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Guangdong Chaoan Fenghuangdancong Tea (GCFT) Cultural System is the second batch of China’s Nationally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (China-NIAHS), identified by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs in 2014 as having rich biodiversity, valuable knowledge of indigenous technology, and unique ecological and cultural landscape. Under the dual background of rapid urbanization and agricultural industry structure transformation, China-NIAHS-GCFT is facing the reality of structural changes in land use/cover and landscape patterns. Therefore, it is important to systematically portray land use/land cover (LULC) changes in China-NIAHS-GCFT sites and clarify the spatial pattern differences due to the impact of China-NIAHS-GCFT recognition on tea garden areas and the tea industry. This study was conducted in Chaozhou City, Guangdong Province, where GCFT is located, to compare and analyze the LULC characteristics of the core area of the heritage site (Chaoan, Chaozhou) and the control area (Raoping, Chaozhou) before and after recognition. We assessed the spatial variation in tea garden area and the intrinsic driving mechanisms of the change by integrating social factors, such as China-NIAHS-GCFT recognition, and natural factors, such as elevation, precipitation, and temperature. The results show that: (1) Around 2010, the change in LULC of the core and control areas progressed from slight changes to dramatic changes, mainly shifting from natural to anthropogenic landscapes. The decrease in the cropland and grassland and the increase in built-up land in the core area were obviously larger than those in the control area. (2) Before and after GCFT was recognized as China-NIAHS in 2014, the changing pattern of tea garden shifts from “basically stable and small growth” to a trend of “substantial expansion”. Specifically, the recognition brought about tea garden area expansion and tea industry development in the core area, especially Fenghuang. Meanwhile, a radiating effect extends to the control area, especially the townships adjacent to Fenghuang. (3) Similar natural climatic conditions of temperature and precipitation in the two regions provide a basic growing environment for tea trees; however, elevation was the key natural resource condition affecting the distribution of tea gardens. The elevation conditions of the core area are more suitable for growth of tea trees compared to the control area.

Traditional agricultural industries in protected areas (PAs) provide opportunities for both nature conservation and the wellbeing of local residents. However, knowledge about the synergies between nature conservation and traditional agricultural industries is still limited. This research takes the traditional tea industry in Wuyishan National Park as a case to identify and examine the synergistic mechanism between forest conservation and industrial development, why traditional agricultural industries are necessary to the regional economy, and how they secure local livelihoods as well as achieve conservation goals. We conducted literature research and semi-structured interviews with Wuyishan National Park Authority, local government administrations, enterprises and small-scale farmers. The results were obtained through a two-stage mixed method of grounded theory and system dynamics. The findings revealed that: (1) Traditional agricultural industries in PAs were resilient and adaptable in the face of external changes, in which traditional culture and ecological awareness played an important role. (2) Small-scale agri-industries were vulnerable to external shocks, but they also have advantages in terms of moderate agglomeration and standardization, risk perception and response, and market-based diversification of production. (3) The synergetic process of traditional agricultural industries and conservation is mainstreaming biodiversity by cooperation among the government, the park agency, and local people. Thus, we suggested that the local government should work together with the PA management agencies to re-evaluate the existence of traditional agricultural industries for their necessity in the regional economy and the feasibility of improving local livelihoods.

Small-scale agriculture (SA) is regarded as unsustainability because of its low benefit. To protect traditional agricultural landscapes like terraces through SA will be difficult. However, in China, terraces are still maintained well by smallholders now. This study takes the family as a basic unit and SA in Hani terraced region as an object to explore its sustainability from the perspective of labor productivity (LP) through the questionnaire method. The findings are that peasant households work on both farm and non-farm jobs. They get a low income (3854.5 yuan RMB) from hybrid-rice-cropping and a high income (44,665.8 yuan RMB) from non-farm jobs but spend a small part of labors (34.23 person•days) in growing hybrid-rice and expended lots of labor (522 person•days) for non-farm jobs. In conclusion, LP of hybrid-rice-cropping is 1.32 times that of non-farm jobs for a household. The result shows SA in Hani terraced region has a higher return of labor investment than non-farm jobs. It is different from the common impression of the low benefit of SA and also explains why SA still continues to exist in the mountainous area in China now. However, SA in Hani terraced region also faces challenges with salary level rise of non-farm jobs and part-time farmers’ requirement for living quality improvement. In the future, promoting industrial integration development in this region to add local employment for improving farmers’ income is a feasible approach to protect terraced landscapes.

The ecological value encapsulated in the term “spiritual ecology” is drawing more and more attention from ethnology, folklore, ecology, and other related disciplines. The custom of respecting and pacifying forest spirits has distinct regional and ethnic characteristics, and many scholars have discovered samples from different studies around the world. Qingyuan County, located in the mountainous region of southwest Zhejiang, is a very typical case of the practice of respecting and pacifying forest spirits. The mushroom-cultivation technology invented by the chthonic people there more than 900 years ago made this the global birthplace of artificial mushroom cultivation. The Qingyuan Forest–Mushroom Co-cultivation System (QFMCS) has been listed as an important agricultural heritage system by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs of China, Beijing, China and a candidate project by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Rome, Italy for Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (GIAHS). Additionally, the QFMCS is currently an important part of the Baishanzu National Park under construction. The authors made an in-depth field study in the mountainous areas of Qingyuan and used theoretical methods of ecology, anthropology, and folklore to reveal the function spiritual ecology plays in ecological conservation, forest protection, identity, and the maintenance of community interests. In the “traditional-modern” transformation of Qingyuan County, the practice of respecting and pacifying the Spirits is still being propagated, resulting in expansion and social cohesion.

