Please wait a minute...
Journal of Integrative Agriculture  2025, Vol. 24 Issue (1): 366-379    DOI: 10.1016/j.jia.2024.11.036
Special Issue: 农业经济与管理Agricultural Economics and Management
Agricultural Economics and Management Advanced Online Publication | Current Issue | Archive | Adv Search |
Herders’ willingness to accept compensation for grassland grazing ban in Northwest China

Huifang Liu1, 2*, Lingling Hou1*, Zhibiao Nan2, Jikun Huang1#, Liufang Su3

1 China Center for Agricultural Policy (CCAP), School of Advanced Agricultural Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China

2 State Key Laboratory of Herbage Improvement and Grassland Agro-ecosystems, College of Pastoral Agriculture Science and Technology, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730020, China

3 College of Economics & Management, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510642, China

 Highlights 
Herdsmen’s WTA for grazing ban was 237 CNY mu–1 yr–1 (1 ha=15 mu).
Factors influencing herders’ WTA values were analyzed. 
Herders with higher livestock incomes chose lower compensation levels. 
Environmental awareness of herders motivated their participation in grazing ban.

Download:  PDF in ScienceDirect  
Export:  BibTeX | EndNote (RIS)      
摘要  

生态系统服务付费 (PES) 已被广泛视为是缓解草原退化和加强生态系统服务供给的有效工具。然而,在实际操作中,牧民的受偿意愿(WTA偏好及其受偿期望等关键要素被忽视,这在一定程度上削弱了PES的有效性。本研究聚焦于草原生态补政策(GECP),旨在量化牧民对于草原禁牧的受偿意愿。通过运用面对面访谈和条件价值评估法(CVM),我们估算了牧民参与旨在提升生态系统服务供给草原禁牧项目的WTA。研究结果显示,受访牧民参与草原禁牧项目的平均受偿期望为237//年。值得注意的是,本研究还发现,牧民的环境保护意识对其参与禁牧项目的积极性具有正面促进作用,而家庭规模较大的牧民倾向于要求更高的补偿。此外,健康状况良好、畜牧业收入更高或身份为半牧民的受访者往往要求较低的补偿金额。这些发现对于提高草原生态补奖政策的有效性具有重要意义,同时也为经济欠发达和生态脆弱地区的相关研究提供了有价值的参考。



Abstract  

Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES) has been widely acknowledged as an effective tool for mitigating grassland degradation and enhancing ecosystem services provision.  However, critical factors, such as herders’ willingness to accept (WTA) preferences and compensation expectations, are often overlooked, leading to insufficient effectiveness of PES initiatives.  This study focused on grassland ecological compensation policy (GECP), quantifying herders’ WTA compensation for grassland grazing bans.  Through face-to-face surveys and employing the contingent valuation method, we estimated households’ WTA for participating in a grassland conservation program to bolster ecosystem service provision.  Our findings indicated that herders required an average compensation of 237 CNY mu–1 yr–1 to engage in the grazing ban program.  Notably, herders’ environmental awareness positively influenced their willingness to participate, whereas larger family sizes were negatively correlated with WTA.  Additionally, herders in better health, with higher livestock incomes or categorized as semi-herders, tended to accept lower compensation levels.  These insights are crucial for improving the effectiveness of GECP and provide valuable reference points for similar analyses in economically disadvantaged and ecologically fragile regions.

Keywords:  anchoring effect       conditional value method        double-bounded dichotomous choice model        ecosystem services        grassland system        willingness to accept  
Received: 28 April 2024   Accepted: 18 October 2024
Fund: 

The work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (71934003, 72322008, and 72348003).

About author:  #Correspondence Jikun Huang, E-mail: jkhuang.ccap@pku.edu.cn *These authors contributed equally to this study.

Cite this article: 

Huifang Liu, Lingling Hou, Zhibiao Nan, Jikun Huang, Liufang Su. 2025. Herders’ willingness to accept compensation for grassland grazing ban in Northwest China. Journal of Integrative Agriculture, 24(1): 366-379.

