This page has only limited features, please log in for full access.
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”.
Zhilong Wu; Bo Li; Xuhuan Dai; Ying Hou. Coupled Relationship between Rural Livelihoods and the Environment at a Village Scale: A Case Study in the Mongolian Plateau. Land 2020, 9, 38 .
AMA StyleZhilong Wu, Bo Li, Xuhuan Dai, Ying Hou. Coupled Relationship between Rural Livelihoods and the Environment at a Village Scale: A Case Study in the Mongolian Plateau. Land. 2020; 9 (2):38.
Chicago/Turabian StyleZhilong 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 9, no. 2: 38.
Land degradation is a global issue receiving much attention currently. In order to objectively reveal the research situation of land degradation, bibliometrix and biblioshiny software packages have been used to conduct data mining and quantitative analysis on research papers in the fields of land degradation during 1990–2019 (data update time was 8 April 2019) in the Web of Science core collection database. The results show that: (1) during the past 20 years, the number of papers on land degradation has increased. According to the number of articles, it is divided into four stages: a low-production exploration period, a developmental sprout period, expansion of the promotion period, and a high-yield active period. (2) Land-degradation research covers 93 countries or regions. The top five countries in terms of research volume are China, the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, and Australia. China, the United States, and the United Kingdom are the most important countries for international cooperation in the field of land degradation. However, cooperation between countries is not very close overall. (3) Land degradation, degradation, desertification, remote sensing, soil erosion, and soil degradation are high-frequency keywords in the field of land degradation in recent years. (4) The research hotspots in the field of land degradation mainly focus on research directions such as restoration and reconstruction of land degradation, and sustainable management of land resources. (5) The themes of various periods in the field of land degradation are diversified, and the evolutionary relationship is complex. There are 15 evolutionary paths with regard to dynamic monitoring of land degradation, environmental governance of land degradation, and responses of land degradation to land-use change. Finally, the paper concludes that the research directions on land degradation in future include the process, mechanism, and effect of land degradation, the application of new technologies, new monitoring methods for land degradation, theory enhancement, methods and models of ecological restoration, reconstruction of degraded land, multidisciplinary integrated system research, constructing a policy guarantee system for the reconstruction of degraded land, and strengthening research on land resource engineering.
Hualin Xie; Yanwei Zhang; Zhilong Wu; Tiangui Lv. A Bibliometric Analysis on Land Degradation: Current Status, Development, and Future Directions. Land 2020, 9, 28 .
AMA StyleHualin Xie, Yanwei Zhang, Zhilong Wu, Tiangui Lv. A Bibliometric Analysis on Land Degradation: Current Status, Development, and Future Directions. Land. 2020; 9 (1):28.
Chicago/Turabian StyleHualin Xie; Yanwei Zhang; Zhilong Wu; Tiangui Lv. 2020. "A Bibliometric Analysis on Land Degradation: Current Status, Development, and Future Directions." Land 9, no. 1: 28.
Livelihood diversification is beneficial to mitigate economic and environmental risks and to improve livelihood sustainability and regional sustainable development. Unsettled herder households (UHH), settled herder households (SHH) and farmer households (FH) are different household types in far northwestern China whose livelihood diversification has not been fully explored. By applying a framework of livelihood diversification, this paper presents a comparative analysis of the characteristics and determinants of the diversification of the three household types. The results show that livelihood assets have been unequally distributed, with FH possessing the least assets; however, FH are better than UHH and SHH in the diversification of livelihood activities. Agriculture remains the most important livelihood source. The high-income groups of the three household types have a higher number of livelihood activities but do not necessarily hold an advantage in equality of livelihood activities. Labor capacity and income are positively related to the number of livelihood activities for the three household types. Livestock size is negatively associated with the number of activities of herders. Moreover, age and subsidy have negative impacts on the number of activities for UHH. Based on the findings, we provide policy suggestions on livelihood enhancement and sustainable and effective development of pastoral regions.
Xuhuan Dai; Zhilong Wu; Yao Fan; Bo Li; Zihan Yang; Bo Nan; Xu Bi. Characteristics and Determinants of Livelihood Diversification of Different Household Types in Far Northwestern China. Sustainability 2019, 12, 64 .
AMA StyleXuhuan Dai, Zhilong Wu, Yao Fan, Bo Li, Zihan Yang, Bo Nan, Xu Bi. Characteristics and Determinants of Livelihood Diversification of Different Household Types in Far Northwestern China. Sustainability. 2019; 12 (1):64.
Chicago/Turabian StyleXuhuan 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 12, no. 1: 64.
Zhilong Wu; Bo Li; Ying Hou. Adaptive choice of livelihood patterns in rural households in a farm-pastoral zone: A case study in Jungar, Inner Mongolia. Land Use Policy 2017, 62, 361 -375.
AMA StyleZhilong Wu, Bo Li, Ying Hou. Adaptive choice of livelihood patterns in rural households in a farm-pastoral zone: A case study in Jungar, Inner Mongolia. Land Use Policy. 2017; 62 ():361-375.
Chicago/Turabian StyleZhilong Wu; Bo Li; Ying Hou. 2017. "Adaptive choice of livelihood patterns in rural households in a farm-pastoral zone: A case study in Jungar, Inner Mongolia." Land Use Policy 62, no. : 361-375.
Ecosystem services are important foundations to realize the sustainable development of economy and society. The question of how to quantitatively evaluate ecosystem services in a scientific way is a hot topic among international researchers. Studying the spatial characteristics of ecosystem services in arid regions can provide the theoretical and practical basis for coordinating a sustainable man-land relationship. Altay Prefecture of China, a typical arid region in Central Asia, was taken as the study area. It is on the Silk Road economic belt, which is a key region in the program of developing Western China. Three ecosystem services: water yield, soil conservation, and net primary productivity were quantitatively evaluated. The results show that (1) the spatial distribution pattern has a distinct characteristic of zonality; (2) mountain zone and mountain-oasis ecotone are the hotspots of ecosystem services; and (3) the correlation between water yield and net primary productivity shows a gradual increasing trend as altitude decreases. Objective analysis from the aspect of mechanism is given by discussing the causes of this particular pattern. It is found that altitude and slope have great influence on spatial distributions of ecosystem services, zones with the most amount of services are distributed in 1.5–2 km-altitude and 15–25°-slope. Different human activities in different regions and spatial distance decay of ecosystem services also contribute to the formation of spatial pattern. Thus, overgrazing, logging and mining are prohibited in mountain zones and mountain-oasis ecotones. Scholars are encouraged to focus on desert-ecosystem services in the future.
Qi Fu; Bo Li; Linlin Yang; Zhilong Wu; Xinshi Zhang. Ecosystem Services Evaluation and Its Spatial Characteristics in Central Asia’s Arid Regions: A Case Study in Altay Prefecture, China. Sustainability 2015, 7, 8335 -8353.
AMA StyleQi Fu, Bo Li, Linlin Yang, Zhilong Wu, Xinshi Zhang. Ecosystem Services Evaluation and Its Spatial Characteristics in Central Asia’s Arid Regions: A Case Study in Altay Prefecture, China. Sustainability. 2015; 7 (7):8335-8353.
Chicago/Turabian StyleQi Fu; Bo Li; Linlin Yang; Zhilong Wu; Xinshi Zhang. 2015. "Ecosystem Services Evaluation and Its Spatial Characteristics in Central Asia’s Arid Regions: A Case Study in Altay Prefecture, China." Sustainability 7, no. 7: 8335-8353.