Livelihood transition and traditional knowledge conversion towards sustainable rural development in mountainous regions: A Case of Hoang Lien National Park, Vietnam

The study offers a conceptual framework illuminating sustainable rural development by a continuous cycling interplay among five interdependent systems, physical, social, economic, knowledge, and creative. The framework is applied to analyze the livelihood transition in the economic system and conversion of traditional knowledge in the creative system for farm households engaged in large cardamom cultivation in Northern mountainous region in Vietnam. This study used a probit model to examine a data set comprising 300 households and confirmed that factors within the social and physical systems (such as labor, access to information, social networks, land use, and transportation infrastructure) determined livelihood transition to tourism employment within the economic system. In addition, the conversion of traditional knowledge in the creative system was found to be contingent upon non-farm employment and credit capital in the economic system, as well as traditional knowledge and knowledge exchange in the knowledge system. This study demonstrates how the sustainable development of rural agriculture can be achieved by converting traditional knowledge and transferring livelihood, contributing to attain Sustainable Development Goals 2 (Zero Hunger) and SDG 12 (Responsible Consumption and Production).