Indigenous ecological knowledge (IEK) can contribute to the management of local ecosystems and landscapes. Cultural landscapes are produced by and reflect the long‐term interactions between humans and nature in indigenous societies. Yunnan Province, located in southwestern China, is the homeland of many ethnic groups, and is also a refuge for numerous species of wild plants and animals. Indigenous people in Yunnan, who have rich ecological knowledge, play an important role in the conservation of local biodiversity and the region's unique terraced agricultural landscapes. We used the Hani people and their outstanding cultural landscape of rice terraces in Yuanyang County of Yunnan Province as a case study to describe their worldview and discuss their formation of IEK; their roles in the preservation of rice landraces and in pest regulation; their management of water, forest, and soil resources; and the vertical landscape pattern and resource‐circulation system that has evolved in the areas managed by the Hani. We also discuss the challenges and threats facing the Hani, their IEK, and their cultural landscape, as well as discuss the potential for integration of the Hani's IEK with modern conservation efforts.

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Context Recent conceptual developments in ecosystem services research have revealed the need to elucidate the complex and unintended relationships between humans and the environment if we are to better understand and manage ecosystem services in practice. Objectives This study aimed to develop a model that spatially represents a complex human-environment (H-E) system consisting of heterogeneous socialecological components and feedback mechanisms at multiple scales, in order to assess multi-dimensional (spatial, temporal, and social) trade-offs in ecosystem services. Methods We constructed an agent-based model and empirically calibrated it for a semi-arid region in Northeast China, and examined ecosystem service trade-offs derived from the Sloping Land Conversion Program (SLCP), which is based on payment for ecosystem services. This paper describes our model, named Inner Mongolia Land Use Dynamic Simulator (IM-LUDAS), using the overview, design concepts, and details ? decision (ODD ? D) protocol and demonstrates the capabilities of IM-LUDAS through simulations. Results IM-LUDAS represented typical characteristics of complex H-E systems, such as secondary and cross-scale feedback loops, time lags, and threshold 123Landscape Ecol (2017) 32:707-727 DOI 10.1007 change, revealing the following results: tree plantations expanded by the SLCP facilitated vegetation and soil restoration and household change toward off-farm livelihoods, as expected by the government; conversely, the program caused further land degradation outside the implementation plots; moreover, the livelihood changes were not large enough to compensate for income deterioration by policy-induced reduction in cropland. Conclusions IM-LUDAS proved itself to be an advanced empirical model that can recreate essential features of complex H-E systems and assess multidimensional trade-offs in ecosystem services.

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