China has a deep traditional culture and a long history, and is rich in traditional settlements (designated as “Famous Historic-Cultural Villages/Towns”, “Chinese Traditional Villages” by Chinese Government). To help people develop these traditional settlements to achieve the great goal of Chinese National Rejuvenation, Chinese scholar put forward the Cultural Landscape Genes of Traditional Settlements (CLGTS) in 2003. Since then, CLGTS theory has been employed to solve the issues of Chinese traditional settlements, such as the identification and regionalization of cultural landscape genes in traditional settlements, and the understanding of architectural features. Although CLGTS theory has made great strides in many application fields, there is still a lack of scientific findings in exploring the symbol mechanism from a perspective of semiotics. To explore this, we firstly examined the core features of CLGTS through a dialectical perspective. We analyzed two features of CLGTS in depth. First, CLGTS is the dialectical combination of macro settlement image and micro cultural factors of traditional settlements, material appearance and inherent traditional cultural implications, overall features and local self-renewal mechanisms, qualitative and quantitative methods, superiority of cultural factors and rich cultural connotation. Second, CLGTS is famous for its nonlinearity, self-organization, and self-iteration due to various spatial shapes and complex structures. Based on the above, we first proposed the concept of Symbolization Method of CLGTS (SM-CLGTS). Then, we further explored the key features, classification methods, and corresponding representation methods of CLGTS symbols. Finally, by using Visual C#.net program language, we developed a prototype system of the Traditional Landscape Genetic Symbol Database (TLGSD) to create and centrally manage CLGTS symbols. Test results show that TLGSD can meet the needs of constructing a CLGTS symbol database for a given region. This study is of great significance to explore and contribute to visualizing the CLGTS symbols.

Since Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (IAHS) were launched by the FAO to protect the sustainable traditional agricultural systems around the world, their conservation has become a new difficult issue under the context of urbanization. Farmers in IAHS sites giving up small-scale traditional farming due to their low economic benefit and high labor intensity are considered as the main cause hindering effective conservation of these heritages. This study takes the Kuancheng traditional chestnut cultivation system (KTCCS) in northern China as a case to assess its economic and socio-cultural sustainability. Based on questionnaires and interviews, this study found that: the traditional ecological farming methods were still used by local farming households to plant chestnut trees, and most farmers support IAHS conservation. KTCCS performs economic and socio-cultural sustainability. For a household, the labor productivity of chestnut cultivation was 1.33 times that of their non-farm jobs because of the low labor input of chestnut cultivation. Farmers widely consider they live in a harmonious social environment but are lower than other households in economic status. Most farmers still lack an understanding of indigenous traditional knowledge and cultures. In the future, secondary and tertiary industries should be developed to provide farmers with employment opportunities in their hometowns for protecting KTCCS.

How we scientifically measure residents’ perception of tourism developments and earn their understanding and support have an important impact on the scientific management and sustainable utilization of tourist attractions. This study analyzes the mediating role of perceived justice and community identity between residents’ perceptions of tourism’s impact and their support for tourism development by integrating the theories of social exchange theory (SET) and ‘cognition–affection–conation’ (CAC) relationship theory. We surveyed 334 interviewees in the Xinghua Duotian Agrosystem (XHDA), a Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (GIAHS) site in Jiangsu Province, China. The findings of our study are as follows: (1) Residents’ perceptions had both a direct and indirect influence over behavioral intentions. Specifically, benefit perception of tourism had a significant positive influence, while cost perception had a significant negative influence on residents’ support for tourism development. (2) Perceived justice and community identity played an intermediary role in the relationship between tourism impact perception and support for tourism development. (3) The mediating role of emotions had strong effects on their behavioral intentions via its psychological transmission chain of perceptions. The results suggest that community-based tourism (CBT) may be an effective tool for local residents to diversify their livelihoods in the GIAHS site, and the mediating role of perceived justice and community identity should be taken seriously for the development of CBT in GIAHS sites.

Exploring win-win approaches to ecological conservation and community development goals is a central issue in the management of PAs. Achieving sustainable management of ESs in PAs is more of a social governance issue, requiring the SES managers to understand the diverse tradeoffs among ESs and well-beings and design management plans with supportive governance processes and institutions. To solve this issue, ESs importance was chosen as the entry point, which is good at "understanding" but weak in "designing" in most cases. We proposed a "KESs-based PAs management plans formulating framework," which is born out of the ESs importance analysis and knowledge for win-win management in PAs. Through the six steps and two tools ("Identification Methodology for PAs KESs" and the "Standard Strategies for PAs KESs Management") embedded in the framework, the win-win management plan for dual goals could be formulated. By applying the framework in the Shennongjia National Park in China, we obtained three directions for adjusting strategies and eight directions for adjusting measures for the National Park Services to formulate management plans. The framework promotes the sustainable management of ESs in PAs by making up for the gap in applying ESs importance in designing feasible, specific, and systematic management plans with policies and institutions.

Although numerous studies have explored the role of government, conservation managers and local residents in the governance of protected areas, little attention has been paid to the role of tourists. Based on a field survey and a network-based content analysis of tourists’ perceptions and expectations of Wuyishan National Park, this research sought to promote the governance of national parks by strengthening the tourists’ influence. The results showed that: (1) tourists had a changing, but still narrow understanding of the national park’s functions, (2) tourists’ expectations of tourism and recreational functions are growing more diversified, and (3) lack of information restrained them from making an effective contribution to conservation. The results suggest that tourists can be effective in conservation governance with the aid of better publicity and closer interactions with other stakeholders. This study has theoretical and managerial implications for understanding the role of tourists in the governance of national parks.

Management evaluation is increasingly required for national parks worldwide as it is an essential mechanism for improving management levels and achieving management objectives. The management capacity evaluation (MCE), an integral component of management evaluation, emphasizes the suitability of management measures. It helps identify the deficiencies in existing management measures and form feedback to improve them, thus increasing the overall management level of national parks. However, the existing MCE methods from international programs suffer from limited adaptability and are difficult to promote in other countries. In this research, we apply the best practice-based (BPB) method to the Three-River-Sources National Park (TNP), the first national park in China, to reveal the changes in its management capacity during the pilot period. The BPB method is new compared with other MCE methods, but is more adaptable to the current situation of China’s national parks. Results show that TNP’s comprehensive management capacity and the five aspects of management capacities improved effectively, which means the management measures adopted during the pilot phase were generally appropriate and practicable. Some management capacities, such as management organization, legal system construction, management planning, and natural resources confirmation and registration performed well or improved significantly during the pilot period, providing beneficial lessons for other national parks in China. Some management capacities, such as the ecological compensation scheme, monitoring and early warning system, and management team, are still deficient and should be prioritized for future improvement. The effectiveness and operability of the BPB method are validated in this research, as it provides a rapid and accurate diagnosis of TNP’s management capacities and useful feedback for improving them. We submit that the BPB method not only contributes to the theoretical improvement of MCE methods, but also shows wider adaptability to different protected area types and countries.

