How Can Forestry Worker Households Enhance Sustainable Livelihood Levels Through Natural Forest Management?

Forestry projects have long faced the inherent tension between stringent conservation objectives and the enhancement of human well-being, making it increasingly important to assess the sustainable livelihoods of participating households. The Natural Forest Management Project in the Northeast and Inner Mongolia state-owned forest region (NSFR) aims to transform high-quality ecological products and services into inclusive public benefits while providing reasonable compensation for ecological conservation and restoration efforts. This approach seeks to achieve synergies among ecological protection, economic development, and livelihood improvement. Drawing on six consecutive years (2017–2022) of longitudinal micro-level household survey data, this study quantifies the sustainable livelihood levels of households participating in natural forest management. A Natural Forest Involvement (NFI) index was constructed to measure their degree of participation. Furthermore, the well-being effects of frontline participants in natural forest management activities were investigated. The findings indicate that the overall sustainable livelihood capital of these households shows a steady upward trend across NSFR, significant disparities exist among different areas. Moreover, approximately half of forestry worker households are deeply embedded in the natural forest management system, and this engagement pattern negatively affects households’ sustainable livelihood capital. These results not only enrich the empirical literature on forestry project effectiveness but also offer relevant insights for forestry project design and policy formulation in other developing countries.