate the empowering effect of rural tourism on farmers’ livelihoods but also reveal the different livelihood strategies chosen by various farmers. Based on the results, this study proposes policy recommendations of “common optimization + individual adaptation” to enhance farmers’ livelihood resilience. This is conducive to transforming external support into farmers’ endogenous resilience capabilities and provides a useful reference for achieving the deep integration of rural tourism and farmers’ livelihood systems. Full article

Agricultural Heritage Systems (AHS), which embody economic, ecological, and social sustainability, are critically important for leveraging these dimensions to advance the sustainable development of farmers’ livelihoods. Utilizing a newly developed evaluation index system for sustainable livelihoods, this study applies mediating effect models to cross-sectional survey data collected from farmers to investigate the mechanisms through which AHS conservation influences their sustainable livelihoods. The analysis focuses on two Tea Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (Tea-GIAHS) sites in Fujian Province, China: the Anxi Tieguanyin Tea Culture System (ATTCS) and the Fuding White Tea Culture System (FWTCS). The findings indicate that Tea-GIAHS conservation significantly enhances farmers’ sustainable livelihoods, primarily by fostering the scaling and industrialization of traditional agricultural operations. Furthermore, the positive effects are more pronounced among households with higher initial livelihood levels, higher incomes, and those primarily engaged in agriculture. Consequently, this study recommends that AHS sites enhance support for large-scale traditional farming practices among farmers and continuously improve and extend the industrial and value chains of traditional agriculture to further promote livelihood sustainability. Full article

Enhancing farmers’ livelihood resilience is a cornerstone of sustainable rural development and poverty alleviation consolidation in developing countries. While tourism has emerged as a prominent rural revitalization strategy, the mediating role of tourism-induced land use transitions in building resilience—and the underlying spatial mechanisms through which these transformations operate—remains inadequately understood. This study integrates Henri Lefebvre’s spatial production theory with land systems analysis to examine how tourism-driven land use transitions influence farmers’ livelihood resilience in rural China. Using provincial panel data and three waves (2018, 2020, 2022) of nationally representative household survey data from the China Family Panel Studies (CFPS), we construct a comprehensive tourism development index emphasizing land transformation dimensions and employ panel regression models with instrumental variables and threshold analysis. The findings reveal that tourism-induced land use transitions significantly enhance farmers’ livelihood resilience through three distinct spatial mechanisms: land-based rural infrastructure investment, industrial land structure rationalization, and cultural facility land development. Importantly, this relationship exhibits a double-threshold effect with diminishing marginal returns, and the positive impact is substantially stronger in heritage-rich regions with comparative policy advantages. By establishing land use transitions as a critical spatial production pathway linking tourism to sustainable livelihood outcomes, this study advances land systems science, offering a novel theoretical framework for integrating people–nature interactions in heritage-rich rural areas and practical guidance for strategic land use planning in support of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Full article

A persistent conflict exists between heritage site conservation and local residents’ livelihood development, often described as “site conservation restricting regional development, and regional development damaging site conservation”. As key stakeholders, residents often have insufficient participation and limited benefits. This issue weakens their connection with the heritage site and also hinders the realization of its social value. In response to the lack of quantitative analysis in this field, this study introduces the concept of “degree of residents’ integration” and constructs an evaluation model based on participation and benefit. The model was applied to four villages within the Han Chang’an City Site in Xi’an, China. Through literature analysis and field investigations, characteristic elements of residents’ integration were identified and classified into five dimensions, comprising 17 indicators. Using the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) method and the Fuzzy Comprehensive Evaluation (FCE) method, a quantitative index system is constructed and applied to survey data to assess the residents’ integration degree. Results show an overall integration score of 64.31, indicating a moderate level. Dimensions related to industry and economy, and culture and leisure scored higher, while social welfare and subjective consciousness scored lower, reflecting weaker benefit perception and engagement. Its main contribution is proposing and operationalizing the “degree of residents’ integration” concept, providing a quantitative, replicable framework. Full article

Grassland ecosystems in arid regions are critical for ecological balance and human livelihoods but face threats from degradation and climate change. Weideverbot (grazing prohibition) is widely adopted for restoration, yet its impact on fire risk in extreme arid environments remains unclear. This study investigates how grazing prohibition affects fire risk in Turpan, China—a hyper-arid region with 16 mm annual precipitation—by analyzing vegetation dynamics (2000–2023) and fire records. To quantify changes in fuel properties and fire risk, we integrated remote sensing data (MODIS-derived Net Primary Productivity [NPP], Fractional Vegetation Cover [FVC], and Normalized Difference Moisture Index [NDMI]) and field observations, complemented by meteorological data (temperature, precipitation, potential evapotranspiration) and local fire records. We used paired-sample t-tests to compare vegetation metrics before (2000–2010) and after (2011–2023) Weideverbot, with Cohen’s d to assess effect sizes. The results show that Weideverbot significantly increases net primary productivity (NPP: 92 to 109 g C·m⁻²·yr⁻¹, Cohen’s d > 0.8) and fractional vegetation cover (FVC: 18% to 22%, Cohen’s d > 0.8), enhancing fuel load and connectivity. Vegetation water content shows no significant change (Cohen’s d < 0.2). Post-prohibition, fire frequency increased ~8-fold, driven by elevated fuel availability and regional warming/aridification. These findings indicate that Weideverbot exacerbates fire risk in hyper-arid grasslands by altering fuel dynamics. Balancing restoration and fire management requires adaptive strategies like moderate grazing, tailored to local aridity and vegetation traits. Full article

