Livelihood Vulnerability and Adaptation for Households Engaged in Forestry in Ecological Restoration Areas of the Chinese Loess Plateau

Chinese Loess Plateau has achieved a win-win situation concerning ecological restoration and socio-economic development. However, synergistic development may not be realized at the local scale. In areas undergoing ecological restoration, livelihood vulnerability may be more pronounced due to the inflexibility, policy protection, and susceptibility to climate and market changes in forestry production. Although this issue has attracted academic interest, empirical studies are relatively scarce. This study, centered on Jiaxian County, Shaanxi Province of China explored the households’ livelihood vulnerability and coping strategies and group heterogeneity concerned with livelihood structures or forestry resources through field investigation, comprehensive index assessment, and nonparametric tests. Findings showed that: 1) the percentage of households with high livelihood vulnerability indicator (LVI) (> 0.491) reached 46.34%. 2) Eight groups in livelihood structures formed by forestry, traditional agriculture, and non-farm activities were significantly different in LVI, land resources (LR), social networks (SN), livelihood strategies (LS), housing characteristics (HC), and socio-demographic profile (SDP). 3) The livelihood vulnerability of the groups with highly engaged/reliance on jujube (Ziziphus jujuba) forest demonstrated more prominent livelihood vulnerability due to the increased precipitation and cold market, where the low-engaged with reliance type were significantly more vulnerable in LVI, SDP, LR, and HC. 4) The threshold of behavioral triggers widely varied, and farmers dependent on forestry livelihoods showed negative coping behavior. Specifically, the cutting behavior was strongly associated with lagged years and government subsidies, guidance, and high returns of crops. Finally, the findings can provide guidance on the direction of livelihood vulnerability mitigation and adaptive government management in ecologically restored areas. The issue of farmers’ livelihood sustainability in the context of ecological conservation calls for immediate attention, and eco-compensations or other forms of assistance in ecologically functional areas are expected to be enhanced and diversified.