Sustainable Livelihood Evaluation and Influencing Factors of Rural Households: A Case Study of Beijing Ecological Conservation Areas

Abstract

Rural households’ livelihood sustainability is the core issue that affects their production and life standards, and it is a necessary evaluation index for rural sustainable development. As a sensitive area of urban–rural integration development in Beijing, the environmental protection measures and industrial structure adjustments in ecological conservation areas (ECAs) have influenced the sustainability and stability of local rural households’ livelihood. First, based on livelihood capital quantification data, this study established an evaluation model of rural households’ livelihood sustainability, which employed the combined weighting approach and the technique for order preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS). Second, this study investigated the influencing factors of rural households’ livelihood using the methodologies of regression analysis and the mediating effect. The results showed the following: (1) the overall livelihood sustainability of rural households was at a medium level, scoring 0.4436; (2) the sanitation conditions of the community were rated as the critical factor with a positive impact on rural households’ livelihood, which was followed by the frequency of online shopping, family expenditure, and management capability of village cadres; (3) improving one’s rural household income can enhance rural livelihood sustainability indirectly. Finally, effective livelihood strategies were explored and put forward for ECA development.

Factors Influencing Palm Oil Smallholders’ Income Sustainability

“…Item 2 refers to the management cost, which is larger than the income received, and item 4 refers to the unproductive production due to the aging of the trees. These findings confirm that smallholders' efforts to manage productivity are subject to their financial capacity, as shown in previous studies [15], [27], [28].…”

“…Livelihood concept refers to a means of making a living that consists of capabilities, assets, income, and activities that are owned by individuals or families and can be used to provide necessities of life and improve long-term living conditions [27], [28], [29]. Thus, livelihood enables a particular society to produce material resources for its survival [30].…”

“…According to [27], SLA views issues from a human perspective, with a focus on the lives and resources of largely poor rural areas and marginal urban community dwellers, with an emphasis on obtaining data from the household, community, and local levels for qualitative analyses. Thus, this study focuses on understanding factors influencing agriculture-based income sustainability among palm oil smallholders based on primary data and inferential analysis.…”

“…The overall means for income sustainability is 3.87. Thus, it shows that the palm oil smallholders have positive evaluation of the palm oil income sustainability as a valuable source of income to support living and improve the long-term living conditions [27], [28], [29]. Livelihood is recognized as sustainable if it allows people to cope with and recover from shocks and enhances their well-being and that of future generations.…”

“…Thus, the output model known as smallholders' income sustainability in this study considered necessary constructs to predict the subject based on the SLA view. It shows the essential elements to be examined for predicting agriculture income sustainability within the context of rural smallholders who rely merely on palm oil plantation income for livelihood [27], [28], [29]. In addition, based on Table 8, the individual barrier has a significant relationship with income sustainability (β = 0.366, t = 2.820, p = 0.005).…”