| The ecological effects of agricultural land use change have been the hot issues of land use/cover change research.A large number of studies have indicated that the effects of agricultural land use change on the ecological environment caused by the conversion of agriculture,which change with time-spatial variation.Therefore,it is necessary to make an in-depth study on agricultural land use change and ecological effects from the perspective of rural labor mobility.Households are the smallest economic activity subjects,whose livelihood activities can directly or indirectly affect the ecological environment. It is worthwhile to make an analysis of the ecological effects deriving from agricultural land use change caused by households’livelihood activities,which provide a good case for the study on coordinated development of rural economy and mountain ecological environment.Although there is no clear definition for ecological-pressure, a wide range of methods have been applied to assess the ecological pressure.The term appeared frequently in a large number of literatures of different theoretical background,but the ecological-pressure of peasant households is still lack of research. The households’ livelihood strategies are closely related to the eco-environment construction and restoration in mountain areas with complex relation of farmers and rural lands. In order to fully understand the sources and characteristics of eco-environmental pressure caused by households’livelihood activities, to seek ways to release pressure and promote the sustainable development of households" livelihoods and eco-environment, it is necessary to assess households’ecological-pressure.Youyang is a tipical county with mountainous region and big country coexisting in Chongqing,which is one of demonstration cities of balancing urban and rural development. In the process of urban and rural harmonious development, rural households’livelihoods and the ecological environment are taking place profound changes in mountainous areas.Taking Youyang county as a case study,it is benifical to understand the relationship between the evolution of households’ livelihoods and the eco-environment change,to seek ways to take into account the sustainable development of rural socio-economic and eco-environment. Based on the main interface households’livelihoods-land use-ecological effects, starting with Rural Labor Transfer, this paper not only studied livelihood assets of the different types of households and the sources and characteristics of their ecological-pressure, but also built an ecological-pressure evaluation system, using factor analysis to assess quantitatively households’ecological-pressure, households’ecological-pressure index =comprehensive factor scores namely. The results show that:(1)Households adjust their strategies of using natural assets with the increase of non-farm activities.①On the basis of the initial distribution of land, the per-household’area of contracted arable lands and contracted forest is consistent:pu re-agriculture households>agriculture-dependent households>non-farming-dependent households>non-agriculture households.②Households’land transfer area is propo-rtionate to non-farm activities time with the increase of non-farm activities, non-agriculture households>non-farming-dependent households>agriculture-dependent h-ouseholds>pure-agriculture households.③Households’abandoned arable land area is not only related to farmland conditions but also related to the family labor f-orce, and the aging pure agricultural households abandoned the most arable land area.④With the flow of natural assets, agriculture-dependent households gradually become the main force of the mountains agricultural production, the overall trend of actual farming area showed that agriculture-dependent households>pure-agricul-ture households>non-farming-dependent households>non-agriculture households.(2) There are obvious differences in physical assets distribution between households of different living styles.①Agriculture-dependent households have the most livestock assets.②Non-farming-dependent households use the most pesticide.③Most pure-agriculture households devote to intensive farming, so they need the largest amount of agricultural film. However, part-time peasant households tend to use more herbicide.④Pure-agriculture households prefer to reserve seeds, so they need the most grain seeds.⑤The amount of chemical fertilizers and farmyard manure is closely related to households’mechanization level. Agriculture-dependent households with high mechanization degree prefer farmyard manure to chemical fertilizers, but pure-agriculture households with low mechanization degree have to use chemical fertilizers instead of manure.⑥ifferent types of rural households are inclined to choose different types of household energy. Pure-agriculture households use most firewood and coal, and Agriculture-dependent households tend to use electrical energy and biogas; however, only part of part-time peasants households will choose liquefied gas and solar energy.(3)The overall trend of the status of households’livelihood strategies and the future adjustment willingness in study area keeps generally consistent.①The households’livelihood portfolio is demonstrating diversified trend. Non-farm diversification includes outside workers, business, doing odd jobs, household sideline, and so on. Agriculture diversification includes planting strategies diversification and breeding strategies diversification.②Farm agricultural activities show a narrowing trend, but non-farm activities show a expansion trend.③The fact that households are not interested in participating in the household registration reform reflects that the potential of releasing the population pressure is low.(4) The correlativity between influencing factors and ecological-pressure vari es with households. The main factors of households’ecological-pressure include the land input factors and land productivity factors. The land input factors reflect that non-agriculture households<agriculture-dependent households<non-agriculture households=pure-agriculture households. The land productivity factor reflects that agriculture-dependent households>pure-agriculture households=non-farming-depend-ent households>non-agriculture households.(5)Different households show different ecological-pressure. The study shows t hat pure-agriculture households and agriculture-dependent households have been i n general pressure state, that non-farming-dependent households in the state of th e medium pressure, that non-agriculture households in low and general pressure s tate.This paper determines the overall pressure according to the households’ecol-ogical-pressure mean value.The results shows that non-farming-dependent househo-lds(0.16)>agriculture-dependent households(0.15)>pure-agriculture households(0.13) >non-agriculture households(0.11).In order to reduce households’ecological-pressure, centering on part-time peasant households’livelihoods and achievements of conv-erting farmland into forest and grassland, it is quite advisable to reduce the am-ount of pesticides,chemical fertilizer,agricultural film and herbicides applied by p-easants with increasing farmyard manure. |
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