Poverty alleviation resettlement (PAR) has become a common practice all over the world as a crucial method of achieving the goal of eradicating poverty. However, this greatly complicates the relocating households’ ability to maintain a sustainable livelihood. Finding out how different kinds of livelihood capital affect livelihood resilience and exploring solutions to boost farmers’ resilience are, therefore, the most pressing issues that need to be addressed. This paper examines the linkage between livelihood capitals and livelihood resilience within the framework of sustainable livelihoods, based on survey data of rural households relocated for poverty alleviation in Guizhou, Chongqing, Hubei, and Shaanxi provinces in China, and uncovers the mediating effects of coping behaviors. The findings show that the relocated farmers’ livelihood resilience can be enhanced by developing their social capital, physical capital, financial capital, and coping behavior. Human capital does not directly contribute to resilient livelihoods, but it indirectly does so through coping behavior. This paper attempts to remedy the shortcomings of previous studies on the relationship between “livelihood capital and livelihood resilience” that disregarded the transmission of intermediate variables. The findings of this study have major theoretical and practical implications for expanding and refining the theory of sustainable livelihoods, enhancing response tactics, and bolstering the resilience of farmers’ livelihoods.

Ma Li
School of Public Affairs, Chongqing University
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