Livelihood Dependence Research Articles

Can sedentarization decrease the dependence of pastoral livelihoods on ecosystem services?

Seasonal migration is a widely distributed livelihood strategy in pastoral regions worldwide. To improve livelihood levels and prevent grassland degradation, sedentarization has been broadly adopted. However, the dependence of pastoral livelihoods on ecosystem services after settlement has scarcely been studied. Here, we develop a new framework to visualize the contributions of grassland ecosystems, farmland ecosystems and socioeconomic systems to pastoral livelihoods and take Fuyun County, a typical pastoral county in northwestern China, to analyze whether sedentarization decreases the dependence of pastoral livelihoods on ecosystem services by comparing the livelihoods of different household types. Settled households derive less income from ecosystem services than household types that practice grazing. However, settlement has not necessarily reduced the share of income from ecosystem services. Settled household types still rely on grassland ecosystems, especially sedentary farming households. Although pastoralists have undergone tremendous livelihood transitions, livestock have always been the main medium by which pastoral households rely on ecosystem services and the main source of income. Our results emphasize the importance of monitoring pastoral livelihood dynamics and implementing matching development strategies after settlement to reconcile pastoral livelihoods and ecosystem conservation.

Common Property Resources, Forest Extraction and Livelihood: An Insight to WSHG Entrepreneurs of Tribal Odisha

The ownership of common property resources was always in conflict within community and community vs government. Definition about common property resources are advanced on the mainly upon their priority, visibility, accessibility and understanding. Further, its broad classification includes harvesting, extraction and natural production. The nature of dependency among Common Property Resources(CPRs) and Private Property Resources(PPRs) follows higher exploitation with initial compared to the later. The present study is carried out in Tribal dominated district of Odisha, India i.e. Mayurbhanj through stratified and multi-stage random sampling to answer how important are CPRs for tribal across Mayurbhanj and their dependency upon types of resources with utilisation and limitation. The assessment of LDI (Livelihood Dependency Index) reveals higher dependency of sample respondents of Mayurbhanj upon CPRs for livelihood continuation even after having an average membership in Self Help Group programme from last seven years. There exist massive need of making diversified occupation adjustment especially for population residing nearby forest like engagement in transport of forest items, maintenance, local auction, daily wage based leaf collection and storage for government auction, maintenance and engaging women members in manufacturing of CPR based items.

Determinants of rural household livelihood dependence on non-timber forest products: A case study from Inanda Community, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

Natural forest resources are the most accessible sources of services, products and incomes for many adjacent rural communities. However, the declining resilience of forests and agricultural sectors particularly in South Africa is concerning and a real public policy challenge. Little is known about the determinants of rural community dependence on natural forests, and the importance of this dependence to rural livelihoods and environmental outcomes. This study investigated factors affecting rural household level of forest dependence and the contribution of natural forests to rural household livelihoods in the “KwaZulu-Natal Sandstone Sourveld (KZNSS)” ecosystem. Employing survey data from 150 forest-dependent households and a logit-transformed Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) model, the study found that there is significant level of forest dependence in the study area. The empirical findings showed that the contribution of forest resources to rural livelihoods is significantly influenced by off-farm incomes, employment incomes, forest vouchers received from the “Wildlands Project” in exchange for planting trees, values of household assets, changing of time and dates in visiting the forest for the collection of forest products, and perceived changes in temperature. These findings imply that institutional arrangements for programs like the “Wildlands Project” need to be developed from the beginning with the participation of all pertinent stakeholders for everyone to accept it and understand the regulations. Additionally, legislative changes are needed to help rural residents sustainably support their livelihoods and diversify their sources of income to build resilience and ease pressure on natural forests.

Effects of Market Incentives and Livelihood Dependence on Farmers' Multi-Stage Pesticide Application Behavior-A Case Study of Four Provinces in China.

