Rural electrification in Indonesia : the role of micro hydro power in shaping forest conservation behavior

Abstract

It is reported that villagers at the villages electrified by micro hydro power (MHP) show more favorable attitudes, intentions, and behaviors toward forest conservation. They initiated a community-based agreement regulating forest cutting, reduced trees chopped from the forests, reduced intention toward forest cutting, and even participated in reforestation. The present study is supposed to test this phenomenon and to find out which variables are determining intentions to behave more favorably toward forest conservation. The Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) is applied to explain the behavior in question. TPB suggests that intention is the best predictor of behavior and it is determined by attitudes toward the behavior, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control. These concepts, together with descriptive norms and past behavior, are compared between participants from a village with MHP and participants from a village with no electricity. A comparison between participants from another village with MHP and those from a village with grid electricity is also conducted. The results reveal that MHP inconsistently predicted participants’ beliefs, attitudes, norms, perceived control, intention, and behavior toward forest conservation. Participants from the village electrified by MHP for 4 years showed more concern toward forest conservation than participants from the village without electricity. However, participants from the villages electrified by MHP for a year showed less concern toward forest conservation than participants from the village, which has been grid electrified for 10 years. Regrouping the villages into electrified and non electrified villages gave evidence that rural electrification, regardless of its sources, positively shaped participants’ beliefs, attitudes, norms, perceived control, intention, and behavior toward forest conservation. Regression analyses showed that intentions to behave toward forest conservation were determined by subjective norms, past behavior and educational background.