This research examines perceptions of ecosystem services (ES) and social well-being in the Wuyishan National Park, China. This study analyses the importance of and linkages between them based on the impact of new designation of protected areas on this social-ecological system. Realisation of rural well-being is critical to park-people relations in populated protected areas, and effective resolution is needed to achieve positive conservation outcomes. We conducted 372 structured interviews with community members with different livelihood strategies. Key findings from the research include: (1) the importance of provisioning (e.g., tea, rice, timber) and cultural ES (e.g., local culture, eco-tourism) is related to both current livelihood necessity and future development pursuit. (2) The perceived material well-being is higher than spiritual well-being, and high social well-being is closely related to high-income groups and those that think highly of cultural services, i.e., those engaged in non-agricultural activities (e.g., tourism) and tea cultivation. (3) Cultural values are better preserved in tea and rice cultivation and tourism, but in general, they are not incorporated to improve social well-being. The results suggest that Protected area (PA) management of local communities must seek cultural valorisation for differentiated livelihood strategies for rural people’s sustainable livelihood and stability of the social-ecological system.

Conservation-compatible development of rural communities is an important part of nature conservation objectives. Understanding the role of agriculture, which is often practiced in or bordering the protected areas in rural China, is critical for managing conservation networks considering that limited spatial areas are available for enclosed protected areas. Important Agricultural Heritage Systems stand out for their multi-functionality, and some of their values are compatible with nature conservation. This paper examined the concept, management objectives and resource management characteristics of the Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (IAHS) by analysing their interactions with national parks in terms of community development. The results reveal that management strategies of dynamic conservation, integrated protection and adaptive management of the IAHS can contribute to those national park management objectives concerning conservation-compatible livelihood. However, the typology of the protected area system, including the traditional agricultural system as a new type, needs further consideration.

Tourism can be an important strategy for conserving traditional agricultural systems and potentially enhancing livelihoods of hosting communities. The intricate and complex relations betwee...

Starting from livelihood capitals of households and regarding planting structures and wills of households as the core, this paper explores elements and mechanisms influencing households’ planting decisions in Zhagana Agriculture-Forestry-Animal Husbandry Composite System, the first Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems site in Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, China. (1) Based on DFID’s Sustainable Livelihoods Approach, this paper highlights the influences of traditional cultures and information technology on livelihood activities and formulates a livelihood capital accounting framework for agricultural heritage systems. According to accounting results, the average value of livelihood capitals of households is 2.617. (2) This paper divides planting decisions of households into planting structures demonstrated in the current phase and planting willingness demonstrated in anticipated phase. As to planting structures, oilseeds, highland barley and potatoes rank the top 3 among the 66.601 ha of cultivated lands involved. As to planting willingness, households show a relatively stronger planting will of oilseeds and a relatively weaker planting will of barley. (3) This paper selects the SUR model and the Probit model to screen livelihood capital indicators obviously relevant to planting decisions. Based on a statistical analysis, this paper makes element analyses of livelihood capital indicators with an obvious relevance one by one and finally screens incentive, restrictive and regulatory livelihood capital indicators influencing planting decisions of households. In addition, the “incentive livelihood capital indicators” influencing households’ highland barley-planting decisions refer to households' cultivated area and productivity of farming activities.

In relation to the Food and Agriculture Organization’s 2002 Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems project, increasing attention has been devoted to agricultural heritage and tour...

The promotion of water-saving irrigation on regional level will bring complex impacts on agricultural production, farmers' welfare, exploitation and utilization of water resource. The policy on the development of water-saving irrigation are not always positive and practical. The overall goal of this study is to analyze the impact on irrigation methods, plantation structure, water consumption and economic benefits brought by drip irrigation under film (DIUF) promotion policy. Based on a field survey in North China Plain, this study set three policy scenarios which limit total irrigation area and total water consumption. The results showed that: In terms of agricultural production and farmers’ welfare, DIUF promoted the utilization of irrigation methods (increased by 70%, 70% and 64%). Driven by economic benefits, farmers tend to grow economic crops which are relatively water-consuming to increase net income (increased by 77.54%, 60.72% and 46.52%). On the aspect of regional water resource development and utilization, subsidy on the DIUF increased the total regional water consumption with the change of irrigation methods and plantation structure (increased by 34.27%, 32.20% and 21.84%). Surface and underground water compensation through reflux and leakage decreased (decreased by 78.65%, 70.93% and 73.20%). These results and implications offer an insight to improve strategies and policies that enable to cope with water scarcity in arid area.

How to protect the Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (IAHS) has become a practical problem to be solved due to its number increasing rapidly. To promote the industrial integration development (IID) in IAHS sites was an essential measure regarded widely. This paper first reviewed IID theories, and then analyzed resources characteristics in IAHS sites and IAHS conservation requirements. Then based on these aspects, an IID theoretical framework was built for IAHS sites. In the theoretical framework, the definition and connotation and the principles that IID should abide by were proposed first, and then an implemented procedure of IID was built. The implemented procedure drew an IID route for IAHS sites, which describes the key indexes of assessment on the IID level, how to analyze resources characteristics, which resource types can be used, how to achieve industrial integration, how to organize operating entities of industries and how to balance benefits of stakeholders. The theory indicated the distinctiveness and key aspects of IID in IAHS sites and suggested how to promote the IID in IAHS sites and which themes are research priorities.

The effects of straw alone or combined with industrial and agricultural wastes as fertilizers on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are still poorly known in cropland areas. Here, we studied the effects of 3.5 Mg ha−1 straw and 3.5 Mg ha−1 straw combined with 8 Mg ha−1 of diverse wastes on GHG emission in a subtropical Jasminum sambac plantation in southeastern China. There were five treatments in a completely randomized block design: control, straw only, straw + biochar, straw + steel slag, and straw + gypsum slag. Emissions of carbon dioxide were generally higher in the treatments with waste than in the control or straw-only treatments, whereas the contrary pattern was observed in CH4 and N2O emission rates. Moreover, the total global warming potentials (GWPs) were no significantly higher in most of the amended treatments as compared to the control and straw-only treatments. In relation to the treatment with only straw, GWPs were 9.4% lower when steel slag was used. This finding could be a consequence of Fe amount added by steel slag, which would limit and inhibit the emissions of GHGs and their transport from soil to atmosphere. Our results showed that the application of slags did not increase the emission of GHGs and that the combination of straw with steel slag or biochar could be more effective than straw alone for controlling GHGs emission and improve soil C and nutrient provision.

