Sustainable Rural Livelihood and Poverty Reduction Strategies

This chapter presents the framework of sustainable livelihoods. The interests of this chapter derive from three issues: (1) How can one determine who in the population achieves a sustainable livelihood and who does not? That is, how does sustainable livelihood assist in eliminating poverty and reduce deprivation in rural communities? (2) What livelihood resources and institutional processes are necessary for enabling or constraining sustainable livelihoods for different groups? That is, does household livelihood help individuals or families to escape poverty? (3) What are the practical, operational, and policy implications of adopting a sustainable livelihood approach to poverty reduction? Namely, what constitutes a satisfactory basis for adopting a livelihood framework?

An Assessment of Poverty Alleviation Measures and Sustainable Livelihood Capability of Farm Households in Rural China: A Sustainable Livelihood Approach

This paper aims to identify effective mechanisms for government poverty alleviation measures based on the livelihood sustainability of farm households in Southern Shaanxi province, China. The paper utilizes data from 414 farm households, collected through field observations and in-depth interviews in 24 rural communes in Qinba Mountain Area of Shaanxi province, China. Using theoretical research methods and employing the sustainable livelihood approach (SLA) framework, this paper analyzes poverty alleviation measures as well as the impact of varied capital availability on sustainable livelihood. The study shows that developing local industries and governmental financial support improve the sustainable livelihood of farmers and eradicate absolute poverty. The findings of this study further indicate that there is a positive correlation between poverty alleviation measures and natural and social capital for sustainable livelihood. The paper provides empirical and quantitative evidence on alleviation of poverty, and the findings will help improve the sustainability of livelihood capability of farming households. This study suggests impactful approaches to stabilizing mechanisms for poverty alleviation in rural areas over the longer term.

Environment Change and Sustainable Livelihoods in Ethnic Villages Tourism Development of China

The rapid development of ethnic tourism in China has led to changes in the social and economic environment and local livelihood strategies. This study aims to illustrate the environmental changes and the effects of livelihood strategies in ethnic tourism development. Based on the Sustainable Livelihood Approach (SLA), this study proposed the Sustainable Tourism Livelihood Framework (STLF) and designed the indicator system. The Jinglai ethnic tourism village case study showed the changing process and comparison of livelihood capitals with different livelihood strategies. The study found that the number of Tourism-based Strategies (TBS)and Tourism Strategies (TS) families increases, and the TS livelihood capital is the highest, and the Highly Participation Degree (HPD) family’s capital is also higher. Meanwhile, family members have intergenerational differences in livelihood strategies. Finally, the suggestions about tourism community governance, such as environmental governance, knowledge training, and sustainable assessment, were proposed.

Integrating tea and tourism: a potential sustainable livelihood approach for Indonesia tea producer central area

The social changes within society with regard to tea are widespread in Indonesia and today are experienced as tourism, where a part of many tourist activities, whereby local tea traditions, cultures, services and attractions are experienced. Indonesia as both tea-producing and tea-consuming country has high potential to integrate with tourism to increase the sustainability of community livelihood. This study used a sustainable livelihood approach in a systematic framework to examine the relationships between tea and tourism, as well as enriched the interviews of tourist actors and 203 tourists with experiences of visiting the tea tourism destinations. This study finding that there has been an increase of diversity of livelihoods of the people around the tea plantations where have been developed into tourism. Corporate social responsibility provides a further opportunity in sustainable tea tourism development. Increasing services satisfaction of the tea tourists is one of the most important ways to increase the revisit intention. Creating a mutual partnership synergy can cover the lack of resources and competencies in tea and tourism integration development. For practical implications in the future are the important to enlarge integration between tea and tourism, build partnership, stimulate more local participation, and increase local benefits as their ways of life.

Livelihood Assets of Small-Scale Fisherman in Tanah Merah District, Indragiri Hilir Regency, Riau Province, Indonesia

People in Tanah Merah Village, Tanah Merah Subdistrict, Indragiri Hilir Regency generally have a livelihood as fishermen. Fishermen can be said to be prosperous if they have good control over their livelihood assets. Livelihood assets consist of human, natural, social, financial and physical resource assets. This study aims to: (1) find out the meaning of the sustainable livelihood approach, (2) find out the livelihood assets of small-scale fishermen and (3) determine the condition of the livelihood assets of small-scale fishermen. The research was conducted in Tanah Merah District, Indragiri Hilir Regency, Riau Province. Respondents from this study were 45 people. The method used in this research was survey method. The data analysis used was descriptive analysis. Descriptive analysis was used to generate an overview of the data that has been collected based on the respondents’ answers through the distribution of items from each variable. The presentation of the data was done by cross tabulating according to the parameters of several aspects of the assets that support fishermen’s livelihoods. The result showed that the livelihood assets of small-scale fishermen namely natural assets, human resources, social, financial and physical are in the medium category. The acquisition of this value can indicate that the control of the livelihood assets of small-scale fishermen in Tanah Merah Village is not sustainable.

Sustainable Rural Tourism Meaning for Community Livelihood

The Sangiran is a national tourism strategic area as well as the most important ancient site established by UNESCO. Hence, its existence can contribute to the community livelihood which is dominated as poor. Meanwhile, having World Heritage Sites (WHS) status gives many restrictions to the local community such as restriction to soil excavation. Focusing on the agricultural sector as their main job was relatively difficult because of the physical aspect. The community chose the possible way to gain income that the job did not relate with tourism activity. Therefore, this study examines the meaning of sustainable rural tourism for community livelihood using the sustainable livelihood approach. Two rounds of Focus Group Discussions and interviews with some experts were conducted to find out issues in the development of Sangiran tourism and stakeholder perceptions. The community considered that they could not rely on the tourism sector so that they adjusted to the situation by doing another job. Indeed, the WHS status of Sangiran had not given impacts on the community; they prefer to conduct their previous activities. The development of rural tourism was not sustained; the community was still vulnerable that pointed out by their low economic capacity

Environment Governance, Sustainable Livelihood and Indigenous Knowledge in Ethnic Tourism Villages of China

The rapid expansion of tourism in Chinese ethnic areas has promoted changes in livelihood activities and ecosystems. Ethnic indigenous knowledge has played an essential role in environmental governance and sustainable livelihood. The paper integrates local knowledge theory with the Sustainable Livelihood Approach (SLA) framework, proposes cultural capital as a critical component of livelihood capital, and illustrates the influence of indigenous knowledge on sustainable livelihood by analyzing how indigenous knowledge transforms into cultural livelihood capital typical cases. The research results show that excavation and utilization of indigenous knowledge can increase the family cultural livelihood capital, optimize the choice of family livelihood strategy, and improving the level of environmental governance, which ultimately affects the sustainability of family livelihood. Finally, the paper puts forward some suggestions on using indigenous knowledge to govern the tourism community.