Demystifying natural resource dependence and household adaptive capacity in the case of urban resettlement in western China

Shaanxi Province in China has undertaken its largest-ever urbanization resettlement initiative to improve living environments and promote sustainable livelihoods. A critical aspect of successful resettlement is reducing migrant’s dependence on natural resources and enhancing their livelihood adaptability. These factors are also key to the long-term effectiveness of resettlement projects and how they should be supported. Previous studies have been focused primarily on natural resource dependence (NRD) or household adaptive capacity (HAC), which leaves gaps in our understanding of their interactions within the specific context of urban resettlement. This research aims to fill this gap by examining how resettlement characteristics impact various livelihood modes. Our study analyzes livelihood survey data from 657 households across three counties in Shaanxi Province’s southern resettlement area. We develop an indicator system for NRD and HAC in farm households. Combining these indicators, we identify four distinct livelihood modes. By employing multiple logit models, correlations between key placement factors and the probability of households falling into each pattern are used to identify potential influencing factors. Our findings reveal three key points. First, households involved in relocation and centralized resettlement exhibit lower HAC than non-relocated or scattered resettlement households. Conversely, non-relocated, scattered resettlement, and short-distance relocation households show higher NRD. Second, participation in urbanization resettlement significantly promotes the adoption of both ‘L-H’ (low dependence-high adaptive capacity) and ‘L-L’ (low dependence-low adaptive capacity) modes. Finally, both centralized resettlement and long-distance relocation are significantly associated with the ‘L-L’ mode, while centralized resettlement further inhibits their transition to the ‘H-H’ (high dependence-high adaptive capacity) mode. The study aims to offer insights and evidence concerning optimizing relocation and resettlement strategies and makes suggestions towards developing subsequent support policies for sustainable livelihoods.