At present, the establishment of a natural protected area system with national parks as the main subject has attracted widespread attention from all corners of Chinese society. Eco-compensation mechanism is an important institutional guarantee for the construction of China’s system for natural protected areas. However, the current research over eco-compensation policies for China’s national parks and relevant practices are far from systematic and lacking of top-level design. Based on the current research and practices of eco-compensation to national parks (NPEC) at home and abroad, this paper has considered China’s requirements for the pilot areas in the national park system, proposed a theoretical framework on the basis of clarifying the connotation of eco-compensation, and thus formulated four key techniques. The techniques include identifying compensation subjects, formulating compensation methods, determining compensation standards, and expanding financing channels, with a view to providing a top-level design for the establishment of an NPEC mechanism in China.

Rural communities are taking active roles in conservation. However, the basic modes and content of community participatory approach are seldom summarised or reflected on in China, leaving the use of terms confused and their links to practice disconnected. By reviewing the literature, we traced back to the protected area-community relations from the perspective of features of rural communities, namely knowledge accumulation, social bond, collective actions, and risk-aversion, and reflected on changing roles of community conservation through recognition of these features. Combining case studies and our own research experience, we focused on the de facto practices behind the somewhat casual use of several terms and re-classified community participation in conservation to three modes of community participatory management, community co-management, and community dominant management, along a continuum in which, from low to high level, conservation is more a means rather than an end for the community to be empowered for their own resource management. We argued that the success of community participation must ensure stable and flexible land tenure so that the right to benefit can be guaranteed, and the collective action in managing resources can be achieved by empowerment. In practice, further institutional changes of improvement in the legislation and optimisation in benefit sharing and compensation are needed to promote community participation in a broader social participation context.

The impact of ecological compensation policies on farmers' livelihoods is related to the sustainability of policies and social equity. How do different compensation methods affect farmers' livelihood assets? This paper uses China's Three-River-Source National Park System Pilot Area (TNP) as the research area, and designs three compensation scenarios: cash subsidy, material supply, and technical training. We evaluated the impact of different compensation methods on the livelihood assets of farmers, and reveals the impact path of ecological compensation on different livelihood assets. The results show that cash subsidies can effectively improve the livelihood assets of farmers (17.04%), the five types of livelihood capital distribution are most reasonable under technical training method (0.306); Three compensation methods have improved the human assets of rural households (40.48%, 18.57%, and 0.48% respectively) and physical assets (30.15%, 26.84%, and 9.56% respectively). It also show different effects on farmers' financial assets (44.00%, −11.43%, and 1.14%) and social assets (19.15%, −17.02%, and 10.64%, respectively). Ecological compensation reduced farmers' natural assets (32.89%), but all three compensation methods stimulated farmers to improve their education levels (59.06%, 0.79%, and 7.87%, respectively), which affected farmers' human assets; The improvement of means of production (41.54%, 50.00% and 7.69% respectively) and the family living conditions (75.00%, 25.00% and 75.00% respectively) affect the physical assets of farmers; Changes in natural assets, human assets, and physical assets affect the financial assets of farmers, while social assets is affected by financial assets and human assets.

Zhagana Agriculture-Forest-Animal Husbandry Composite System (ZCS) is the first Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems site in the Tibetan Plateau. Similar to many traditional agricultura...

Eco-compensation should be given to farmers in order to promote the Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (GIAHS) for a higher level of eco-services. However, differences in farmer's livelihood endowments and strategies can directly affect the initiatives of their participation in compensation policies, resulting in different effects of these incentive policies. In order to improve the efficiency of eco-compensation policies, this paper takes Zhejiang Qingtian Rice-fish Culture System (RF) and Yunnan Yuanyang Hani Rice Terraces System (RT) as examples and adopts the canonical correlation mode to analyze, from the perspective of the heterogeneity of livelihood endowments, the impacts of farmers’ livelihood endowments on their participation in eco-compensation policies. The results showed that: (1) Cash compensation of the GIAHS eco-compensation program is a more popular method among farmers. The higher the comprehensive quality of the farmers is, the more acceptable the compensation polices will become and the higher their initiatives will be to participate in GIAHS conservation and agricultural production; (2) Land capital is a key positive factor influencing the satisfaction of the compensation policies of non-agricultural households and households with concurrent business. Human capital, on the other hand, is a negative factor influencing the initiatives of farmers’ participation in the GIAHS conservation. (3) The material capital in the R-F will improve farmers’ policy satisfaction, while financial capital and social capital can best affect the farmers’ initiatives to participate in the GIAHS conservation. (4) The land capital and material capital in the R-T affect farmers’ policy satisfaction. Material capital is also a positive factor influencing the initiatives of agricultural conservation.

Small-scale agriculture (SA) is regarded as unsustainability because of its low benefit. To protect traditional agricultural landscapes like terraces through SA will be difficult. However, in China, terraces are still maintained well by smallholders now. This study takes the family as a basic unit and SA in Hani terraced region as an object to explore its sustainability from the perspective of labor productivity (LP) through the questionnaire method. The findings are that peasant households work on both farm and non-farm jobs. They get a low income (3854.5 yuan RMB) from hybrid-rice-cropping and a high income (44,665.8 yuan RMB) from non-farm jobs but spend a small part of labors (34.23 person•days) in growing hybrid-rice and expended lots of labor (522 person•days) for non-farm jobs. In conclusion, LP of hybrid-rice-cropping is 1.32 times that of non-farm jobs for a household. The result shows SA in Hani terraced region has a higher return of labor investment than non-farm jobs. It is different from the common impression of the low benefit of SA and also explains why SA still continues to exist in the mountainous area in China now. However, SA in Hani terraced region also faces challenges with salary level rise of non-farm jobs and part-time farmers' requirement for living quality improvement. In the future, promoting industrial integration development in this region to add local employment for improving farmers' income is a feasible approach to protect terraced landscapes.

