Abstract
Farmers’ pro-ecological intentions (PEI) after ecological rehabilitation are crucial to the sustainability of ecological conservation achievements and attract attention from policy-makers and managers. However, studies regarding multiple factors and their mechanism of influence on farmer's PEI are limited in fragile environmental areas. We conducted a household survey that measures the perceptions and attitudes, and the individual, demographic, and economic properties of 2025 farmers in the Loess Plateau of China. Results showed that only 28.74% of the respondents intended to apply the pro-ecological behavior after ecological restoration. The structural equation model reported a high explanatory power of 77.6% for farmers’ PEI. Farmers’ intentions to apply pro-ecological behaviors are jointly affected by various factors, with their perceptions and attitudes found to be the most influential factor and a vital link to other factors. Farmers’ individual, demographic, and economic factors also showed significant effects. Younger male farmers with higher education degrees, and better self-assessment of their abilities and perception of environmental improvement tend to state a greater intention to apply pro-ecological behaviors after the ecological rehabilitation. Results suggest that policy-makers and managers wanting to encourage farmers taking pro-ecological actions after ecological programs should value both enhancing farmers’ abilities to conserve ecological achievements and their perceptions of ecological benefits.
Highlights
Evidence is mounting that anthropogenic over-exploitation and disturbance can weaken ecosystems’ functional attributes, such as water and soil conservation, climate regulation, biodiversity, and more, altering the stability and diversity of the ecosystem [1,2,3]
The present study revealed that the influence of different kinds of factors on farmers’ pro-ecological intentions (PEI) after the Grain to Green Program (GTGP) in the Loess Plateau of China (LPC) is of a different degree, and operates through different pathways (Figure 3)
We developed an empirical model based on the structural equation model (SEM) to explore the factors affecting farmers’ pre-ecological intentions after the payment for ecosystem service (PES) programs in fragile environment areas
Summary
Evidence is mounting that anthropogenic over-exploitation (e.g., over-harvest of renewable resources) and disturbance can weaken ecosystems’ functional attributes, such as water and soil conservation, climate regulation, biodiversity, and more, altering the stability and diversity of the ecosystem [1,2,3]. To counter the deterioration of ecosystems in fragile environment areas, payment for ecosystem service (PES) programs were conducted around the world by providing financial support to encourage individuals and communities to undertake actions that increase the levels of the desired ecosystem service [5,6]. These programs have created considerable ecological achievements, including increasing biodiversity and vegetation cover, promoting carbon sequestration capacity, reducing soil and water erosion, and others [7,8,9,10]. The limited long-term conservation outcomes achieved by these programs indicates that further research on the influence mechanisms of sustainable conservation achievements can be of great assistance to policy-makers when designing extended policies and conservation practices
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