How Willing Are Herders to Participate in Carbon Sequestration and Mitigation? An Inner Mongolian Grassland Case

Yanyun Zhao, Yongzhi Yan, Qingfu Liu and Frank Yonghong Li
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Yanyun Zhao: Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Ecology and Resource Use of the Mongolian Plateau & Inner Mongolia Key Laboratory of Grassland Ecology, School of Ecology and Environment, Inner Mongolia University, Hohhot 010021, China
Yongzhi Yan: Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Ecology and Resource Use of the Mongolian Plateau & Inner Mongolia Key Laboratory of Grassland Ecology, School of Ecology and Environment, Inner Mongolia University, Hohhot 010021, China
Qingfu Liu: Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Ecology and Resource Use of the Mongolian Plateau & Inner Mongolia Key Laboratory of Grassland Ecology, School of Ecology and Environment, Inner Mongolia University, Hohhot 010021, China
Frank Yonghong Li: Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Ecology and Resource Use of the Mongolian Plateau & Inner Mongolia Key Laboratory of Grassland Ecology, School of Ecology and Environment, Inner Mongolia University, Hohhot 010021, China

Sustainability, 2018, vol. 10, issue 8, 1-10

Abstract: Reasonable carbon sequestration and mitigation measures play an important role in reducing greenhouse gas emission and realizing regional sustainable development. How willing herders are to participate in carbon sequestration and mitigation directly determines the corresponding implementation effect. Relevant studies mostly focus on forest households and peasant households, but great uncertainty remains regarding herdsman households. Based on a survey of 404 herdsman households in Inner Mongolian grasslands, this study assessed the cognitive level and participation willingness of herders on carbon sequestration and mitigation of grasslands, and investigated the factors influencing their willingness to participate in the activity. We found that the cognitive level of herders on carbon sequestration and mitigation in Inner Mongolian grasslands was relatively low, with 83% of herdsman households having low cognition and 17% in the state of medium cognition. However, herders are mostly willing to take grassland carbon sequestration and mitigation measures, with 60% of herdsman households being willing to participate, 28% moderately willing to do so, and 12% of unwillingness. This pattern was mainly influenced by the impact of carbon sequestration and mitigation on household income, the economic subsidies and the call for ecological environment protection from the government. The herders tend to be willing to participate when they think that the government calls for ecological environment protection are essential. In contrast, they tend to be unwilling to participate if they think the subsidies too low and the negative effect of sequestration measure on income is essential. We found that the family financial income of herders is a key factor limiting the improvement of participation willingness in this area. It is necessary to improve the cognition of herders for the development of carbon sequestration and mitigation projects.

Keywords: carbon sequestration and mitigation; participation willingness; Inner Mongolia grassland; Logistic analysis; Decision tree model (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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