Alberini A. 1995. Efficiency vs bias of willingness to pay estimates: Bivariate and interval-data models. Journal of Environmental Economics and Management29, 169–180.

Alberini A, Kanninen B, Carson R T. 1997. Modeling response incentive effects in dichotomous choice contingent valuation data. Land Economics73, 309–324.

Amigues J P, Boulatoff C, Desaigues B, Gauthier C, Keith J E. 2002. The benefits and costs of riparian analysis habitat preservation: A willingness to accept/willingness to pay contingent valuation approach. Ecological Economics1, 17–31.

Arrow K, Solow R, Portney P R, Leamer E E, Radner R, Schuman H. 1993. Report of the NOAA panel on contingent valuation. Federal Register58, 4601–4614.

Beck M J, Fifer S, Rose M J. 2016. Can you ever be certain? Reducing hypothetical bias in stated choice experiments via respondent reported choice certainty. Transportation Research Part (Methodological), 89, 149–167.

Bossio D A, Cook-Patton S C, Ellis P W, Fargione J, Sanderman J, Smith P, Wood S, Zomer R J, von Unger M, Emmer I M, Griscom B W. 2020. The role of soil carbon in natural climate solutions. Nature Sustainability3, 391–398.

Boyle K J, Johnson F R, McCollum D W, Desvousges W H, Dunford R W, Hudson S P. 1996. Valuing public goods: Discrete versus continuous contingent-valuation responses. Land Economics72, 381–396.

Cameron T A, Quiggin J. 1994. Estimation using contingent valuation data from a “dichotomous choice with follow-up” questionnaire. Journal of Environmental Economics and Management3, 218–234.

Carson R T, Groves T. 2007. Incentive and informational properties of preference questions. Environmental and Resource Economics37, 181–210.

Chu X, Zhan J, Wang C, Hameeda S, Wang X. 2020. Households’ willingness to accept improved ecosystem services and influencing factors: Application of contingent valuation method in Bashang Plateau, Hebei Province, China. Journal of Environmental Management255, 109925.

Cummings R G, Taylor L O. 1999. Unbiased value estimates for environmental goods: A cheap talk design for the contingent valuation method. American Economic Review89, 649–665.

Felardo J, Hindsley P. 2021. Ex post consequentiality and willingness to accept: A case study of a payment for ecosystem services program. Journal of Forest Economics36, 265–288.

Frey U, Pirscher F. 2019. Distinguishing protest responses in contingent valuation: A conceptualization of motivations and attitudes behind them. PLoS One14, e0209872.

Hanemann M, Loomis J, Kanninen B. 1991. Statistical efficiency of double-bounded dichotomous choice contingent valuation. American Journal of Agricultural Economics4, 1255–1263.

Herriges J A, Kling C, Liu C C, Tobias J. 2010. What are the consequences of consequentiality? Journal of Environmental Economics and Management59, 67–81.

Herriges J A, Shogren J F. 1996. Starting point bias in dichotomous choice valuation with follow-up questioning. Journal of Environmental Economics and Management1, 112–131.

Hoehn J P, Randall A. 1987. A satisfactory benefit cost indicator from contingent valuation. Journal of Environmental Economics and Management3, 226–247.

Hu Y N, Huang J K, Hou L L. 2019. Impacts of the grassland ecological compensation policy on household livestock production in China: An empirical study in Inner Mongolia. Ecological Economics161, 248–256.

Jayalath T A, Grala R K, Grado S C, Evans D L. 2021. Increasing provision of ecosystem services through participation in a conservation program. Ecosystem Services50, 101303.

Johnston R J, Boyle K J, Adamowicz W, Bennett J, Brouwer R, Cameron T R, Hanemann W M, Hanley N, Ryan M, Scarpa R, Tourangeau R, Vossler C A. 2017. Contemporary guidance for stated preference studies. Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists2, 319–405.