Affordable housing development is an important livelihood project for promoting the harmonious development of the urban economy and society. However, the unclear spatial–temporal characteristics of the affordable housing market and urban development are not conducive to the promotion of regional urban sustainable development. Hence, it is of great significance to research the interaction characteristics between the affordable housing market and urban development to promote sustainable development. This study constructed an evaluation index system, coupling coordination model, and spatial econometric model of the affordable housing market and urban development to analyze the development level and spatial-temporal characteristics of coupling coordination between the two systems in 70 large- and medium-sized cities in China from 2010 to 2020. The results show the following: (1) From 2010 to 2020, the development levels of the affordable housing market and urban development rose with obvious regional differences. The development of the affordable housing market and urban development had the characteristics of spatial similarity and common development trends in the horizontal distribution and kernel density aggregation distribution. (2) The coupling coordinated development level of the affordable housing market and urban development in 70 large- and medium-sized cities in China from 2010 to 2020 was generally low, showing an increasing trend year by year, with significant regional differences. The coupling coordination level of the two systems in the eastern region was much higher than those in the central, western and northeastern regions. The spatial distribution characteristics showed a spreading trend from a high level in the east to a low level in the west. The coupling coordination development levels of the two systems had obvious positive spatial correlation characteristics. There were obvious differences in the coupling coordination development level of the two systems between the cities, which need to be comprehensively improved through interactions between the cities. Full article

The social-ecological resilience of rural settlements refers to their ability to resist and mitigate the risks posed by internal and external disturbances, and to utilize the external environment to achieve a new equilibrium state. Amid rapid urbanization, it is of great significance for mountainous settlements to improve their risk resistance and development ability. Taking Dong’an Town in Chengkou County, located in the eastern part of Qinling–Bashan Mountains in southwestern China, as the research object, this study constructs an evaluation index system for rural residential resilience based on social-ecological resilience theory. It explores the resilience level of rural residences in mountainous areas from the dimensions of internal resilience and external environmental resilience and scientifically proposes an optimization path for the spatial layout of rural residences. This study provides a reference for optimizing the rural living environment, promoting spatial equity, and improving people’s livelihood according to local conditions. The results showed that: (1) The overall level of security resilience of rural settlements in Dong’an Town was relatively high, with 221 patches above the security level, accounting for 19.53% of the total area of the town. (2) The rural residents in Dong’an Town can be categorized into three types: core structure optimization, peripheral system upgrading, and relocation and withdrawal. Different types of rural settlements adapt to internal and external resource conditions and select optimal spatial layout paths according to local conditions. Full article

Against the backdrop of global agricultural transformation, rural China faces the critical challenge of reconciling economic development with environmental conservation and social well-being. This study, grounded in the rural revitalization strategy, investigates the internal mechanisms, level measurement, and sustainable development paths of rural industrial integration based on the “Triple Integration of Production, Livelihood and Ecology” (PLE) philosophy. Firstly, we discussed the suitability and the mechanisms of this philosophy on China’s rural industrial integration. Secondly, based on a textual corpus extracted from academic journals and policy documents, we employed an LDA topic model to cluster the themes and construct an evaluation indicator system comprising 29 indicators. Then, utilizing data from the China Statistical Yearbook and the China Rural Statistical Yearbook (2013–2022), we measured the level of China’s rural industrial integration using the entropy method. The composite integration index displays a continuous upward trend over 2013–2022, accelerating markedly after the 2015 stimulus policy, yet a temporary erosion of “production–livelihood–ecology” synergy occurred in 2020 owing to an exogenous shock. Lastly, combining the system dynamics model, we simulated over the period 2023–2030 the three sustainable development scenarios: green ecological development priority, livelihood standard development priority and production level development priority. Research has shown that (1) the “Triple Synergy of Production, Livelihood and Ecology” philosophy and China’s rural industrial integration are endogenously unified, and they form a two-way mutual mechanism with the common goal of sustainable development. (2) China’s rural industrial integration under this philosophy is characterized by production-dominated development and driven mainly by processing innovation and service investment, but can be constrained by ecological fragility and external shocks. (3) System dynamics simulations reveal that the production-development priority scenario (Scenario 3) is the most effective pathway, suggesting that the production system is a vital engine driving the sustainable development of China’s rural industrial integration, with digitalization and technological innovation significantly improving integration efficiency. In the future, efforts should focus on transitioning towards a people-centered model by restructuring cooperative equity for farmer ownership, building community-based digital commons to bridge capability gaps, and creating market mechanisms to monetize and reward conservation practices. Full article

