Sustainable Development Under Competing Claims on Land: Three Pathways Between Land-Use Changes, Ecosystem Services and Human Well-Being

Abstract

Competition over land is at the core of many sustainable development challenges in Myanmar: villagers, companies, governments, ethnic minority groups, civil soci-ety organisations and non-governmental organisations from local to the international level claim access to and decision-making power over the use of land. Therefore, this article investigates the actor interactions influencing land-use changes and their impacts on the supply of ecosystem services and human well-being. We utilise a transdisciplinary mixed-methods approach and the analytical lens of the social-eco-logical systems framework. Results reveal that the links between land-use changes, ecosystem services and human well-being are multifaceted; For example ecosys-tem services can decline, while human well-being increases. We explain this find-ing through three different pathways to impact (changes in the resource systems, the governance systems or the broader social, economic and political context). We con-clude with implications of these results for future sustainable land governance.