Flood disaster has gained global attention due to the huge impact it has on human lives, economies, and sustainable environments. Flood disaster preparedness, which can significantly be influenced by disaster risk perception, has been highlighted as an effective way to manage flood disaster risk, as many other means have proved futile, yet no study has attempted using multiple dimensions to analyze this relationship in Ghana. Therefore, this study, using a survey of 369 households in the most flood-prone region, Accra Metropolis, analyzed the influence of flood disaster risk perception on urban households’ flood disaster preparedness. Based on the Protective Action Decision Model, the empirical models were constructed and estimated using the Tobit and binary logistic regression models. The results show that the majority of households (60.16%) were unprepared for flood disasters, and the perception of flood disaster risk and the sustainability risk posed by floods significantly affect flood disaster preparedness behaviours of households in a positive direction. The total number of flood disaster preparedness behaviours adopted was significantly related to probability, the threat to lives, sense of worry, and sustainability risk perceptions. Finally, income, education, and house ownership, among other household and individual characteristics, had significant positive effects on preparations for flood disasters. These findings suggest that effective policies to mitigate flood disasters must incorporate risk communication to boost households’ flood disaster preparedness.

Land resources and water resources are the important material basis of economic and social development, and their pattern determines the pattern of development. Based on the panel data of the Chengdu–Chongqing Economic Circle from 2011 to 2018, this paper evaluates the matching degree of water and land resources, and their respective matching degrees with the economic development in the Chengdu–Chongqing Economic Circle with the Gini coefficient method. Based on the two-way fixed effect model, an extended Cobb–Douglas production function model is established to analyze the sensitivity of economic growth to land and water factors. In addition, the restriction degree of water and land resources to the economic development of the Chengdu–Chongqing Economic Circle is measured quantitatively by using the growth damping coefficient. The results show that the water and land resources and economic development of the Chengdu–Chongqing Economic Circle have a high matching degree, but the inner cities have a great difference. The contribution of water resources to economic growth is greater than that of land resources. Both of them have a little growth drag, which shows that industrial development has disposed of the dependence of water and land resources. The development of the Chengdu–Chongqing Economic Circle needs to play the role of technological progress in promoting economic growth, and at the same time optimize the use of water and land resources to reduce its constraints on the economic growth. Finally, the policy suggestions of matching water and land resources and economic growth in different regions are put forward.

Massive and rapid urbanization has led to population loss in rural areas, particularly in emerging and developing countries like China. As a result, houses in rural areas become vacant, and the house prices in cities, at the same time, skyrocket. While the research on the vacant farmhouses market (VFM) is a pressing issue for sustainable urbanization and has profound policy implications in China, few empirical studies have been conducted on analyzing the willingness of house owners and urban residents to participate in the VFM and any influencing factors—as there is no such operating market in China. To bridge the research gap, we first conducted a questionnaire-based survey on rural households and urban residents with a random sampling method in six cities in Sichuan Province, China. A total of 571 valid samples, including 284 rural households and 287 urban residents, were obtained. Based on these survey data, we then used logistic regression to estimate the influencing factors on the willingness of house owners and urban residents in renting in/out or selling/buying vacant farmhouses. The results showed that: (1) more than 60% of rural house owners and urban residents are willing to participate in a potential VFM; (2) the main influencing factors of house owners’ willingness to rent out or sell their houses include the sociodemographic characteristics of farmers (e.g., age, household income) and characteristics of the vacant houses (e.g., distance to the main roads, the status of vacant houses), while the major factors that affect the willingness of urban residents to rent in or purchase vacant rural houses are the sociodemographic characteristics of urban residents themselves (e.g., occupation), the status of the potential houses, and the perceived housing market; (3) most farmers want a regulated platform for the vacant farmhouses; urban residents pay more attention to the good natural environment in rural areas and the infrastructure and public service levels of vacant farmhouses in rural areas. This study thus showed the necessity, feasibility, and potential challenges and barriers involved in establishing a VFM in China.

Land use decision-making is a vital livelihood strategy associated with the rational collocation of livelihood asset endowments by rural households. Based on the perspective of livelihood heterogeneity, this paper collected the data from 540 farm households in 27 villages in three Sichuan Province counties to identify the land use decision-making characteristics of the household groups. A land use decision-making framework (LUDF) based on the sustainable livelihood framework (SLF) was established and dynamic and dual indicators were developed to divide the sample into six household groups. The household livelihood capital, livelihood strategies, and livelihood diversity were then analyzed at the regional and household group level, and the land use decisions of these household groups were explored, from which the following was found. (1) Overall livelihood capital in the study area was low, and except for human assets, there were few other assets, with households in the survey areas being more inclined to engage in non-farming livelihood activities; however, households in Nanjiang and Qionglai had greater livelihood activities choices than Luxian. (2) The LL-type household was the chief household group; the household group distribution in Qionglai was well-proportioned but uneven in Nanjiang and Luxian; and the HL-type, ML-type, and LL-type household livelihood strategy choices were polarized. (3) Most households were involved in land self-cultivation, followed by land transfer-in, land transfer-out, and land abandonment households. Specifically, there were more households that cultivated fragmented landholdings than specialized households with large-scale landholdings, the land transfer rate was relatively low, the transfer-in land area was far greater than the transfer-out land areas, and a small number of households that had abandoned their land were still involved in agricultural production. (4) There were obvious discordant human–land relationships and inefficient land uses in the study area. Based on these findings, relevant policy recommendations are given to improve farm household livelihood capital, optimize livelihood strategies, and assist in land use decision-making.

Under the strategic goal of agricultural modernization, agricultural socialization services have become an important means of enhancing agricultural efficiency and guaranteeing food security. Based on microdata from 3811 farm households in seven provinces, this paper integrates labor force structural characteristics with digital literacy to construct a comprehensive analytical framework and empirically examines their effects on the degree of access to agricultural socialized services (DASS) through ordered logit model and moderated effects models. The results show that labor force characteristics significantly affect DASS, and the higher the degree of feminization, aging, and part-time employment, the higher the degree of access to services; digital literacy as a whole significantly improves DASS for farm households and shows heterogeneous moderating effects under different labor force characteristics. Therefore, this paper suggests formulating differentiated socialized service promotion strategies, deepening the digitalization of agricultural services, strengthening the digital technology training of rural laborers in various ways, enhancing DASS, effectively improving the efficiency of agricultural production, and supporting the dual goals of food security and rural revitalization.