To cope with the problem of the global agricultural environment, food security, and the crisis of sustainable agricultural development, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), together with other relevant national organizations and several countries, launched the Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (GIAHS) in 2002. The Qingtian Rice-Fish system was designated as China&rsquo, s first GIAHS and was included in the first batch of GIAHS pilot sites, in 2005. Since then, study of systematic agricultural heritage and its conservation and development has progressed in China. On the basis of a comprehensive collection of relevant studies, the author reviews the main achievements in conservation and development of China-Nationally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (China-NIAHS) over the past 15 years. At the present stage, the core contents of study on agricultural heritage are focused on two aspects. One is the benefit of exploration with multi-functional development. Another is dynamic conservation with adaptive management. There are many controversies around the concept and connotation of agricultural heritage, which, in turn, promote the understanding of this new type of heritage. The sustainable mechanism within agricultural heritage gives itself value diversity. Study about the value of agricultural heritage highlights the significance of conservation. The development of multi-functional industrials based on its multi-functional value is the pathway for the development of China-NIAHS, including the production of high-quality and characteristic local agricultural products, the development of ecotourism, and the development of cultural industries. To carry out dynamic conservation and adaptive management, the establishment of "five in one" benefit-sharing, multi-stakeholder mechanisms, legally guaranteed incentive mechanisms, government-leading, multi-financing mechanisms, and multi-disciplinary scientific support mechanisms are indispensable. Although China has made great progress in the study of agricultural heritage, it still needs to carry out additional research through heritage resources surveys, regular patterns of system evolution, and sustainable mechanisms, as well as perform more applicable research in framework and mechanism construction and paradigms of dynamic protection. Multidisciplinary comprehensive studies are necessary as well.

Compensation programs ensure the efficacy of water conservation programs and sustainability of interregional water cooperation. Here, a water conservation compensation standard model based on the cost and contribution to benefits regarding water quality and quantity was constructed and then applied to the Paddy Land-to-Dry Land Program (PLDLP) in the Beijing-Hebei region of China. We found that the PLDLP reduced the pollution load of total nitrogen and total phosphorous to downstream areas by 27.63% and 88.53% respectively; runoff to downstream areas increased by 4.22%. Without considering the labor costs of family members, the net income of farmers decreased 41.65%, and the compensation standard was calculated at 5165.41 CNY per ha. From the perspective of social comprehensive value, income generated from becoming migrant worker was treated as an opportunity cost for farmers and under this model the net income of farmers decreased 10.99% and compensation standard was calculated at 1362.95 CNY per ha.

Rural landscape changes have attracted wide interest from related researchers. Economic factors driving land use changes in rural areas have been studied frequently. Up to now, however, the importance of culture in enhancing the resistance of landscapes to external shocks has not been given attention. In this paper, the key aim is to identify the importance of culture in maintaining agricultural landscapes through analyzing the employment of farmers and taking Hani rice terraces in Southwest China as a case. We employ a questionnaire survey method in this research. The results show that: most farmers in the Hani terraced areas are part-time farmers who are engaged in non-farm jobs in the cities near their hometowns during the slack farming season; Local non-farm work provides the convenience of returning home and avoids difficult employment in distant cities; most people plan to continue farming and support landscape conservation, but do not want the next generation to farm. We found that, in agricultural heritage sites, culture maintains the stability of traditional landscapes through its pull and resistance. The pull drives Hani people to stay in or near their hometown and to persist in farming in the terraces according to well-established land use ways. The resistance makes people hold on to stagnant thinking, poor scientific knowledge, etc. and not adapt to non-local society.

Based on the summarization of previous studies, this paper constructed an analytical model on the driving factors on the choice of farmers&rsquo, livelihood strategies in nature reserves, covering the aspects of natural disasters, public policies, family characteristics, and livelihood assets, and this paper took Zhagana Village in Qinghai-Tibet Plateau as an example to conduct an empirical study. The empirical results show that non-agricultural production strategies, especially a tourism-oriented strategy, are currently the primary livelihood preference for households in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. During the process of livelihood strategy selection, households are influenced by exogenous factors like public policies and natural disasters, as well as by endogenous factors like family characteristics and livelihood assets. Among these factors, the soil erosion as well as the tourism development policy would be the restrictive factors when choosing an agricultural production strategy, or the incentive factors if a non-agricultural production strategy were to be chosen. Meanwhile, anti-poverty development policy, location characteristic, and economic characteristic are the incentive factors for households who want to choose an agricultural production strategy, or the restrictive factors if they would like to select a non-agricultural production strategy.

The Qingyuan mushroom culture system (QMCS) in Zhejiang Province has been recognized as the source of the world&rsquo, s first artificial cultivation of mushrooms with a history of more than 800 years. The system embodies the farming wisdom of the local people who have adapted themselves to and utilized nature and has integrated the traditional bark hacking method with multiple modern patterns for mushroom cultivation based on artificial microbial strains. We have investigated the input&ndash, output operation of farmers and assessed and analyzed emergy indicators in a bid to reflect and compare their economic and ecological benefits, as well as their sustainable development by analyzing the three typical mushroom cultivation patterns. The cost-benefit analysis of the three patterns shows that the sawdust medium-cultivated method (SMCM) is characterized by dominance in both net income without labor cost and labor productivity, while the evaluation based on emergy indicators has proven that each has its own advantages and disadvantages in terms of ecological and economic benefits and sustainable development. Among them, the bark hacking method (BHM) features the highest utilization rates of local and renewable resources, the smallest damage to the environment, the lowest production efficiency, and the highest exchange efficiency, but the sawdust medium-cultivated method is just the opposite, and the log-cultivated method (LCM) is the most favorable one for sustainable development. As its agricultural heritage, the QMCS&rsquo, core of dynamic protection and adaptive management lies in enhancing the sustainable development of its agricultural production methods. It is recommended that the three patterns be improved by targeting their respective shortcomings and at the same time, integrate their advantages to explore a new sustainable development pattern for mushroom cultivation.

In agriculture, synthetic fertilizers have played a key role in enhancing food production and keeping the world&rsquo, s population adequately fed. China&rsquo, s participation is essential to global efforts in reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions because it is the largest producer and consumer of synthetic fertilizers. A field experiment was conducted in a Jasminum sambac (L.) field to evaluate the impact different doses of fertilizers (half, standard, and double) and their combination with straw on ecosystem (including crop plants and soil) GHG emissions. The results showed that in comparison with the control or straw treatments, the straw + standard fertilizer treatment increased the soil water content. The fertilizer treatments decreased the soil pH, but the straw and combination treatments, especially the straw + standard fertilizer treatment, had higher soil pH in comparison with the fertilizer treatment. The active soil Fe (Fe2+ and Fe3+) concentration was slightly increased in the straw + standard fertilizer treatment in comparison with the control. Moreover, fertilizer increased the CO2 emission, and we detected a positive interaction between the straw application and the double fertilization dose that increased CO2 emission, but the straw + standard fertilizer treatment decreased it. Fertilizer decreased CH4 and N2O emissions, but when straw and fertilizer treatments were applied together, this increased CH4 and N2O emissions. Overall, considering the soil properties and GHG emissions, the straw + standard fertilizer treatment was the best method to enhance soil water retention capacity, improve soil acid, and mitigate greenhouse gas emissions for sustainable management of J. sambac dry croplands.

