Under strict environmental regulations and intense market competition, resource-dependent enterprises face severe survival challenges. Achieving sustainable survival through the construction of internal capabilities, particularly in the absence of long-term external subsidies, represents an urgent conundrum for forestry enterprises. Integrating relevant economic and management theories, this study aims to elucidate the mechanism by which the “viability” of forestry-related leading enterprises influences their sustainable survival. Using a sample of 179 forestry-related leading enterprises in Inner Mongolia—a typical resource-rich region in China—and based on panel data from 2021 to 2023, we constructed a viability evaluation system encompassing factor endowment, technological innovation, and entrepreneurial traits, and conducted empirical analysis using statistical models. The results indicate that: (1) Enterprise viability is the core driving force promoting sustainable survival; (2) E-commerce adoption serves as a critical bridge connecting internal capabilities with external survival performance, playing a significant mediating role; (3) The higher the degree of external openness and the stronger the regional industrial comparative advantage, the more pronounced the promoting effect of viability. Furthermore, this promoting effect is significantly stronger in regions with lower ecological constraints and higher industrial agglomeration. This study suggests that policy formulation should shift from simple financial support to the cultivation of enterprises’ endogenous capabilities. By supporting technological innovation, digital transformation, and optimizing the business environment, policies can facilitate the long-term sustainable survival of enterprises.

Ecologically fragile regions face the dual challenge of environmental conservation and improving rural livelihoods. Forest-dependent households are especially exposed to ecological restoration constraints, market fluctuations, and limited institutional access. This study develops a micro-level diagnostic framework that combines the Sustainable Livelihood Framework with resilience theory by adding a risk-resilience dimension to the conventional five-capital structure. Using survey data from 444 forest-farmer households in Songshan District, Inner Mongolia, we calculate livelihood resilience with the entropy-weight method, classify household profiles with K-means clustering, and diagnose constraints with an obstacle-degree model. The mean resilience score is 0.6267, indicating a relatively strong but uneven resilience level. Livelihood risk resilience (0.7476) and financial capital resilience (0.6797) are the strongest dimensions, whereas human capital resilience (0.3521) and physical capital resilience (0.4099) remain weak. The main obstacles are relationships with village cadres (29.66%), household savings (16.25%), livestock and poultry assets (14.70%), village road conditions (13.23%), relationships with relatives and friends (10.99%), and corporate/cooperative assistance effects (6.88%). The findings support targeted interventions in linking social capital, savings capacity, infrastructure, and enterprise-farmer cooperation.

Ecologically fragile areas typically overlap with impoverished zones, rendering them susceptible to a vicious cycle of ecological degradation and poverty aggravation. Reasonable and diversified ecological compensation methods are closely associated with improved livelihood resilience among rural households in sandy areas. Building on this, we take three leagues and cities in Inner Mongolia with severe sandy desertification as the study area. OLS regression and mediating effect models are employed to examine the impact of diversified ecological compensation methods on the livelihood resilience of rural households in sandy areas, as well as the underlying mechanisms and heterogeneity. The results demonstrate that (1) diversified ecological compensation methods exert a significant positive effect on the livelihood resilience of rural households in sandy areas; (2) perceived fairness and livelihood diversity mediate the association between diversified ecological compensation methods and the livelihood resilience of rural households in sandy areas; (3) the effects of diversified ecological compensation methods on the livelihood resilience of rural households in sandy areas vary significantly across compensation modalities, beneficiary groups, and regions. Specifically, capacity-building compensation exerts a significantly stronger effect than direct-transfer compensation; poverty-alleviated households benefit more than general households; and the effects are significantly stronger in western Inner Mongolia than in eastern Inner Mongolia. Therefore, in optimizing ecological compensation policies in sandy areas, it is suggested to enhance the embedding depth of industrial and technical compensation, and to explore differentiated compensation pathways based on regional market capacity and household group characteristics, thereby promoting sustainable livelihood development for rural households in sandy areas.

Considering the escalating challenges in ecological environmental protection and the difficulties faced by forest farmers in enhancing livelihood capital in ecologically vulnerable regions, a thorough examination of the impact of capabilities and risk perception on the livelihood resilience of forest farmers can serve as a reference for mitigating pressures on ecological conservation and addressing the enhancement of livelihood capital in similar typical ecologically vulnerable regions. This study utilized micro-level survey data and the Entropy Method to assess the livelihood resilience of forest farmers in an ecologically fragile region. An ordered logit model and a mediating effect model were employed to experimentally examine the influence of capabilities and risk perception on resilience. The results demonstrate that (1) the livelihood resilience of forest farmers exhibits a multi-dimensional, hierarchical condition; (2) capabilities exert a substantial positive influence on livelihood resilience, while risk perception has a considerable negative effect; and (3) capabilities affect the livelihood resilience of forest farmers by mitigating their risk perception. This paper concludes that, for the region under study, internal efforts should be undertaken to enhance forest farmers’ capabilities by increasing their income levels, strengthening their information acquisition skills, and promoting their participation in practical forestry training. The forest product market system must be enhanced externally, and technical thresholds reduced to alleviate perceptions of market volatility and natural disaster risks, ultimately improving livelihood resilience.