Improvement in pesticide application and efficiency structure has long been recognized as having great significance in reducing pollution, ensuring food safety, and promoting green agricultural development. Based on theoretical analysis, using the survey data of 766 farmers in key tea areas in Shaanxi, Sichuan, Zhejiang, and Anhui provinces in China, the study empirically analyzes the influence of market incentives and livelihood dependence on farmers’ multi-stage pesticide application behavior. More specifically, the study employed ordered probit analysis to craft its findings. The dependent variable of this study is the multi-stage pesticide application problem of farmers, and the core independent variables are market incentives and livelihood dependence, and the judgment is based on the core variable coefficients of the econometric model of farmers at each stage. The study found the following: (i) Market incentives significantly prompted some farmers to give up synthetic pesticide application and farmers tend to choose green pesticides in the type of pesticide application. (ii) Livelihood dependence meant that the proportion of tea income significantly prompts farmers to apply pesticides, and also creates a tendency for farmers to choose green and low-toxic pesticides in the type of pesticide application. The planting period tends to have a moderate impact on applying green and low-toxic pesticides. (iii) The interaction term of market incentives and the proportion of tea income has no significant impact on farmers’ multi-stage pesticide application behavior. The interaction term of market incentives and planting years has impacted negatively on whether farmers apply pesticides, and has no significant impact on farmers’ choice of pesticide application types, but makes farmers increase the amount of green and low-toxic pesticides. (iv) The education level of the household head significantly promotes farmers to choose green and low-toxic pesticides. Seemingly, the brand effect of pesticides significantly encourages farmers to choose green and low-toxic pesticides. In external support, technical training significantly encourages farmers to choose green and low-toxic pesticides. Furthermore, better infrastructure and local market conditions significantly encourage farmers to reduce the use of conventional pesticides.

Issues and approaches in aquaculture of rural ponds of Southern West Bengal with introspection over the years

Utilization and aquaculture scenarios of rural ponds of various sizes in West Bengal especially southern West Bengal have been investigated and observed for more than sixty years. These ponds are of various shapes, sizes, and depths, and used by the rural people for domestic, agricultural irrigation, pisciculture, livelihood dependency, firefighting, and community wellbeing. During the post-independence period, these ponds have undergone succession of shifting attention and shared interests towards their service to the rural community and the society. In recent years, these ponds suffer shrinkage due to silt accumulation and waste disposal, becoming increasingly semi-derelict and derelict, and encroachment continued rampant. Productivity as well as aesthetic values has gone down along with the increase in pollution and environmental degradation. Indigenous management option of Parha Level Pond Care (PLPC) aqua cultural production with annual management action plan at the village level local unit (Parha / Ward/ Neighborhood) in conjunct with local Panchayat is suggested for agri-piscicultural integration with Integrated Area Development Network Programme (IADNP) at the Block Development level.

Expanding narratives of governance constraints to improve coral reef conservation.

To understand and address the failures of reef governance, it is critical to understand the perceptions of diverse policy makers and practitioners about the challenges they face in achieving their goals. Examining the discourse of policy makers and practitioners can reveal the extent to which these perceptions capture the full spectrum of potential governance challenges, including those related to management, institutional structures and processes, the values and principles underpinning governance, and the social and environmental context. We conducted semistructured interviews with 110 policy makers and practitioners across multiple sectors, scales, and contexts in Barbados, St Kitts and Nevis, Belize, and Honduras. We used thematic qualitative analysis informed by theories of interactive governance and governability to examine the challenges perceived by governance actors. Perceived governance challenges were broadly consistent across countries, but differed by sector (V = 0.819, F6,60 = 1.502, p = 0.01) and by level (community compared with national) (V = 0.194, F1,10 = 2.178, = 0.026). Management inputs and outputs, challenges relating to the socioeconomic context, issues of leadership and power, and stakeholder engagement were commonly cited challenges (>75%). Few respondents discussed challenges relating to the ecological context, governance processes, or the values and principles underpinning governance. We argue that examining perceptions can inform efforts to improve governance and assess the appropriateness of particular management tools under context-specific governance constraints. Furthermore, expanding the narratives of governance challenges to encompass the subtle values and images underpinning governance, and the scale of the challenges faced, can help identify a wider set of opportunities for change.

The importance of artisanal and small-scale mining for rural economies: Livelihood diversification, dependence, and heterogeneity in rural Guinea

A number of development interventions have sought to improve livelihoods and benefits in diamond mining communities. Local interventions can include activities such as formalizing and securing the tenure of mining claims, converting mining sites to agricultural sites, alternative livelihoods, land use planning, and training miners in SMARTER mining techniques. However, there are strong assumptions underlying the program logic and context for many of these interventions. To interrogate these assumptions, this paper explores livelihood dependence and motivations for ASM, in-formality and rules, and environmental costs with a focus on differential responses for indigene miners versus national and transnational miners, as well as for full-time career miners versus part-time miners. We also analyze the variation in responses across two diamond mining areas. The findings challenge several key assumptions that inform development programming around alternative livelihoods and formalization in the context of ASM. The results demonstrate that ASM is fully embedded in the local economy in the study area, although there is significant heterogeneity in livelihood dependence and diversification within and between mining sites. We find that low conflict results challenge the general association of artisanal miners and violence, in part due to effective customary systems for land management. The analysis highlights elements of ASM management that would benefit from programs or policies that seek to facilitate ASM as a sustainable approach for local economic growth.

