By Xiaoyin He, Wenjuan Zhao, Ronghua Zhong, and Ranhao Sun

Before resettlement (left), the local residents relied primarily on small-scale agriculture for their livelihoods, and the mountainous and uneven landscape made transportation and access to markets, schools, and public services difficult. After resettlement (right), the residents moved into a new community with improved infrastructure; however, most of them shifted to jobs that no longer involved direct contact with nature, such as factory workers or service staff.

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When people build large hydropower dams, many families must move away from the places where they have lived for generations. We wanted to understand how hydropower resettlement affects people’s views and experiences of nature, how they feel about their lives, and how their sense of nature shapes their happiness. Our study focuses on families who were relocated because of the Wudongde and Baihetan hydropower projects in the lower Jinsha River region of Southwestern China.

To understand the changes hydropower resettlement brought, we visited 14 resettlement communities and surveyed a total of 682 residents. We gathered information on how they experienced and valued nature both before and after moving—for example, the air quality of their surroundings, the benefits they derived from nature, and their emotional or cultural ties to their former homes. We also examined how satisfied they felt with their lives.

Residents experienced the greatest losses in practical benefits from nature, like food, water, and firewood. They also experienced declines in nature’s regulating benefits, such as cleaner air or flood protection, and in the emotional, cultural, and spiritual benefits that nature provides, which older residents and ethnic minority groups felt more strongly. At the same time, many people said their housing had improved and it was easier to access public services after resettlement. However, these gains often came at the expense of weaker social relationships. We also found migrants’ happiness after resettlement was closely linked to both the regulating benefits of nature and the emotional, cultural, and spiritual connections they maintained with nature.

Our study shows that resettlement affects more than just housing and living conditions. It also influences how people experience the natural world and how this shapes their sense of well-being. These findings suggest that future resettlement policies should go beyond providing material support. They should also consider how to protect or rebuild people’s relationships with nature, so that relocated families can not only meet their basic needs but also feel at home and emotionally connected in their new environments.