Farm households’ livelihood adaptive capacity under multiple pressures of small watershed management

• Proposes a novel framework for livelihood adaptation under multiple pressures. • Transform the abstract livelihood pressure into quantifiable indicators. • Both internal and external factors influencing FHLAC are fully considered. • Farmers’ willingness to adapt should be fully considered in policy implementation. • FHLAC results from a dynamic game among ecological, economy and social rationality. Small watershed management, a key practice within nature-based solutions (NbS), plays a crucial role in mediating tensions between ecological conservation and economic development while facilitating livelihood transitions within regional farm households. This research presents a novel conceptual framework for assessing livelihood adaptation under multiple pressures. Employing the participatory rural evaluation approach, we collected 3025 valid questionnaires from the Luma River (Miquan Lake) small watershed. The analysis delved into the characteristics and influencing factors of farm households’ livelihood adaptive capacity (FHLAC). The results indicate that ecological governance has affected the farmers’ traditional livelihood structures, with the relocation and consolidation of villages introducing livelihood perception risk. Subsequently, farmers developed a willingness to adapt, including altering their crop cultivation patterns and transitioning from traditional agriculture to modern tourism. However, the FHLAC remains predominantly low to moderate in the small watershed. The contribution rates of livelihood pressure, livelihood capital, and willingness to adapt to FHLAC are 22.24 %, 28.69 %, and 49.07 %, respectively. The contribution of willingness to adapt is significantly higher than that of the other two dimensions. Among the internal factors, the attainment rates of village relocation and consolidation, as well as cropland circulation, are the key factors influencing FHLAC in the livelihood pressure dimension, with contributions of 17.51 % and 16.15 %, respectively. Main indicators that promoted the formation of FHLAC in the livelihood capital dimension include housing structure, the proportion of the labor force, and rural elite, with contributions of 37.51 %, 28.47 %, and 22.83 %, respectively. The diversity of adaptation strategies dominates the willingness to adapt dimension. Regarding external factors, tourism development, residential environment enhancement, and special planting and breeding projects implemented by small watershed management, as well as village slope and rural road density, are both critical drivers in shaping FHLAC. These findings provide a scientific basis for guiding sustainable livelihood development and rural revitalization strategies amid transformations in human-land relations.