Evaluating the sustainability of rural complex ecosystems during the development of traditional farming villages into tourism destinations: A diachronic emergy approach

Abstract Many villages that have transformed from traditional agricultural communities into tourism destinations to eliminate poverty are encountering ecological and social crises that threaten sustainable development. The dilemmas of rural complex ecosystems are the cumulative results of historical material and energy exchange between humans and nature in the social-ecological dimension. A tool for evaluating sustainability, emergy theory, measures different resource flow qualities. To conserve healthy rural ecosystems, dynamic equilibrium with a coupled interrelation of social development and energy operation must be maintained within system carrying capacities. This raises the question that current emergy studies ignored of how to explore reference indicators for technical solutions and the roots of sustainability change for rural governance systems under social development. This paper proposes a diachronic emergy approach that integrates emergy evaluation into an environmental history research framework with social development models and social-ecological factors to realize system well-being. Considering the village of Hekeng, China, emergy accounting was performed for three typical years (1953, 1990 and 2015) combined with social development models (traditional agriculture, chemical-assisted agriculture and commercial tourism periods). Based on the benchmark year 1953, a diachronic analysis of changes in emergy indicators reconstructed in a social-ecological context and corresponding social-ecological factors was conducted. The results show that the EYR and ELR of 3.16 and 0.53, respectively, for 1953 can be employed as reference indicators of resource utilization in the sustainable development of Hekeng. The potential impacts of resource use changes on the system's well-being were explored, and the findings indicate that technical solutions must be integrated with a governance system based on production relations, forest environments and community culture. Recommendations for sustainable development of ecological agricultural techniques, ecotourism modes, and governance with social-ecological integration are proposed. The diachronic emergy approach provides a new perspective for the implementation of technical solutions in human society and the formation of sustainability strategies for system well-being.