Causal Chains Linking Weather Hazards to Disasters in Somalia

Abstract Weather risk management products can be critical for supporting effective humanitarian actions to mitigate and prevent disasters; however, to be truly actionable, they must be based in an understanding of how weather contributes to disaster risk, informed by humanitarians’ decision-making context. Our paper seeks to identify considerations for weather risk management products to support disaster risk management, through analysis of humanitarian perceptions of the factors and processes that contribute to weather-influenced disasters, taking Somalia as a case study. We carry out semistructured interviews with humanitarian actors familiar with using weather information in their work, and we apply social cascades and disaster risk creation as conceptual tools in our analysis. Our study finds that humanitarian actors perceive historically influenced social networks, livelihood dependence on seasonality, terrorist territorial control, public capacities to manage disasters, and household-level factors related to asset control and coping mechanisms contribute to weather-influenced disasters in Somalia. These factors and processes are part of humanitarians’ dynamic decision-making context. Key insights from our study concern the importance of understanding local geographies of marginalization to design weather risk management products with the context specificity necessary for effective humanitarian actions. Also, assessing weather effects on livelihood calendars can help identify those seasonal weather conditions most responsible for detrimental livelihood impacts. Consideration of livelihood calendars can also promote accurate assessment of the effects of consecutive weather-related hazards on coping capacities and resiliency.

Livestock in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh: An Analysis for Some Policy Implications

Background: For formulating appropriate policies for development of livestock sector, it is necessary to assess the trends and dynamics of livestock population in the two states. In this study, we assessed the dynamics of livestock population in two central states of India, viz. Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh during the period 2003-2019. Methods: The study is based on secondary data, sourced from various Government of India publications. The analytical tools comprised of simple descriptive statistics and fitting exponential trend equations. Result: We found temporal variations in shares of different species to total livestock population. While population of cattle declined in Madhya Pradesh, the same registered a minor increase in Chhattisgarh. The reverse situation was observed in case of buffaloes. Within small ruminant population, importance of goats has increased compared to sheep. Rural livelihood dependency is highest on cattle in both the states. Economic dependence on sheep and pig is more in Chhattisgarh than Madhya Pradesh. The critical inputs and services availability and infrastructure for animal health care were also assessed at the respective state levels. Some policy suggestions have been given based on the findings of the study on leveraging the opportunities offered by livestock sector.

Exploring nexus between ecosystem services and livelihood dependency for sustainable ecosystem management in lower Gangetic plains, Eastern India.

The flows of ecosystem services (ESs) from ecological patches (EPs) are being severely challenged due to global change. However, the evaluation of nexus between tribal society and ecological units with focus of tribal livelihood was not a subject of enquiry until recent past. Present study hypothesized that the different EPs has differential nexus in terms of delivery of ESs in Barind region, Eastern India. Dependency and prominence of l livelihood on ESs was evaluated through developing ES dependency index (ESDI) and ecosystem services prominence index (ESPI). Five sub-components (comprising 25 indicators) and ten dominant provisioning ecosystem services (PES) were considered to develop ESDI and ESPI respectively. The seasonal variations of availability of ESs from EPs were also assessed-based five-point Likert scale. The findings of the study showed that (i) the households were highly dependent on PES for their livelihood strategies; (ii) agricultural crops (main foods), housing materials, fuel woods, water, livestock, and medical plants were the dominant ESs; (iii) forests, agricultural lands, water bodies, and homesteads were the main EPs from which ESs were collected; (iv) there was positive correlation between ESDI and ESPI. Moreover, there was substantial variation on dependency of ESs across villages was observed and seasonal variation in ESs was noted in terms of availability and dependency with maximum contribution during the monsoon season. The result clearly suggests that there is a strong nexus between livelihood strategies and ESs in the region. Therefore, diversification of livelihood strategies must be integrated with ESs for human well-being (HWB) as well as environmental sustainability.

