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What are the keys to influence the life satisfaction of eco-migrants in the northern foot of the Qilian Mountains? A test based on the livelihood risk interaction

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Abstract

Eco-migrants’ ability to adapt to livelihood risks and their satisfaction with lives directly affect the ecological and economic benefits of ecological migration engineering. To formulate an effective livelihood risk prevention system and welfare guarantee mechanism, we took the eco-migrants in Wuwei City as an example, developed an integrated analytical framework for life satisfaction and employed linear regression models to identify the interactions between livelihood risk and life satisfaction. Our findings indicate that 94.66% of eco-migrants in Wuwei City are threatened by livelihood risks after relocation. High living expenses, poor quality of redistributed production goods, and re-poverty constitute the main risks. The risk multiplicity index is 2.96. Besides cultural types, there are no significant differences in regions and livelihoods. A total of 55.73% of eco-migrants are satisfied with their lives, with the Liangzhou district scoring the highest. Except for satisfaction with development potential and public services, no significant intergroup differences were found among regions and livelihood patterns. Eco-migrant’s life satisfaction is significantly affected by livelihood risks. Eco-migrants’ satisfaction with living income, social integration, farmer-friendly policies and overall life is negatively affected by the risk of re-poverty and inadequate social security. An eco-migrant’s satisfaction with development potential and community construction is not influenced by one type of risk alone, but the interaction between risks has a strong influence. The interaction of welfare risks with economic risks and policy risks will balance and weaken the adverse effects of a single risk on those elements in the economic and policy spheres. This study offers novel ideas for rural revitalization, hollow governance, and well-being assurance.

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Acknowledgments

This study was financially supported by the Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (XDA20020401); The Second Tibetan Plateau Scientific Expedition and Research Program (STEP) (2019QZKK0404); Foundation for Excellent Youth Scholars of “Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources”, CAS (Y851D71).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Desert and Desertification, Northwest Institute of Eco-environment and Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou, 730000, China

    Ya Wang

  2. Institutes of Science and Development, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100190, China

    Li-hua Zhou

  3. School of public policy and management, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China

    Li-hua Zhou

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  1. Ya Wang
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  2. Li-hua Zhou
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Correspondence to Li-hua Zhou.

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Wang, Y., Zhou, Lh. What are the keys to influence the life satisfaction of eco-migrants in the northern foot of the Qilian Mountains? A test based on the livelihood risk interaction. J. Mt. Sci. 19, 3227–3245 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11629-021-6956-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11629-021-6956-3

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