Network nexus and risk identification of ecosystem service consumption on households’ well-being: a case study in a mountainous watersheds

Extensive studies have indicated the effect of ecosystem service (ES) consumption on households’ well-being (HWB); however, most studies have focused on the direct impacts, neglecting the mediating roles of other forces and rarely considering the ecological and welfare responses under multidimensional risks. Therefore, taking 364 households in the Pengxi River Basin as an example, we combined the perception process with the “pressure-state-response” model to construct a framework for identifying the “human-environment” relationship and risks in the watershed; further, we clarified the complex transmission process and implementation path for the well-being effects of ES consumption under multidimensional risks by the PLS-SEM. It indicated that there was a low-level synergy relationship between ES consumption and HWB, which was the least desirable outcome. ES consumption exerted positive direct and indirect impacts on HWB. Among them, the direct promotional effect of regulating service consumption (β = 0.178, p < 0.01) on HWB was the most pronounced; and provisioning services consumption (β = 0.053, p < 0.01) had a significant indirect effect on HWB, mediated by financial capital. Development risk dominated the sustainability of the socio-ecological system within the basin and exhibited an obvious positive impact on cultural service consumption; yet, environmental risk (β = -0.584, p < 0.01) and health risk (β = -0.128, p < 0.05) showed negative influence on regulating and supporting service consumption, respectively. Multidimensional risks also significantly influenced HWB through the cascading effects of ES consumption and livelihood capital, and 9 pathways were identified in this study. In the future, enhancing drought resilience, broadening residents’ social networks, and deepening cross-disciplinary cooperation can be implemented to mitigate the restrictive effects of multidimensional risks on the basin’s socio-ecological system and achieve high-quality development.