Abstract
As one of the countries which has been experiencing a forest transition, China provides important insights into and theoretical and empirical knowledge of forest transition. In this study, through the framework of Sustainable Livelihood Analysis (SLA) and questionnaire surveys, we examined forest transition, farmers’ land-use activities and livelihood changes in Chicheng county, a typical mountainous area in Northern China, during 1975–2018. Most villages of Chicheng county experienced forest transition during the period of 2003–2005, but some villages experienced forest transition in 2010–2015. Forest transition variation over time was influenced by land use and livelihood changes. Livelihood resources, policy and institutional constraints and livelihood strategies had significant influences on land use and then caused variation in forest transition characteristics. The process of “livelihood–land use–forest transition” was the key to achieving and maintaining forest transition, and the interaction between livelihood and land use was a negative feedback relationship between society and ecology. The dominant path of forest transition in Chicheng county was the “economic development path”. Moreover, the “intensive agriculture path of small-scale farmers” enhanced the “economic development path”, and the “forest scarcity path” promoted both of the above two paths. This implies that the feedback and interactions between society and ecology should be taken into account so as to achieve a sustainable human and environmental system.
Highlights
The theory shifted to the path hypothesis, mainly including the “economic development path” and “forest scarcity path” [28,29,30,31], and to an explanation based on Economics, Social Ecology and Ecology
In this study, using land-use analysis, the Sustainable Livelihood Analysis framework, and sociological survey methods, we investigated the drivers of forest transition at a micro-scale
Our analysis accounted for changes in farmers’ livelihood options, land-use choices, forest vegetation and other factors related to forest transition pathways observed from 1975 to 2018 in Chicheng County, a typical mountainous area in northern China
Summary
Over the past three decades, reforestation has been observed in several countries, encompassing tropical and temperate countries, developed and developing countries [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19,20,21,22]. Among the abundance of studies on reforestation, the theory of forest transition provides an explanation for the phenomenon of forest increase which suggests that, along with the development of the socio-economy from the primary stage to the advanced stage, the forest area of a country or region correspondingly increases [1]. Forest transition theory brings hope for countries that seek sustainable social transformation when faced with the possible crisis of forest reduction [23]. Afterwards, the theory was further developed to include the transition of land use between agricultural land and forestry land [24,25], to the agricultural concentration on high-quality land [26] (the forestry concentration on high-quality land can explain international forest transition, such as the leakage, spillover and replacement of forest products among countries [27]). The theory shifted to the path hypothesis, mainly including the “economic development path” and “forest scarcity path” [28,29,30,31], and to an explanation based on Economics (such as Thünen location theory [32], the changes in the relative value of land use [33,34]), Social Ecology (the feedback between social dynamics and ecological dynamics [15,30,35]) and Ecology (the ecological threshold [36])
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
