The Influence of Nontimber Forest Products Development on the Economic–Ecological Coordination—Evidence from Lin’an District, Zhejiang Province, China

Guiyan Ao, Qianqian Xu, Qiang Liu, Lichun Xiong, Fengting Wang and Weiguang Wu
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Guiyan Ao: Faculty of Economics and Management, Zhejiang A&F University, Hangzhou 311300, China
Qianqian Xu: Faculty of Economics and Management, Zhejiang A&F University, Hangzhou 311300, China
Qiang Liu: Faculty of Economics and Management, Zhejiang A&F University, Hangzhou 311300, China
Lichun Xiong: Faculty of Economics and Management, Zhejiang A&F University, Hangzhou 311300, China
Fengting Wang: Faculty of Economics and Management, Zhejiang A&F University, Hangzhou 311300, China
Weiguang Wu: Faculty of Economics and Management, Zhejiang A&F University, Hangzhou 311300, China

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 2, 1-20

Abstract: The influence of the nontimber forest products (NTFPs) on the coordinated economic and ecological development has received considerable attention, where the results are mixed. This study took Lin’an District in Zhejiang Province of China as an example for analysis. Using long-term (more than 40 years) data, system coupling and autoregressive distributed lag models were combined to analyze the effect of NTFP development on coordinated economic–ecological development. The results show that large-scale commercial NTFP development positively affected coordinated economic–ecological development, and a long-term stable equilibrium relationship between them existed. The degree of regional economic–ecological coupling increased from 0.05 in 1978 to 0.98 in 2019, and both area and value of NTFP had a significant effect on the coupling degree at the 5% level. These findings indicate that NTFP development is an effective method to promote the coordinated development of the economy and ecological environment especially in mountain areas, and the government should encourage NTFP development by ecological management, strengthening policy guidance, and providing technological innovation support, etc.

Keywords: nontimber forest products; ecological environment; economic development; coordinated development (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:2:p:904-:d:482030

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