We studied the impacts of an increasingly common change in land use from paddy field to jasmine fields on the emission of greenhouse gases (GHGs), which have supposed the transformation of more than 1200 ha only in the last decade in the surroundings of Fuzhou city in response to economic changes. The possible increases that this can suppose constitutes and environmental concern in China. We studied areas dedicated to rice crop that have been partially converted to jasmine cultivation with some parts still kept as rice fields. Emissions of CO2, CH4 and N2O varied significantly among the seasons. CO2 and CH4 cumulative emissions and the global-warming potential (GWP) of these emissions were significantly lower in the jasmine than the paddy field. N2O emission, N2O cumulative emission, however, were higher in the jasmine than the paddy field, despite in some concrete studied periods the differences were not statistically significant. The total decrease in GHG emissions from the conversion from rice to jasmine production was strongly influenced by the indirect effects of various changes in soil conditions. The expected changes due to the great differences in water and fertilization use and management and organic matter input to soil between these two crops were in great part due to modified soil traits. According to structural equation models, the strong direct effects of the change from rice to Jasmine crop reducing the emissions of CO2 and N2O were partially decreased by the indirect effects of crop type change decreasing soil pH and soil [Fe2+] for CO2 emissions and by decreasing soil salinity and soil [Fe3+] for N2O emissions. The negative effects of the crop conversion on CH4 emissions were mostly due to the globally negative indirect effects on soil conditions, by decreases in soil salinity, water content and [Fe2+]. Soil salinity, water content, pH, [Fe2+], [Fe3+] and [total Fe] were significantly lower in the jasmine than the paddy field, but temperature had the opposite pattern. CO2 emissions were generally correlated positively with salinity, temperature, and water content and negatively with [Fe3+] and [total Fe] in both fields. CH4 emissions were positively correlated with salinity, temperature, water content and pH in both fields. N2O emissions were positively correlated with temperature and were negatively correlated with water content, pH, [Fe2+], [Fe3+] and [total Fe] in both fields. CO2 was the most important GHG for the GWPs, and the total GWP was significantly lower for the jasmine than for the rice cropland field. The change in the land use in this area of paddy fields will decreased the global GHG emission, and the effect on the GWPs was mostly due to changes in soil properties.

Water pollution is a well-known major problem in the Tai Lake Basin, China. Compared to industries and domestic sewage, non-point pollution from agriculture is more difficult to detect, measure, and control. Therefore, a range of policies has been formulated, among which is that of ‘adjustment of the planting structure.’ However, this policy during implementation has been used to simply convert paddy fields to dry land and food crops to cash crops. More surprisingly, to date, no research has provided evidence that such an agricultural land-use change contributes to the reduction of agricultural nutrient pollution. Based on an extensive farm survey, this research finds that conversion of rice paddy to dry land farming has not generated a positive effect on nutrient pollution control. It is estimated that nitrogen runoff from agricultural land has increased by 11 %, while phosphorus runoff has increased more than two times since land-use patterns changed, as farmers are inclined to apply more fertilizer on dry land than in paddy fields. However, this agricultural land-use change is economically effective as land-use conversion increases the net profits of farming in a significant way. It is demonstrated that, compared to environmental concerns, economic considerations are seen to have greater benefits after such an adjustment in the planting structure. These findings have important implications for policy making by local authorities in their efforts to improve environmental management and pollution control in their territories.

Organic cultivation methods would be a good alternative to conventional cultivation, avoiding the use of industrial fertilizer and reducing the risk of eutrophication, but its impacts on soil elemental composition and stoichiometry warrants to be clearly stated. This study was conducted to determine the effects of long-term organic cultivation on soil elemental composition, stoichiometry, and C storing capacity and CO² emissions in the plant-soil systems of jasmine (Jasminum spp.) and tea [Camellia sinensis (L.) Ktze.] plantations in Fujian and other regions in China. We examined the impact of organic cultivation on the concentrations, contents and stoichiometric relationships among C, N, P, and K. Organic cultivation was associated with lower plant N and P concentrations, and P mineralomasses and with higher total plant C/N, C/P, C/K, and N/P ratios and higher soil N and P concentrations and contents at some depths. Organic cultivation was thus associated with a shift of P from plants to soil and with a higher nutrient-use efficiency in biomass production, mainly of P. Soil CO² emissions were higher under organic cultivation, but the soil was able to accumulate more C with no changes in C storage in plant biomass, suggesting that organic cultivation could increase the overall C sequestration, thereby mitigating climate change and enhancing soil nutrient content. Our results thus showed that the organic cultivation of jasmine and tea in Fujian can improve soil fertility and C accumulation, reduce the use of industrial fertilizers and phytosanitary products, and improve product quality without loss of economical profits.

Although the urgency of their conservation has been recognized, Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (GIAHS) designated by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) since 2002 and China Nationally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (China-NIAHS) certified by the Ministry of Agriculture (MOA) of China since 2012 are faced with questions as to why to conserve them, what is to be conserved, who should conserve them, and how? This paper attempts to clarify and respond to such questions focusing on the conservation of agricultural heritage systems in China based on a review of both theoretical and practical progress. Agricultural heritage systems exhibit a multitude of values for sustainable and equitable development and therefore should be conserved for both present and future generations. Unlike most conventional heritages, the conservation of agricultural heritage systems is a complex, systematic “engineering” in which both physical and biological components and associated socio-cultural processes should be conserved in a dynamic way. Farmers and heritage sites must benefit from the continuance of traditional agricultural production under the premise of ecological functions being sustained and traditional culture being inherited. For a more effective conservation, a multi-stakeholder process should be established involving governments at different levels, multi-disciplinary scientists, communities and farmers, and business enterprises as well as social organizations. As has been demonstrated, the conservation of agricultural heritage systems aims to promote the regional sustainable development, to improve the livelihood, food security and well-being of farm people, and to provide references for the development of modern agriculture in China.

