Economic development and conservation impacts of China's nature reserves

Abstract

Protected areas are a dominant but contentious instrument of conservation policy. Restrictions on resource extraction and land use constrain livelihoods but may also support alternate pathways to development through sustainable use, tourism, and landscape amenities. We investigate the economic development and environmental impacts of China's Nature Reserves using county-level panel data between 1980 and 2010. We find small positive impacts on an aggregate household development index and that Nature Reserves maintained natural land cover within their boundaries. We also find employment shifts from resource-extractive to service-based activity, but an overall negative impact on reported employment. Household development gains and shifts towards service-based employment were greater closer to locations that were already more developed and had higher baseline assets. These results indicate both the promise of protected areas as a sustainable development strategy and the need for institutional mechanisms to ensure that local benefits and employment opportunities are broadly distributed.