Economic and non-economic loss and damage to climate change: evidence from a developing country shrimp farms to cyclone Bulbul

Loss and damage have become a vital contemporary issue in climate change studies and actions in developing countries. However, studies are scant on this in the fisheries sector around the world. In Bangladesh, there is no study on the loss and damage in fisheries dependent communities. This study assesses economic and non-economic loss and damage to coastal shrimp farms due to cyclone Bulbul in Gabura Union of Shyamnagar Upazila, Satkhira district, using a mixed method approach. Results show that all shrimp farms’ dependent communities are affected by cyclone Bulbul to some extent. About 14%, 57%, and 29% of the farms were totally, heavily and moderately damaged due to farm inundation and dyke damage. The estimated mean loss and damage per shrimp farm was worth USD 4,633. Around 31% and 72% of the farms’ fencing nets and traps were lost, which was worth USD 333 per farm. There were also loss and damage to other resources such as houses, solar panels, livestock and agricultural crops where the estimated mean loss and damage per household was worth USD 3,170. This study reported that the rich shrimp farmers encountered proportionately more economic loss and damage than their poor counterparts. However, this does not mean that the poor suffered less. The current study found a range of non-economic loss and damage in different aspects of the shrimp farmers’ household members such as unbearable mental pain, deterioration of health, physical injuries, disabilities, etc. and access to services (e.g., inadequate food, lack of safe drinking water, lack of medical facilities, disruption of education systems), social infrastructure (e.g., damage of roads and markets) and disturbance of cultural functions. The findings suggest that urgent short- and long-term actions may be taken to save the aquaculture farms and dependent livelihoods from economic and non-economic loss and damage to cyclones in future.

Coping with local peoples' livelihood dependence on the transboundary Dinder–Alatish National Parks in Sudan and Ethiopia from the Sudanese Perspective

The local peoples’ dependence on Dinder National Park, Sudan, for their livelihoods and economic and conservation implications of the livelihood activities were analyzed. Our study attempted to answer major questions about the main livelihood strategies, their economic and conservation implications as well as the perceptions of local people and park administration on the use and management of the park and cooperation for TBPA management. A mixed research method was employed in this study in data collection Households’ livelihood strategies are ranked according to their share in households’ total income. Accordingly, 92% of respondents ranked agriculture as a primary source of livelihood in the rank 1 category, and 33% of respondents ranked livestock rearing as the primary source in the rank 2 category important source of livelihood. The ranking of second and third options varied across both households and villages. Households collect forest products to supplement their livelihoods and the collection of other environmental goods is irregular and difficult to quantify. Further human activities in the area are compiled from different publication and annual reports. Agricultural expansion into the park and livestock trespassing are the major threats to Dinder and neighboring Alatish National Park. A cooperative transboundary response will be helpful to cope with these challenges.

Forest—People nexus in changing livelihood contexts: Evidence from community forests in Nepal

Community forestry in Nepal has set an example of people's participation in forest management. The direct dependency of local people on forest resources for livelihood activities has been one of the key adhesive factors for collective efforts in forest management. Changing livelihood strategies from agriculture-based livelihoods to migration (and remittances thereof) and the service sector, introduces a new dispensation which is yet to be sufficiently understood. This paper explores the changing livelihood strategies of forest users and analyses their effects on participation in forest management. The structured household survey (n = 106), key informant interviews (n = 6), and focal group discussions (n = 3) in three community forest user groups in the mid-hills of Nepal were employed to analyze the changing livelihood strategies in the last 15 years, and to underscore their implications for forest management. We followed the recall process, and in order to ease the recall process, the reference events were discussed with the respondent. The result showed an increasing switch to non-forest dependent livelihood strategies, characterized by the emergence of non-agriculture (remittance, business, service) sectors. While there is no change in the number of CF meetings attended, and the average time spent per meeting by user households, a decreasing dependence on forests, as well as the willingness to participate in forest management was recorded. These were associated with the change in livelihood strategies from agriculture to non-agriculture-based practices. This context justifies the need for a re-think on how to stabilize the rural sector to limit rural exodus and the management of community forest resources in the mid-hills of Nepal.

