Livelihood diversification is increasingly central to policy advice and investments in rural development and fisheries management. For small-scale fishing communities in low- to middle-income countries, more diverse livelihoods are generally hypothesized to reduce fishing pressure and vulnerabilities to external shocks and adverse trends while enabling people to construct routes out of poverty. Yet, evidence of impacts from livelihood diversification in small-scale fisheries remains sparse. Our examination of the peer-reviewed literature found substantial differences in how livelihood diversification is pursued, and in the realized outcomes from the process of diversification. Studies describing diversified livelihoods were almost as likely to report that livelihoods were not improved or that outcomes were mixed (54% combined) as they were to report improved livelihood outcomes (45%). Furthermore, one of the main theoretical drivers behind the support for diversified livelihoods—ecological conservation benefits—was unexplored in over 70% of studies. Of the minority of studies that did explore ecological outcomes, most reported that ecological conditions had not improved. These findings indicate conceptual ambiguity around livelihood diversification and a lack of empirical evidence supporting its theoretical underpinnings. There remain important questions about the impacts of diversification on multidimensional poverty and ecological conservation. Future research on and investment in diversification should be both more deliberate of what diversification means and more rigorous in the evaluation of its impacts.

中文翻译：

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小规模渔业生计多样化的可持续发展成果

生计多样化日益成为农村发展和渔业管理政策咨询和投资的核心。对于中低收入国家的小规模渔业社区，通常假设更多样化的生计可以减少捕捞压力和对外部冲击和不利趋势的脆弱性，同时使人们能够建设摆脱贫困的路线。然而，关于小规模渔业生计多样化影响的证据仍然很少。我们对同行评议文献的审查发现，在追求生计多样化的方式以及多样化过程中实现的结果方面存在很大差异。描述多样化生计的研究报告生计未得到改善或结果喜忧参半（合计 54%）与报告生计结果改善（45%）的可能性几乎相同。此外，支持多样化生计的主要理论驱动力之一——生态保护效益——在超过 70% 的研究中未被探索。在探索生态结果的少数研究中，大多数报告说生态条件没有改善。这些发现表明生计多样化的概念模糊不清，缺乏支持其理论基础的经验证据。多样化对多维贫困和生态保护的影响仍然存在重要问题。