What Drives Farmers to Participate in Rural Environmental Governance? Evidence from Villages in Sandu Town, Eastern China

Fei Meng, Hang Chen, Zhenning Yu, Wu Xiao and Yongzhong Tan
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Fei Meng: Department of Land Management, School of Public Affairs, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China
Hang Chen: Department of Land Management, School of Public Affairs, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China
Zhenning Yu: School of Social and Public Administration, East China University of Science and Technology, Shanghai 200237, China
Wu Xiao: Department of Land Management, School of Public Affairs, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China
Yongzhong Tan: Department of Land Management, School of Public Affairs, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 6, 1-15

Abstract: Understanding farmers’ participation is crucial for achieving an effective impact on rural living environmental governance and promoting sustainable development. Taking Sandu Town in eastern China as a case study, in-depth semi-structured interviews with farmers, village cadres, and town managers were conducted in this study. Then, a conceptual framework incorporating comprehensive factors is presented to analyze the driving factors and mechanisms of farmer participation in rural domestic waste management. The results show that farmers’ participation in pro-environmental actions is a response to an integrated network of both internal and external factors. Life inertia, loss of personal interests, and objective conditions are the barriers to farmers deciding to participate. Meanwhile, environmental awareness can increase farmers’ internal motivations, and factors such as household benefits, social-cultural influences, and appraisal systems, including household possession protection, very low economic costs, better life experiences, demonstrations from society, “following the crowd”, peer pressure, and reward and criticism measures, are the external forces that mobilize farmers to participate in rural environmental governance. Policy recommendations are proposed based on the findings.

Keywords: rural environment; domestic waste; environmental management; environmental behavior; farmer participation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (8)

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