Fo re st ry B rie fin g N um be r 4, M ay 2 00 3 Introduction A major reason for the high failure rate of rural development forestry projects is the weak economic incentives for local forest users and other stakeholders to participate in sustainable forest management (SFM). In view of the high dependency of the rural poor on forests for their livelihoods, this has serious poverty implications. ...

This study explores the extent to which farmers in the Three Gorges Reservoir area remain highly dependent on agriculture despite rapid urbanization and industrialization. The study focuses on the factors that determine a household’s choice of livelihood strategy, with a particular focus on the production of and dependence on agricultural products. Using a sustainable livelihoods approach and s...

Globally, human activities have led to rapid mangrove degradation. In Vietnam, as across much of coastal South-east Asia, mangroves play a vital role in the livelihoods of coastal rural communities with relatively low levels of development. However, little is known about the precise impact of human activity on the ecosystem services underpinning these livelihoods. This paper analyses the liveli...

In many agricultural countries, development of rural livelihood through increasing capital is a major regional policy to adapt to climate change. However, the role of livelihood capital in reducing climatic vulnerability is uncertain. This study assesses vulnerability and identifies the effects of common capital indicators on it, using Australian wheat as an example. We calculate exposure (a cl...

Rural-urban migration remains a livelihood strategy employed by the rural populace in the densely populated southeastern region of Nigeria. This study appraises the impact of rural-urban migration on rural livelihoods in southeastern region of Nigeria. Questionnaire surveys on 225 heads of rural households and focus group discussions in each of the five states in the study area were used to eli...

The Chinese government aims to deal with poverty by 2020 for people living in ethnic and rural regions, including mountainous ethnic regions with the highest concentration of poverty and chronic poverty. Based on a sustainable livelihood Framework, five capitals and 33 evaluation indices of livelihood were built, and 13 counties’ resources of the Aba Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture were...

Rural societies in war-affected areas can be described as ’distressed livelihoods’: they experience a dramatic increase in risk and uncertainty. How does this affect land use and agricultural coping strategies of small-scale farm households? This was the key research question of a multi-disciplinary, comparative village study carried out in the war-torn areas of Sri Lanka. The study employed th...

The water–energy–food nexus is being promoted as a conceptual tool for achieving sustainable development. Frameworks for implementing nexus thinking, however, have failed to explicitly or adequately incorporate sustainable livelihoods perspectives. This is counterintuitive given that livelihoods are key to achieving sustainable development. In this paper we present a critical review of nexus ap...

vi 1 Definitions and Dimensions of Livelihood Diversification 1 1.1 Definitions of diversification: multiplicity and/or change? 1 1.2 Livelihoods in the economy: basic dimensions of livelihood activities 1 2 Structural Transformation and the Non-farm Economy 4 2.1 Industrialisation and urbanisation 4 2.2 Regional growth theory and the rise and fall of the rural non-farm economy 5 2.3 Global str...