The Hani Rice Terraces System, based on gravity-flow irrigation, is one of the Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (GIAHS) pilot sites selected by FAO in 2010. The water resource plays an important role in the sustainable development of this system. The value of water conserved by the forest is influenced by natural, economic and social factors. In this paper, the water quality, per capita water resources, per capita GDP and population density are chosen as indices to construct an index system for a comprehensive evaluation of water resources value. The weights of these indices are 0.443, 0.31, 0.141 and 0.106 respectively, which are determined by the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) method. The water resources value has been assessed by the fuzzy comprehensive evaluation model. The results show that the water resources value in the Hani Rice Terraces System is 4.25 RMB/m3. Evaluating the value of water resources in the Hani Rice Terraces System can provide a reference for ecological compensation, for raising public awareness of the importance of protecting the system, and ultimately achieving its sustainable development.

Agricultural Heritage Systems Tourism (AHST) has increased considerably in the past ten years and is projected to continue growing in the future. Despite such growth, there is not a shared understanding of many aspects of the tourism development framework for all kinds of agricultural heritage sites. Given that meanings and characteristics are critical to determining the appeal of a particular activity among tourism consumers and because the development directions of AHST are essential for achieving heritage conservation goals, a study was conducted in 2014-2015 to assess stakeholder preferences for definitional phrases and their perceptions. This manuscript summarizes the characteristics of AHST in four aspects, taking agri-cultural heritage systems in China as examples: 1) synthesis of agritourism, cultural heritage tourism, and ecotourism; 2) annual variation of tourism attractions and activities; 3) the dominant role of artisan farmers; 4) the unique gastronomic experiences of traditional food. Finally, there are some objectives offered by this research from economic, environmental, cultural, social and political perspectives to build a framework of AHST according to its features and characteristics. Based on environmental and cultural objectives, with political and social support, through reaching the core objectives of economic development, AHST will be sustainable and agricultural heritage systems will be well conserved. This study carries important implications for the further applications of AHST.

The eco-compensation targeting agricultural non-point source pollution is considered to have a positive role in the farmland environment. However, the effect depends on how the farmers respond and implement the policies. This paper aimed to understand whether the agricultural eco-compensation changes the farmers' planting decision and to what extent it affects the input of chemicals. Taking World Heritage, Hani Terraces in southwest China as an example, this paper established a multi-objective production decision model for farmers to analyze the impact of different compensation standards on farmers' planting decisions and welfare. The results showed that, when the eco-compensation standard is relatively low, farmers tend to adopt the planting structure with higher income to make up for the loss caused by reducing chemicals input. With the increase of eco-compensation standard, the input intensity of chemicals (per unit area) continues to decrease. However, the total amount of chemical inputs increases first and then decreases as the planting structure changes. That means, agricultural eco-compensation may not necessarily reduce chemical input. The results show the importance to pay attention to the behavior changes when eco-compensation is designed and implemented and will have a positive effect on the sustainability of the eco-compensation policy.

An agricultural heritage system is a special type of protected area that is both culturally and ecologically important. Biological resources are an essential component of an agricultural heritage system. They are necessary to support human livelihood, and their usage is key to ensuring biodiversity. This study used a survey questionnaire and key informant interviews to investigate the use of edible biological resources (EBRs) in the Shuangjiang Mengku ancient tea and culture system (SMATCS). We investigated similarities and differences in EBR use between four minority groups as well as the driving forces behind them. The four groups used 245 EBR species in 113 families, and diversity of EBR use was found in terms of species, edible parts, harvest season, and usage. EBR use within groups was driven by natural, cultural, social, and economic forces. Two social factors (infrastructure and communication), two economic factors (overall economic development and farmer income), and a biological resource (species diversity) drove EBR utilization in all the groups convergently, while three cultural factors drove EBR utilization divergently. To assure the long-term sustainability of EBRs, the preservation of cultural diversity should be combined with the conservation of biodiversity. Targets must be set to adjust the impacts of the driving factors, and more stakeholders must be involved in the conservation of EBRs.

As a long-term mechanism for eco-compensation, the ‘Hematopoiesis-Compensation Policy’ (HCP) such as industrial transformation can effectively improve the operability and efficiency of compensation policy. However, compared with the ‘Transfusion-compensation Policy’ (TCP) such as the cash subsidy, can HCP quickly achieve the goal of eco-compensation? Does HCP require more total investment in compensation funds? This paper takes the Shennongjia National Park System Pilot Zone (SNJNP) as the research area and takes the eco-compensation policy to encourage farmers to return farmland to forest as the research object. We set three different compensation modes of TCP and HCP, and study the compensation scenarios in the next 20 years. The results show that HCP can achieve the purpose of compensation faster than TCP. Although the annual payment of HCP is relatively higher at the beginning, both the annual expenditure and the cumulative expenditure will decrease significantly. Therefore, later annual expenditure and cumulative total expenditure of HCP will be lower than TCP.

Fifteen years have passed since Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) launched the Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (GIAHS) project in 2002. In this time, participation from East Asian countries has been increasing rapidly with interest flowing over into several related subjects and disciplines. Culture is one of the selection criteria that has to be satisfied to become a GIAHS site, and equally culture plays an important role in the development of tourism to a destination. However, few scientists or GIAHS members have discussed directly how to apply cultural features in GIAHS. Therefore, the purposes of this paper are firstly to recognize the importance and contribution of culture in GIAHS. Then, through detailing the current forms of cultural management in the GIAHS located in Japan, Korea, and China, we identify some of the key cultural problems and prospects in those sites. Two social surveys conducted in Japan show that culture is a prime motivation for tourist visitation, as well as being a core GIAHS selection criteria. These surveys further highlight that GIAHS needs to incorporate culture more effectively into their management strategies. Detailed descriptions of the three countries analyzed in this paper outline each has to engage with particular cultural management challenges: Japan has a well-arranged list of cultural assets, but is unclear how to move forward with that information and data. Korea has just begun to generate a strategy on how to manage cultural heritage features in GIAHS with the use of approaches such as Agrostories or Gil tourism, in recognition of the gradual changes that are occurring in local identity. China has the longest history of engagement with GIAHS in the East Asia region. However, the utilization of the model here has recognized further issues of change in cultural identity not least through commercialization. This paper therefore identifies, discusses and arranges eight problems and prospects for collaborative research on aspects of cultural management amongst the GIAHS in East Asia.

In 2002, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization initiated the Globally Important Agriculture Heritage Systems conservation program. Agricultural organic certification, based on traditional environmentally friendly technology, increases farmer income and encourages traditional agricultural heritage. However, during the organic conversion period, farmer income cannot be guaranteed; this period is also a bottleneck for heritage conservation via organic certification. Based on experiences at the Honghe Hani rice terrace system in Yunnan, China, we calculated and compared inputs and outputs of traditional and modern systems during organic conversion and developed a calculation method for determining opportunity costs of agricultural production. We found that the stability of farmer income during conversion can be guaranteed by setting the protective purchasing price at 6.93 CNY/kg, thereby achieving the goal of dynamic conservation of agricultural heritage systems.

