Evolution of the Characteristic Ecological Industry for Karst Desertification Control: Insights from the Huajiang Zanthoxylum Industry

Abstract

Global land degradation poses a serious threat to ecosystem security and the sustainable development of human society, and the proposal of the Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN) target marks a new stage in collaborative governance. In the karst regions of southern China, rocky desertification control is shifting from a singular focus on ecological restoration toward a coordinated transformation integrating “ecological restoration and industrial revitalization,” yet the consolidation of governance achievements and regional sustainable development still face severe challenges. Taking the Zanthoxylum industry in the Huajiang research area of Guanling–Zhenfeng, Guizhou Province, as a representative case, this study applies Actor-Network Theory (ANT) and its core concept of the obligatory passage point (OPP). Through in-depth interviews, field investigation, and related methods, it traces the interactive network of human and non-human actors throughout the evolution of the Zanthoxylum industry from 1991 to the present, thereby revealing its dynamic evolutionary mechanisms. The results show that: (1) the rise and decline of the Huajiang Zanthoxylum industry are essentially processes in which a heterogeneous actor network is constructed, stabilized, shifted, and deconstructed around the OPP, and industrial success depends on the effective translation of diverse demands into a shared objective; (2) in the first stage (1991-2009), “large-scale cultivation” served as the OPP, with local governments acting as the core translators to effectively integrate the dual goals of ecological governance and livelihood improvement; in the second stage (2010-present), extreme climatic shocks and the alienation of cultivation techniques among internal actors led to the breakdown of network consensus, causing the OPP to shift toward “rebuilding quality-based trust and market order”; and (3) the long-term resilience of ecological industries depends on the dynamic maintenance of OPP adaptability and network governance capacity. This requires moving beyond a singular focus on technical restoration and constructing a collaborative governance framework for a “social–ecological network” that emphasizes the agency of non-human actors, cultivates a multi-actor co-governance industrial ecology, and incorporates brand credibility and ecological value into the core elements of translation. This study provides theoretical support for advancing the sustainability of rocky desertification control.