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The impact of individual capabilities on the access to ecosystem services: a case study from the Loess Plateau, China

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Abstract

Exploring how people access ecosystem services and revealing the individual capabilities that affect the accessibility of ecosystem services are important for obtaining a clear understanding of the contribution of ecosystem services to human well-being. Previous studies on ecosystem services have incorporated too little empirical research on the accessibility of ecosystem services and on the individual capabilities that affect accessibility. We chose the ecologically fragile and economically underdeveloped Loess Plateau as the research area because local farmers in this area are dependent on ecosystem services. The importance and accessibility of ecosystem services were evaluated on the basis of questionnaire surveys and semistructured interviews. The results showed that crops, meat, and water yield were the most important ecosystem services but were the most difficult to access. In contrast, fruit and soil fertility were easier to access. Furthermore, we determined the individual capabilities of local farmers based on Nussbaum’s capabilities list as well as the actual conditions for local farmers and explored the impact of individual capabilities on the accessibility of ecosystem services. The results showed that local ecological knowledge and the ability to socialize were the key individual capabilities determining whether local farmers can access ecosystem services. Compared with farmers who have a formal education, farmers with rich local ecological knowledge can more easily access to crops and erosion control. The ability to socialize reflects the exchanges or donations of ecosystem services among farmers, which increase the accessibility of fodder and organic fertilizer. Physical health, financial capital, and other individual capabilities also have an impact on the accessibility of certain ecosystem services. Therefore, improving these individual capabilities is of great value for improving farmers’ well-being. In policy-making and community management, the government needs to consider the development of farmers’ individual capabilities in addition to considering poverty alleviation measures.

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Data availability

The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (41971271).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, Northwest University, Xuefu Ave. 1, Xi’an, 710127, China

    Di Liu, Hai Chen, Tianwei Geng, Qinqin Shi & Wenting Chen

  2. Shaanxi Key Laboratory of Earth Surface System and Environmental Carrying Capacity, Xi’an, 710127, China

    Di Liu, Hai Chen, Tianwei Geng, Qinqin Shi & Wenting Chen

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  1. Di Liu
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Contributions

D Liu and H Chen designed the study. T Geng, Q Shi, and W Chen participated in the data collection. D Liu analyzed the data and wrote the paper. H Chen and Q Shi participated in the discussion of the results. All authors have read and approved this manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Hai Chen.

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Ethics approval

Ethical approval for the study was obtained from the Science and Technology Department of Northwest University, China. We were permitted by the local government (Mizhi County People’s Government and the Mizhi County Agricultural Bureau) to perform data collection in the study area.

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All study participants provided informed consent, and all the respondents participated in the questionnaire voluntarily.

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Participants agreed to participate in this study and have their data published in a journal article. And the manuscript has been approved by all authors for publication.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Liu, ., Chen, H., Geng, T. et al. The impact of individual capabilities on the access to ecosystem services: a case study from the Loess Plateau, China. Environ Sci Pollut Res 29, 10443–10455 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-16486-7

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