Kaczan D, Swallow B M, Adamowicz W L. 2013. Designing a payments for ecosystem services (PES) program to reduce deforestation in Tanzania: An assessment of payment approaches. Ecological Economics95, 20–30.

Kingsbury L, Boggess W G. 1999. An economic analysis of riparian landowners’ willingness to participate in Oregon’s conservation reserve enhancement program. In: Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the American Agricultural Economics Association Conferences. Nashville, Tenesee. pp. 1289–1290.

Lee M, Manning P, Rist J, Power S A, Marsh C. 2010. A global comparison of grassland biomass responses to CO2 and nitrogen enrichment. Philosophical Transactions (Biological Sciences), 365, 2047–2056.

Li M, Zhao P, Wu L, Chen K. 2021. Effects of value perception, environmental regulation and their interaction on the improvement of herdsmen’s grassland ecological policy satisfaction. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health6, 3078.

List J A, Gallet C A. 2001. What experimental protocol influence disparities between actual and hypothetical stated values? Environmental and Resource Economics20, 241–254.

Liu H F, Hou L L, Kang N N, Nan Z B, Huang J K. 2022. A meta-regression analysis of the economic value of grassland ecosystem services in China. Ecological Indicators138, 108793.

Liu P F, Swallow S K. 2016. Integrating cobenefits produced with water quality BMPs into credits markets: Conceptualization and experimental illustration for EPRI’s Ohio River Basin trading. Water Resources Research52, 3387–3407.

Liu P F, Tian X. 2021. Downward hypothetical bias in the willingness to accept measure for private goods: Evidence from a field experiment. American Journal of Agricultural Economics103, 1679–1699.

Luo Y C, Swallow B M, Adamowicz W L. 2022. Using willingness to pay and willingness to accept to value farmland preservation under ambiguous property rights and preference uncertainty. Land Economics98, 639–657.

Lv X X, Zhang M X, Li D Q. 2022. Eliciting herders’ willingness to accept grassland conservation: A choice experiment design in pastoral regions of China. Land11, 1463.

Min F, Li C. 2019. Spatial characteristics of land uses and ecological compensations based on payment for ecosystem services model from 2000 to 2015 in Sichuan Province, China. Ecological Informatics50, 162–183.

Morrison M, Brown T C. 2009. Testing the effectiveness of certainty scales, cheap talk, and dissonance-minimization in reducing hypothetical bias in contingent valuation studies. Environmental and Resource Economics44, 307–326.

Motta R S, Ortiz R A. 2018. Costs and perceptions conditioning willingness to accept payments for ecosystem services in a Brazilian case. Ecological Economics147, 333–342.

Murphy J J, Allen P G, Stevens T H, Weatherhead D. 2005a. A meta-analysis of hypothetical bias in stated preference valuation. Environmental & Resource Economics30, 313–325.

Murphy J J, Stevens T H, Weatherhead D. 2005b. Is cheap talk effective at eliminating hypothetical bias in a provision point mechanism? Environmental & Resource Economics30, 327–343.

O’Mara F P. 2012. The role of grasslands in food security and climate change. Annals of Botany110, 1263–1270.

Peciña M, Ward R D, Bunce R, Sepp K, Kuusemets V, Luuk O. 2019. Country-scale mapping of ecosystem services provided by semi-natural grasslands. Science of the Total Environment661, 212–225.

Penn J M, Hu W. 2021. The extent of hypothetical bias in willingness to accept. American Journal of Agricultural Economics103, 126–141.

Sala O E, Paruelo J M. 1997. Ecosystem services in grasslands. In: Daily G C, eds., Natures’ Services: Societal Dependence on Natural Ecosystems. Island Press, Washington, D.C. pp. 237–251.

Schwarzinger M, Carrat F, Luchini S. 2009. “If you have the flu symptoms, your asymptomatic spouse may better answer the willingness-to-pay question”: Evidence from a double-bounded dichotomous choice model with heterogeneous anchoring. Journal of Health Economics28, 873–884.

