AUTHOR=Chen Wenting , Liu Di , Zhang Jie 

TITLE=Regional differences for the impacts of ecosystem services on farmers’ wellbeing: a case study of the Loess Plateau, China

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Environmental Science

VOLUME=Volume 12 - 2024

YEAR=2024

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/environmental-science/articles/10.3389/fenvs.2024.1352885

DOI=10.3389/fenvs.2024.1352885

ISSN=2296-665X

ABSTRACT=An exploration of regional differences for the impacts of ecosystem services (ESs) on farmers’ well-being has practical implications for making region-specific land management decisions in different regions and promoting regional sustainable development. Researchers studying ESs and human well-being have rarely explored regional differences. The Loess Plateau, which has a fragile ecological environment, was chosen as the study region because farmers in this region depend on the ESs. Furthermore, the diverse land use types in this region provide a good research platform for us to explore regional differences for the impact of ESs on well-being. On the one hand, information on the importance and accessibility of ESs, as well as the subjective and objective well-being of farmers, was obtained through semistructured interviews and questionnaires. On the other hand, regional differences for the impact of ESs on the well-being of farmers were explored based on a structural equation model. The results indicated that the impact of ESs on farmers’ well-being was crucial for all three village types, but the extent of the impact varied, and the key ESs varied across villages. For hilly villages and gully villages, crops and firewood were the two common ES types that were important. However, water conservation was the key ES type for farmers in hilly villages, and pest control was the key ES type for farmers in gully villages. Fruits, water conservation and recreation were the key ES types in the river villages. A focus on the regional differences for the impacts of ESs on farmers’ well-being is meaningful for policy practice. We can contribute to farmers’ well-being by optimising land use allocation and land ecological control to improve their ES access in different regions, which is effective in differentiating and enhancing the sustainability of different regions.