China’s Loess Plateau has escaped a social-ecological trap characterized by a vicious cycle of ecosystem degradation and poverty through ecological restoration practices and socioeconomic development.
Photo credit: Weiliang Chen.

By Zhuangzhuang Wang, Fu Bojie, Xutong Wu, Yingjie Li, Shuai Wang, and Nan Lu.

Read the full paper here.

Social phenomena such as poverty and limited livelihood opportunities can interact with ecosystem dynamics in mutually reinforcing ways, creating vulnerable pathways of development and undesirable states that are highly resilient to change. These situations are known as social-ecological traps. Research on social-ecological traps provides insights into how and why undesirable social-ecological outcomes occur and can inform management strategies to avoid or break free from these traps.

While the concept of social-ecological traps has gained traction in resilience and sustainability science, the operationalization of the trap concept lacks quantitative approaches. To fill this gap, we have developed a quantitative diagnostic framework that combines the comprehensive assessment approach and social-ecological network approach. The composite system state index is used to trace the development trajectories of a social-ecological system, and the social-ecological network is used to capture feedback mechanisms and interdependence relationships between system elements.

Applying the framework to China’s Loess Plateau, we show how the Loess Plateau was locked in and finally escaped a trap characterized by a vicious cycle of ecosystem degradation and poverty. Our analysis identified three periods of trap dynamics: locked into the trap (1949-1981), reacting to the trap (1981-2003), and escaping the trap (2003-2020). During the first period, the Loess Plateau was locked into an undesirable trajectory where reinforcing feedback occurred between rapid population growth, limited livelihood opportunities, excessive reliance on agriculture, and severe soil erosion. The most important trap factor identified by network analysis was the growing rural population that lacked alternative livelihoods. In the third period, urbanization broke the negative feedback structure dominated by the rural population, which relieved rural population pressure and promoted the diversification of livelihoods. Ecological restoration programs, such as the Grain for Green program, improved vegetation cover and effectively controlled soil erosion.

Our study confirms that the Loess Plateau has made significant progress in escaping the social-ecological trap during the 21st century through ecological restoration practices and socioeconomic development. Our analysis suggests three pathways for disrupting social-ecological traps in the Loess Plateau: promoting urbanization and livelihood diversity, implementing site-specific engineering measures (e.g., terraces and check-dams in the Loess Plateau), and investing in ecological restoration programs. The social-ecological trap faced by the Loess Plateau is also observed in many regions of the world, particularly in developing countries. Our framework and case study a is relevant for other places that face similar trap situations.