Dependency, Distribution and Diversification (3Ds) of livelihoods in the Miombo woodlands: learning from Tanzania

ABSTRACT The Miombo woodlands that cover around 93% of forested area in Tanzania are central to livelihoods of rural dwellers. Nevertheless, there is paucity of scientific studies and associated knowledge on the dependence, distribution, and diversification aspects of livelihoods in such ecosystems. Our empirical case-based findings indicate the dependence on Miombo woodlands was relatively high contributing 33.8% to total annual household income after tobacco cultivation at 39.6%. As such, forest incomes are vital for rural households living around such ecosystems. Among the poorest groups, forest income contributed to 40% of the total annual income whilst decreasing slightly as wealth increased reaching 32% among the better-off. On issues of livelihood distribution, forest incomes played a role in equalizing income distribution with a Gini change of about 0.05, however, it was tobacco cultivation that was more responsible for lowering the gap between income inequality levels with a Gini change of 0.08. In terms of diversification, rural households displayed a high level of diversity of livelihood options at a diversity index of 0.7 and forests were a diversification option. These findings contribute a policy lesson that reduced access to the miombo woodlands through exclusionary conservation mechanisms would result in considerable negative impacts on rural households’ welfare and exacerbate income differentiation in the area.

Timing and magnitude of climate-driven range shifts in transboundary fish stocks challenge their management.

Climate change is shifting the distribution of shared fish stocks between neighboring countries’ Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZs) and the high seas. The timescale of these transboundary shifts determines how climate change will affect international fisheries governance. Here, we explore this timescale by coupling a large ensemble simulation of an Earth system model under a high emission climate change scenario to a dynamic population model. We show that by 2030, 23% of transboundary stocks will have shifted and 78% of the world's EEZs will have experienced at least one shifting stock. By the end of this century, projections show a total of 45% of stocks shifting globally and 81% of EEZs waters with at least one shifting stock. The magnitude of such shifts is reflected in changes in catch proportion between EEZs sharing a transboundary stock. By 2030, global EEZs are projected to experience an average change of 59% in catch proportion of transboundary stocks. Many countries that are highly dependent on fisheries for livelihood and food security emerge as hotspots for transboundary shifts. These hotspots are characterized by early shifts in the distribution of an important number of transboundary stocks. Existing international fisheries agreements need to be assessed for their capacity to address the social–ecological implications of climate‐change‐driven transboundary shifts. Some of these agreements will need to be adjusted to limit potential conflict between the parties of interest. Meanwhile, new agreements will need to be anticipatory and consider these concerns and their associated uncertainties to be resilient to global change.

A regional assessment of seasonal-to-decadal changes in estuarine socio-ecological systems in the Western Indian Ocean

Estuarine socio-ecological systems (SES) in the Western Indian Ocean (WIO) region face mounting pressures from overexploitation, habitat degradation, impacts of climate change and governance inadequacies. A regional assessment of seasonal-to-decadal change in SES of three estuaries (Bons Sinais in Mozambique, Ruvu in Tanzania and Tana in Kenya) was undertaken along 2000 km of tropical coastline (3°-18°S), using a systems-oriented approach and information collected during the Estuarize-WIO project (2016-2019). All three estuaries were open and tidal, but differed along gradients of geomorphology, annual precipitation, exposure to tropical storms, drought, sea level rise, and rural to urban development. Despite physical differences, similar marine species, mangrove assemblages, seasonality in fish-based farming systems and cultivated crops, and fishing methods were apparent across the region. Key differences were related to the scale of anthropogenic disturbance, discerned from land use / land cover (LULC) change analysis, which showed decadal increases in developed-, cultivated- and grasslands, at the expense of wetlands and forests, and seasonal transformation of wetlands to agriculture and grasslands. The three estuaries represented a gradient along urban-production-conservation dimensions, brought about by rural to urban transformation, and by freshwater and sediment diversion for economic development in upstream catchment areas. Household surveys indicated strongly seasonal livelihood strategies, with highest diversity in peri-urban settings, and reliance on different combinations of ecosystem goods and services in coastal and upstream rural settings. Estuarine fisheriesranged from unselective, low trophic-level fisheries using fine-mesh nets at the urbanized and most-disturbed Bons Sinais Estuary, to a more complex organized fishery at the least-disturbed Tana. At Ruvu, fisheries and agriculture production exit the system to distant markets. The systems-oriented approach demonstrated that human-induced processes affected WIO estuaries and dependent livelihoods more deeply than inherent physical differences. A key conclusion is that research, management and governance will benefit from regional cooperation, given the similarities of the systems and the different levels of disturbance.