Smith V K, Mansfield C. 1998. Buying time: Real and hypothetical offers. Journal of Environmental Economics and Management36, 209–224.

Sun S, Niu J, Wang Y, Yang H, Chen X. 2024. Exploring the heterogeneities in the impacts of China’s grassland ecological compensation program. Land13, 132.

Tang J, Xin M, Wang X. 2022. Herdsmen’s willingness to accept compensation for grazing ban compliance: Empirical evidence from pastoral China. Journal of Cleaner Production361, 132102.

Tao W, Lu Y, Li J D, Yue Y, Bing X, Rui Z. 2023. An empirical study of the design of an ecological damage compensation assessment framework for land reclamation from the sea. Journal of Coastal Conservation27, 21.

Tapsuwan S, Burton M, Perriam J. 2010. A multivariate probit analysis of willingness to pay for cave conservation: A case study of Yanchep National Park, Western Australia. Tourism Economics16, 1019–1035.

TEEB (The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity). 2010. The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity: Ecological and Economic Foundations. UNEP/Earthprint, Landon and Washington.

Vedel S E, Jacobsen J B, Thorsen B J. 2015. Forest owners’ willingness to accept contracts for ecosystem service provision is sensitive to additionality. Ecological Economics113, 15–24.

Vossler C A, Doyon M, Rondeau D. 2012. Truth in consequentiality: Theory and field evidence on discrete choice experiments. American Economic Journal: Microeconomics4, 145–171.

Wang D, Huang J K. 2018. Impact of grassland ecological compensation policy on household’s off-farm livelihoods. Resources Science40, 1344–1353. (in Chinese)

Wang W, Zhou L, Yang G, Sun Y, Chen Y. 2019. Prohibited grazing policy satisfaction and life satisfaction in rural Northwest China - A case study in Yanchi County, Ningxia Hui autonomous region. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health16, 4374.

Whitehead J C. 2002. Incentive incompatibility and starting-point bias in iterative valuation questions. Land Economics78, 285–297.

Xie B C, Zhao W, Yin Z L, Xie P. 2019. How much will the residents pay for clean energy? Empirical study using the double bound dichotomous choice method for Tianjin, China. Journal of Cleaner Production, 241, 118208.

Xiong K, Zhang N, Kung C C, Kong F. 2019. Determinants of residents’ willingness to accept and their levels for ecological conservation in Ganjiang River Basin, China: An empirical analysis of survey data for 677 households. Sustainability11, 6138.

Yan H, Li W, Yang H, Guo X, Liu X, Jia W. 2021. Estimation of the rational range of ecological compensation to address land degradation in the poverty belt around Beijing and Tianjin, China. Land10, 1383.

Yang F, Xu J, Zhao X, Wang X, Xiong Y. 2022. Assessment of the grassland ecological compensation policy (GECP) in Qinghai, China. Agriculture12, 1479.

Yang G, Min Q, Li W, Liu L, Rong J, Wu X. 2006. Herdsmen’s willingness to accept (WTA) compensation for implement of prohibiting-graze policy in Xilinguole steppe. Ecology and Environment4, 747–751. (in Chinese)

Zhang J, Brown C, Qiao G, Zhang B. 2019. Effect of eco-compensation schemes on household income structures and herder satisfaction: Lessons from the grassland ecosystem subsidy and award scheme in Inner Mongolia. Ecological Economics159, 46–53.

Zhen L, Li F, Yan H M, Liu G H, Liu J Y, Zhang H Y, Du B Z, Wu R Z, Sun C Z, Wang C. 2014. Herders’ willingness to accept versus the public sector’s willingness to pay for grassland restoration in the Xilingol League of Inner Mongolia, China. Environmental Research Letters9, 045003.

Zuo A, Wang J, Huang Q. 2020. Willingness to accept compensation for land fallowing: Results from a survey of village representatives in Northern China. Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics64, 845–866.

No related articles found!
No Suggested Reading articles found!