Collection of Non-Timber Forest Products in Chinese Giant Panda Reserves: The Effect of Religious Beliefs

Abstract

Religious belief play an irreplaceable role in the protection of natural resources. This paper explores the influence of religious beliefs on the Non-Timber Forest Products (NTFPs) collection behaviors of farmers, in order to provide new ideas on how to rationally use natural resources for nature reserves. Based on survey data of giant panda reserves in Sichuan and Shaanxi provinces in China, we analyze the differences of NTFPs collection between farmers with or without religious beliefs and those with different religious beliefs. Our results show that: (i) The SUR-Probit method can be used to overcome the endogeneity problem of the model and test the causal effect between religious belief and NTFPs collection; (ii) farmers with religious beliefs collect NTFPs to a lesser extent; and (iii) the collection of NTFPs by farmers with different religious beliefs can be distinguished. The important role of religious belief in the use of natural resources has often been neglected in previous studies. In our research, we find that religious belief can indeed guide the individual choice of resource utilization behavior, to a certain extent, ultimately achieving the mutual co-ordination of ecological protection and economic development, which can also be used as a reference for policy-making.

Keywords

• giant panda reserve
• religious belief
• NTFPs collection
• natural resource utilization