Disruptive Technologies for Achieving Supply Chain Resilience in COVID-19 Era: An Implementation Case Study of Satellite Imagery and Blockchain Technologies in Fish Supply Chain

In supply chains where stakeholders belong to the economically disadvantaged segment and form an important part of the supply chain distribution, the complexities grow manifold. Fisheries in developing nations are one such sector where the complexity is not only due to the produce being perishable but also due to the livelihood dependence of others in the coastal regions that belong to the section of economically disadvantaged. This paper explains the contextual challenges of fish supply chain in a developing country and describes how integrating disruptive technologies can address those challenges. Through a positive deviance approach, we show how firms can help unorganized supply chains with economically disadvantaged suppliers by carefully redesigning the supply chain through the integration of satellite imagery and blockchain technology. With COVID-19 in the backdrop, we highlight how such technologies significantly improves the supply chain resilience and at the same time contributes to the income generating opportunities of poor fisherfolks in developing nations. Our study has important implications to both developing markets and food supply chain practitioners as this paper tackles issues such as perishability, demand-supply mismatch, unfair prices, and quality related data transparency in the entire value chain.

Factors influencing farmers’ willingness and behavior choices to withdraw from rural homesteads in China

AbstractThe rapid pace of urban development and farmer differentiation has led to large‐scale migration of farmers to cities, resulting in the abandonment of rural homesteads in China. This study aims to explore the key factors influencing farmers’ willingness and choices to withdraw from rural homesteads and find the key factor of different groups of farmer differentiation degree. Data from 479 farmers in Weinan and Shizuishan and multigroup structural equation model were used for analysis. The results showed that labor supply shortages in completely non‐agricultural farmer households had the greatest influence on their willingness to withdraw from rural homesteads. Whether a withdrawal compensation could guarantee farmers’ future livelihood has the greatest influence on willingness to withdraw from rural homesteads among non‐agricultural and agricultural farmer households. The per‐capita area of rural homesteads has the greatest influence on willingness to withdraw among completely agricultural farmer households. Regardless of the farmer differentiation degree, whether the withdrawal compensation can guarantee their future livelihood significantly affects farmers’ willingness to withdraw from their rural homesteads. The policy implication of the study was that, for different levels of livelihood dependence, local governments should adopt a targeted policy to encourage farmers to withdraw from their rural homesteads.

Assessment of Coffea Shade Value through Comparison of Mountainous Area with Farm Land Coverage, in Arsi Gololcha District, Oromia, Ethiopia

Coffea cultivation with shade tree is used for improving soil health, increasing coffea production, sustaining agro ecology. The study was attended in two kebele, on 36 farmers’ fields, at Gololcha district of East Arsi zone. The study was intended to assess the influence of coffea shade trees on farm lands versus mountainous area. Household interviews were used to get imperative separately, i.e. from old farmers, middle age farmers and young farmers. Significant difference value was observed between farm land and mountainous area coverage. Based on this respondents’ idea, before 25-30 years; the ‘condition of tree coverage at mountainous’ area in Arsi Gololcha district was ‘medium condition’ but not normal that means as deforestation of mountainous area have been starting before 30 years’ time; while the condition of tree coverage at farmland area also has been starting before 30 years’ time. The third respondents’ idea was interpreted with the real situation of the district, that it gave us a constructive inspiration on the role of coffea shade tree to enable the farm land to be taken as regular natural forest. The existing coffea shade trees are Cordia africana followed by Erythrina abyssinica and Acacia senegal. Farmers accounted 95% of coffea shade users and 4.6% without shade users. The respondents said that even if the rainfall intensity is increasing at farmland rather than mountainous area occasionally due to shade tree effect. On the contrary side, mountainous area exposed to deforestation since the farmers have been shifting to hilly side for their livelihood dependency.

Institutional choices between private management and user group management during forest devolution: A case study of forest allocation in China

China has endeavored to devolve collective forests to individual households or user groups in the past decades. However, few studies have explored the community-level institutional selection process in the forest devolution reforms. Based on a longitudinal case study in Fujian province, this study focuses on China's forest devolution reform in the early 2000s and explores in the reform why the community allocated forests to groups of households rather than to individual households, which was the method preferred by the central government. The study also investigates the factors and mechanisms that influenced these institutional choices. The analysis indicates that, when a community is empowered to play a decisive role in institutional choices, the preferences of households may differ from the decisions made by -state-level actors. Three factors are found critical to the selection of user group management in the devolution reform: the difficulty of allocating physical forests equally to individual households, the decreasing dependence of livelihoods on forests, and the development of a forest rights market. We argue that forest devolution policies should recognize the multi-functionality of rural forests, their changing roles in local economic dynamics, the complexities of existing tenure systems, and the local demand for the autonomy of defining forest rights arrangements.