Abstract
The ecological rehabilitation project has greatly curbed the serious problem of karst rocky desertification (KRD) in southern China and significantly changed the ecological environment and landscape pattern of the karst rocky desertification control areas (KRDCA). As one of the most important social–ecological fragile areas in the world, rural landscapes in KRDCA still show a strong sensitivity to disturbance. To reduce risks and improve the resilience of landscapes, this paper constructs a framework for assessing rural landscape resilience in KRDCA from the three dimensions of ecology, engineering, and social culture, based on the concept of resilience defined by the United Nations International Agency for Disaster Reduction. Considering the characteristics of rural landscapes in KRDCA, we select typical villages for empirical study. The results show the following: (1) The KRDCA is highly sensitive to natural disasters due to its special dual geomorphic structure characteristics. The disaster preparedness capacity of villages is the key factor determining the resilience of rural landscapes. The analysis of the disaster preparedness capacities of rural landscape structures with different vulnerability characteristics can be used as an effective means of evaluating the resilience level of rural landscapes in KRDCA. (2) Based on the empirical analysis of Fanhua village, which is a typical KRDCA in southern China, we found that the ecological system and engineering system of the village landscape have high resilience, while the resilience of the social and cultural systems are weak. This is due to the fact that the large number of rural population emigration in recent years has resulted in villages being at the key node of the reorganization of the social and cultural value system. The unstable sociocultural value system reduces the ability of rural landscapes to adapt to disturbance or environmental change. The study results could guide improvement strategies for subsequent landscape planning and inspire new ideas and methods for the implementation of rural revitalization strategies and the improvement of landscape resilience in KRDCA.
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