Abstract: Accurately evaluating the impact and mechanism of ecological environmental protection on residents' livelihoods is of great significance for solving the conflicts between protection and development. Based on the sustainable livelihood model, this paper constructs the analysis framework of farmers' livelihood outcomes from the background of wetland conservation. Questionnaire survey data of farmers in the Dashanbao Black-necked Crane Nature Reserve in Yunnan Province were collected to estimate the influence mechanism of wetland conservation on rural households' livelihood outcomes by using the Structural Equation Model based on the partial differential least squares method. According to the results, participation in wetland conservation has a direct and negative impact on households' income, but a positive and indirect effect through the chain of "wetland conservation-livelihood capital-livelihood strategy-household income". Comparatively, the indirect effect is lower than the direct effect. Therefore, the total effect is significantly negative. Moreover, participation in wetland conservation has a direct and positive impact on households' poverty alleviation and subjective well-being, and a positive and indirect effect through the chain of "wetland conservation-livelihood capital-livelihood strategy-poverty alleviation/subjective well-being". Therefore, the total effect is significantly positive. Compared with samples partially participating in wetland restoration, the impact of wetland conservation on the livelihood outcomes is more obvious in samples returning all farmland to wetland. Based on the findings, this study proposes the following three practical suggestions regarding farmers' livelihood selection and regional sustainable development. Firstly, policymakers should promote the combination of wetland conservation policy and the livelihood development of local residents, and effectively increase the accumulation of their livelihood capital. Secondly, decision-makers should actively promote economic forest planting and ecological livestock breeding to achieve intensive development and agricultural transformation. Finally, the government should plan and develop eco-tourism, encourage migrant working, introduce ecological, pension, and other industrial models, call on young people to return to their hometown for entrepreneurial activities to provide a variety of employment opportunities for the local farmers, and promote the diversification of their livelihood strategies.

Key words: wetland conservation, sustainable livelihood, livelihood outcome, structural equation model