Abstract
Religious belief play an irreplaceable role in the protection of natural resources. This paper explores the influence of religious beliefs on the Non-Timber Forest Products (NTFPs) collection behaviors of farmers, in order to provide new ideas on how to rationally use natural resources for nature reserves. Based on survey data of giant panda reserves in Sichuan and Shaanxi provinces in China, we analyze the differences of NTFPs collection between farmers with or without religious beliefs and those with different religious beliefs. Our results show that: (i) The SUR-Probit method can be used to overcome the endogeneity problem of the model and test the causal effect between religious belief and NTFPs collection; (ii) farmers with religious beliefs collect NTFPs to a lesser extent; and (iii) the collection of NTFPs by farmers with different religious beliefs can be distinguished. The important role of religious belief in the use of natural resources has often been neglected in previous studies. In our research, we find that religious belief can indeed guide the individual choice of resource utilization behavior, to a certain extent, ultimately achieving the mutual co-ordination of ecological protection and economic development, which can also be used as a reference for policy-making.
Highlights
Nature reserves are core areas of biodiversity conservation
In the sample of 4395 personal data generated from the 943 farmer household questionnaires, it was found that 86% of individuals collected Non-Timber Forest Products (NTFPs)
From the two-stage decisionmaking equation of NTFPs collection behaviors, we found that female interviewees had a significantly positive influence on NTFPs collection behaviors, that being a minority had a significantly positive influence on NTFPs collection behavior, and that the poorer self-rated health status of interviewees had a positive influence on NTFPs collection behaviors
Summary
Nature reserves are core areas of biodiversity conservation. The establishment of a protected area can provide a green protection barrier for animals, plants, and farmers in the area surrounding the protected area, but may promote the construction of an ecological civilization. As of September 2019, China has established 2750 nature reserves, including 474 national nature reserves, with a total area of 147 square kilometers, accounting for about 14.86% of the land area [1]. The number of natural reserves in China has reached 11,029, the area altogether accounting for 18% of its land territory, it realized the United Nations “Convention on Biological Diversity” goal that the percentage protected area will be reach 17% by 2020. In China, giant panda habitats are mostly distributed in remote mountainous rural areas, where the surrounding farmers are the most important stakeholders of giant panda protection. There is a huge difference between the religions of China and the religions of Western countries. This indicates the significance of studying Chinese religions [15]. The main belief form of contemporary Chinese religion has been called diffused religion by Yang [16]
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