Role of social networks in building household livelihood resilience under payments for ecosystem services programs in a poor rural community in China

Abstract

Payments for ecosystem services (PES) programs may bring unintended consequences to the coupled socio-ecological system (SES) and incur unexpected feedbacks between social and ecological systems. This paper explores how the SES responds to PES intervention and investigates the role played by social networks in building resilience in a traditionally poverty-stricken area of China. The structure of social networks is measured through the social network analysis with degree and betweenness. Then, we develop an agent-based model to examine how social networks function to affect household livelihood resilience. The model captures feedbacks between PES intervention, social networks, household livelihood decisions, and environmental changes. Results show that the livelihood resilience of rural households is expected to decline during 2013–2030 within the current PES scheme. Social networks impose significant positive impacts on resilience building. However, their effects decay over time due to the fading structure and function of social networks along with massive rural-to-urban migration. Besides environmental conservation, policy-makers should take measures for socio-cultural conservation and preservation, reinforcing the identity, structure, and function within SESs for rural development in China.