Abstract
The Poyang Lake wetland has been at the center of discussion in China’s wetland restoration initiative because of the extent of its ecosystem degradation. The purpose of this paper is to model farmers’ willingness to participate in wetland restoration and analyze factors that will affect farmers’ participation decisions. A household survey was conducted among 300 randomly selected farm-households in the Poyang Lake area, Jiangxi Province. A binary probit regression model is applied to investigate the impacts of farmer demographics, farm characteristics, and farmers’ perceptions of wetland and wetland restoration policies on willingness to participate in wetland restoration. Results show that farmers’ education level, household migrant members, number of dependents, household net income, farm type, and distance to urban areas have significant effects on farmers’ participation in wetland restoration. Farmers’ perceptions about the ecological values and benefits of wetlands and their knowledge about wetland restoration policies do not appear to significantly influence farmers’ willingness to participate. A gap is identified between awareness of the importance of wetland restoration and willingness to take actions to restore wetlands. Farm-households tend to weigh personal needs and economic conditions when making participation decisions.
Highlights
In the last few decades China has achieved unprecedented economic growth which has lifted hundreds of millions of people out of poverty
According to our survey data, 73% of farmers with vocational school or higher education levels are willing to participate while only 32% of illiterate farmers are willing to participate in wetland restoration
This study provides in-depth insights into individual farmers’ participation decisions in wetland restoration
Summary
In the last few decades China has achieved unprecedented economic growth which has lifted hundreds of millions of people out of poverty. The government’s emphasis on growth has caused serious environmental issues. Land reclamation has caused widespread destruction of wetland ecosystems over the years. The consequences and implications have only been fully recognized in recent years due to frequent natural disasters and disruptions in agricultural production. In the last few years, Poyang Lake wetland restoration has been at the center of discussion in China’s wetland ecosystem restoration initiative because of the scale and socioeconomic functions of the wetlands to this region. As the largest freshwater lake in China, Poyang Lake has experienced shrinking wetland areas, increased soil erosion, frequent floods and droughts, and a decline in wildlife species
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