Evaluating Communities’ Willingness to Participate in Ecosystem Conservation in Southeast Tibetan Nature Reserves, China

Lingxia Xu, Wanyun Xu, Chao Jiang, Huxuan Dai, Qiaoqi Sun, Kun Cheng, Chun-Hung Lee, Cheng Zong and Jianzhang Ma
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Lingxia Xu: College of Wildlife and Protected Areas, Northeast Forestry University, Harbin 150040, China
Wanyun Xu: College of Wildlife and Protected Areas, Northeast Forestry University, Harbin 150040, China
Chao Jiang: Qixinghe National Nature Reserve Administration, Shuangyashan 155600, China
Huxuan Dai: College of Wildlife and Protected Areas, Northeast Forestry University, Harbin 150040, China
Qiaoqi Sun: College of Wildlife and Protected Areas, Northeast Forestry University, Harbin 150040, China
Kun Cheng: College of Wildlife and Protected Areas, Northeast Forestry University, Harbin 150040, China
Chun-Hung Lee: Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Studies, School of Environmental Studies, National Dong Hwa University, Hualien 97401, Taiwan
Cheng Zong: College of Wildlife and Protected Areas, Northeast Forestry University, Harbin 150040, China
Jianzhang Ma: College of Wildlife and Protected Areas, Northeast Forestry University, Harbin 150040, China

Land, 2022, vol. 11, issue 2, 1-18

Abstract: Southeast Tibet is significant in maintaining key ecological functions and providing irreplaceable ecosystem services but is also extremely vulnerable and susceptible to the impacts of human activities. Understanding the attitudes of local residents toward ecosystem conservation is considered essential for nature resource management. We therefore aimed to conduct an evaluation framework under hypothetical scenarios to measure communities’ willingness to participate in ecosystem conservation using the contingent valuation method (CVM). Second, this study determined the underlying factors that might affect local’s willingness to participate and then compared the willingness to pay (WTP) and willingness to work (WTW) for different types of nature reserves. We found that income, education, community attachment, and acceptance of a payment scheme are significant factors determining the average amount that residents are willing to pay for ecosystem conservation, while their income, acceptance of a work scheme, and education are significant factors influencing the average service time that residents are willing to devote to work. Our results revealed that community residents have considerable willingness to participate in ecosystem conservation, which points not only to the great value attached to the ecosystem service function of Southeast Tibet nature but also suggests that people’s willingness to participate is influenced by a conglomeration of socio-economic characteristics and their previous experience. The information herein can be used to implement conservation planning that involves community co-management and policymaking for sustainable development and will be beneficial to the dynamic conservation and adaptive management of Tibetan nature reserves.

Keywords: community participation; ecosystem conservation; economic evaluation; types of nature reserves; southeast Tibet (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q15 Q2 Q24 Q28 Q5 R14 R52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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