The challenge of researching Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (GIAHS) as complex systems forms the subject matter of this study. Complex adaptive systems are those that combine natural ecological processes with human interactions to produce a mutually supportive agro‐ecological system. In China, these highly varied systems have the added dimension of long historical time, in that they have evolved over many centuries and thus add a historical dimension to the natural and human dimensions of complexity. In preparing research on GIAHS, it is clear that seeing GIAHS sites as whole systems is an essential starting and ending point. Examining the adaptive capacity of a GIAHS with its multiple scales and complex interdependencies is a major challenge for researchers accustomed to specialized disciplinary thinking. A GIAHS represents a mature agro‐ecological system with human agency as a central component that has been honed over many centuries, and has already adapted to many perturbations and changes. The beauty of the GIAHS is in the integration of custom, knowledge, and practice, and it should be studied for its “wholeness” as well as for its resilience and capacity for “self organization.” The agro‐ecological approach opens the possibility of researching a system as a whole and of taking its complexity seriously. This study reviews the essential features of the GIAHS as a complex adaptive system where uncertainty is normal and surprise is welcome and, in a case study of Qingtian rice–fish culture system, focuses on new perturbations, namely loss of young people and the introduction of tourism.

The ecological footprint (EF) is an accepted worldwide method for the evaluation of environmental sustainability. However, its utility is limited by the existence of a series of shortcomings in the methodology such as the only-partial inclusion of human generated wastes. To improve the ability of the footprint method to evaluate environmental sustainability, a new footprint-based indicator - the 'Waste Absorption Footprint' (WAF) - has been proposed. The purpose of this paper is to test this methodological approach by evaluating the sustainability of the water environment in the Taihu Lake Basin, in densely populated eastern China. Applying the WAF method indicates that anthropogenic discharges of wastes have imposed an absorption pressure on the local water system such that the local water environment is increasingly unsustainable. Furthermore, nitrogen and phosphorus are identified as more critical wastes than organic substances, while domestic discharges are shown to be more important sources compared with those from industry and agriculture, which therefore should be the focus of environmental management and pollution control initiatives. It is demonstrated that the WAF method can provide a wealth of information that can be used for reference by local water environmental management authorities.

With the mobility and off-farm employment of rural villagers, agricultural production has been influenced by the absence of labor force in the past few years. In particular, the inadequate assignment of resources has threatened the sustainability of some Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems due to their low profit. In this paper, the influences of labor force and capital on agricultural heritage systems are analyzed, taking the Qingtian Rice-Fish Culture System (QRFCS) as an example, so as to maximize profit along with the sustainability of agricultural heritage. The Cobb-Douglas Production Function is applied to examine the impacts of these major factors on agricultural productivity based on a survey held among 32 households in Longxian Village, Qingtian County, China. Subsequently, the profit maximization problem can be solved by a marginal rate of technical substitution under production standard. We come to the conclusion that the output elasticity coefficients of labor and capital are 0.6 and 0.4. Our results also indicate that the maximum yield of rice and field-fish is 0.84 kg under the level of 9 Yuan RMB and 0.24 man-days per square meter. The net profit can hit 24.8 Yuan RMB regardless of human resource cost. In contrast, the demand of 218,800 m2 paddy fields exceeds the human resources available for the Rice-Fish system in QRFCS, thereby it is necessary to promote the refluence of skilled farmers.

Eco-compensation is a type of institutional arrangement that uses economic measures to adjust the relationships among stakeholders in order to conserve and/or sustainably use ecosystem services. The externality of the value of ecosystem services is one of the theoretical bases for eco-compensation. Different types of ecosystem services are consumed by people from different regions. Some are consumed by people living where the services originate, while some are carried by rivers, wind, vehicles or other natural or manmade means to other areas. Thus, the flow and consumption of ecosystem services should be seen as the basis for establishing eco-compensation funds. This paper uses satellite images of the Zhang-Cheng area near Beijing in 2013 to discuss how to establish an eco-compensation fund for stakeholders in this area. Firstly, six important types of ecosystem services in the Zhang-Cheng area were identified based on ecological function zoning, and the value of these ecosystem services was calculated based on ecological pricing methods. Secondly, the field intensity model from physics was used to analyze where Zhang-Cheng area ecosystem services flowed and calculate how much of these services were used by other areas. Thirdly, based on this analysis and calculation, the paper proposes the rates that different stakeholders should invest in the eco-compensation fund, based on their consumption of eco-services.

The Honghe Hani Rice Terraces System (HHRTS) is one of the Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (GIAHS) sites approved by Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in 2010. In recent years, with the development of modern agriculture and tourism, cultivation practices for high yield and uniform variety cropping, has threatened the stability of the system of forest-village-paddy-rivers in the Hani terraces. From the viewpoint of farming behavior, we carried out our surveys to learn about the local rural households’ planting situations and the factors that influence their planting choices. A Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) was used for gaining information in Yuanyang County, Yunnan Province. Seemingly Unrelated Regression (SUR) were used to test the theoretical result at the individual rural household level. Then, this paper summarized the status quo of crop cultivation structures and analyzed their driving factors in HHRTS. The results showed as follows: ① In the 41.23 hm2 available farmland referred in survey, the crops grown, ordered by total cultivated area, are hybrid rice, corn, and fruit, which rank as the top three for all crops. As the regional traditional crop, the cultivated area of red rice is only 12.04% of total available farmland referred to in the survey. ② According to the actual plantation, the rural household is divided into two categories and marked as “the red-rice-plantation-oriented household (RR household)” and “the hybrid-rice-plantation-oriented household (HR household)”. The result of the SUR model showed that the driving factors to plant hybrid rice and red rice varied greatly with different categories of the rural household. ③ Consistent with the results of correlation analyses and factor analyses, significant driving factors of red rice planting included the ethnicity of the household, the average altitude of the farmland, and the labor productivity of red rice. Significant restraint factors included the total number of family members and the yield of red rice per unit area. Thereupon, in order to realize the dynamic protection of HHRTS, we established an encouragement mechanism for improving the proportion of red rice plantings in relation to aspects of the rural household, the community, and the local government.