Rural livelihoods and livelihood security play important roles in ecological construction, regional development, and culture protection in minority areas. This paper summarizes traditional minority livelihoods, their characteristics, changes, and the driving forces behind the changes in southwest China. The impact of livelihood change was analyzed from aspects of environmental behavior/ecological outcomes and cultural adaptations. The familization of resource allocation is a significant feature of minority livelihood change; thus, rural household livelihood studies should be valued. Currently, rural household livelihood studies have been mainly focused on the sustainable livelihood framework and rural livelihood security. Rural livelihood security is a microfoundation of rural society sustainable development, and is closely related to sustainable livelihoods. In the context of the regional ecological security of southwest China, ecological vulnerability and livelihood outcomes should be valued, and the characteristics and functions of ethnic cultures should be highlighted in minority livelihood studies. The capitalization of ethnic cultures is an effective approach to protect minority cultures and promote economic development in minority areas. Treating ethnic culture as one kind of livelihood asset and integrating it into the sustainable livelihood framework would be an effective supplement to studies on southwest minority livelihoods.