Land-use change impacts on multidimensional well-being: insights from tropical forest frontiers in Madagascar, Myanmar and Laos

Abstract. Tropical forest frontiers are undergoing rapid land use change due to expanding global demands for agricultural commodities and conservation efforts. These changes profoundly affect the well-being of local populations, yet the pathways linking land use, ecosystem services, and well-being remain underexplored. This study examines these links across three forest frontier landscapes in Madagascar, Laos, and Myanmar. Using Nussbaum’s capabilities framework, we conducted 14 workshops and 154 household interviews to assess how land use change influences diverse well-being components via ecosystem services.

We identify three key findings. First, land use change impacts well-being both directly and indirectly via shifts in ecosystem service supply. Forests provide the broadest range of services that support essential components of well-being, including nutrition, income, housing, and spiritual values. Second, we find three generic mechanisms through which well-being is affected, often involving trade-offs within or between well-being components. For example, gains in income can coincide with losses in cultural identity or environmental quality. Third, we identify three substitution processes that can mitigate ecosystem service loss’ impact on well-being. However, these processes often fail to maintain relational and collective components of well-being and it might be that ecosystem services are often not substituted to the same level.

Our findings highlight the need for a multidimensional, context-sensitive understanding of well-being in land system science. Development and conservation interventions should move beyond narrow economic framings and support multifunctional landscapes that sustain both ecosystem services and the full spectrum of human well-being in tropical forest frontiers.