Abstract
There is global enthusiasm for payments for ecosystem services (PES) programs to solve environmental problems, including in China. However, PES programs in China go against the principle of ‘voluntary transaction’, which weakens the influences of economic factors on farmers’ participation decisions and makes it hard to reveal their influence on farmers’ participation willingness. Using household survey data and a logistic regression model, this study attempts to understand the influencing factors of farmers’ decision-making on involvement in PES projects for hypothetical voluntary participation and focuses on whether the farmer would reject the program if the payment stopped. A surprising but promising result is found in the case of the Paddy Landto-Dry Land (PLDL) program in Chicheng County, China, wherein, apart from the negative impact of education and the positive effect of off-farm income, two non-economic factors play a significant role in farmers’ participation. The one is basic cognition, which negatively affects farmers’ participation, and the other is inner altruistic motivation, which positively contributes to the participation. In addition, the high proportion of reconversion to paddy land after the payment period threatens the long-term sustainability of the PLDL program. Faced with the low education and environmental cognition statuses in remote agricultural areas, increasing educational quality and promoting the popular awareness of PES programs in rural areas should be highlighted in sustaining the efficiency and effectiveness of PES programs in the long run.
Highlights
Since the 1950s, the global ecosystem has changed more dramatically than ever, and the consequent degradation of ecosystem services could worsen considerably during the first half of this century [1]
Unlike the belief that educated people find it easier to understand environmental management, our result reveals that people may have declined to participate when they were aware of the side effects caused by Payments for ecosystem services (PES) programs, especially when they have vague cognitions
A high willingness of participation in PES programs derives from relatively high altruistic motivations, low education, and vague basic cognition of the Paddy Land-to-Dry Land (PLDL) program
Summary
Since the 1950s, the global ecosystem has changed more dramatically than ever, and the consequent degradation of ecosystem services could worsen considerably during the first half of this century [1]. Payments for ecosystem services (PES) is a possible approach to prevent this degradation tendency with several advantages, including promoting the orderly flow of ecosystem services, translating non-market environmental values into real financial incentives for local actors [2], bridging the interests of landowners and outside beneficiaries [3], and creatively facilitating the integration of protection and socioeconomic development [4,5,6]. Pagiola et al [11] divide the factors affecting farmers’ participation in PES programs into three groups: eligibility, desirability, and ability, with passive or active characteristics. A more popular classification is to group factors affecting farmers’ participation into economic, demographic, and some other non-economic factors [12]
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