Rural tourism is one of the important measures used to realize the rural revitalization strategy in China. At the same time, the “action of prospering the border and enriching the people” is a crucial link in driving the economic development of border areas. With the continuous improvement of the G331 section of the Jilin Line, the development of rural tourism along the border has been accelerated. Therefore, reducing the livelihood vulnerability of farmers is conducive to promoting the rural revitalization strategy in China and consolidating the achievements of poverty alleviation and difficulties in tackling them. This paper takes Tumen City, Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture, Jilin Province, as the sample area; takes Mapai Village, Bailong Village, Hexi Village, Liangshui Village, and Tingyan Village as the research objects; obtains survey data for 224 households through on-the-spot investigation; constructs an evaluation index system for farmers’ livelihood vulnerability in border rural tourist destinations based on the sustainable livelihood theory and the analysis framework of “exposure–sensitivity–adaptability”; calculates farmers’ livelihood vulnerability in this research area by the entropy method and the comprehensive index method; and classifies different villages’ and farmers’ livelihood vulnerability by the natural breakpoint method. By using the multiple linear regression method, this paper analyzes the factors influencing farmers’ livelihood vulnerability in border rural tourist destinations. The results show the following: (1) The overall livelihood vulnerability of farmers is negative, indicating that farmers have a certain ability to resist external risks, but the livelihood vulnerability of some investigated villages is positive, indicating that farmers’ ability to resist external risks is weak, which is closely related to village geographical environment, tourism market environment, family characteristics, and other factors. (2) The livelihood vulnerability of villages with relatively perfect tourism formats is low, which shows that tourism can effectively reduce the livelihood vulnerability of farmers to a certain extent. (3) The household head’s education level, the total price of agricultural machinery, annual income, the ability to borrow money, family size, the number of disabled people, and other factors have a significant influence on the livelihood vulnerability of farmers. Full article

National parks play a crucial role in promoting the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and have become one of the key topics of global concern and discussion. However, it is still unclear whether national park development can effectively enhance the level of sustainable development in local communities related to social and economic dimensions of SDGs. In this study, we constructed an evaluation system based on the SDG assessment indicator framework, to evaluate the sustainable development level of local communities within Hunan Nanshan National Park (NSNP), China. We assessed the development level of various SDG indicators through field visits and structured surveys of local communities inside and around HNNP. We used the entropy method to determine the weight of each indicator and calculated the integrated development index of different communities within and around NSNP. The results indicate the following: (1) The integrated development index of communities within NSNP is generally lower than that of the surrounding communities, but it scores higher in the dimensions of SDG1 and SDG10. (2) The integrated development index within NSNP shows the highest in communities within original natural park, but the lowest in communities within original nature reserve. (3) The structured questionnaire surveys reveal that the primary cause of income decline of residents within NSNP is the restriction on land-use and resource exploitation, while ecological compensation and employment opportunities related to national park management can help improve local livelihoods and thereby promote development level of local communities. This study provides a technical framework for assessing the sustainable development of local communities in Chinese national parks and supports regional planning. It also offers a scientific basis for balancing national park conservation with local community development. Full article

To promote global sustainable development, this paper focuses on the identification of relative poverty. On the one hand, based on the sustainable livelihoods framework, a multi-dimensional relative poverty identification index system is constructed, covering six dimensions—human capital, financial capital, natural capital, physical capital, social capital, and livelihood environment—with a total of 18 indexes. On the other hand, addressing the limitations of traditional relative poverty identification methods in handling dynamic three-dimensional data, the multiway Mahalanobis–Taguchi system (MMTS) is proposed to identify dynamic relative poverty. This method first unfolds dynamic three-dimensional data into two-dimensional data along the sample direction through multiway statistical analysis techniques, then constructs multiway Mahalanobis distances to measure sample differences, and finally uses a Taguchi orthogonal experimental design for dimensionality reduction and noise reduction to optimize the model. Experiments using tracking survey data from 2020 to 2024 in three poverty-stricken counties in China’s Dabie Mountain area show that MMTS performs better than the Two-Way Fixed Effects (Two-way FE) model and Dynamic LSTM. MMTS shows a higher specificity, stronger noise resistance, smaller result fluctuations, better G-means performance, and a better balance between sensitivity and specificity. This proves its scientific validity and practical applicability. Full article