Are Farmers in National Park Communities Willing to Reallocate Their Lands? A Situational Analysis

Abstract

Limited by China’s mixed land ownership model, which is divided into collective and state ownership, national parks’ strict ecological protection measures of restricting land use patterns and intensity are subject to the decisions made by collective landowners and contract operators, namely, rural households in national park communities. The disposition and intention of community farmers regarding collective land ownership is related to the nature conservation effect of the national park. In the context of national park land functions for ecological conservation, environmental education, leisure and recreation, scientific research, and “nest eggs” (basic living guarantees), the research on the influencing factors of farmers’ intentions to reallocate their land (expropriated or transferred) will provide a basis for a National Parks Administration (NPA) to develop supporting policies for collective land reallocation in different functional zones and to prevent community conflicts. The research took Shennongjia National Park as an example and, combined with literature analysis, used the Structural Equation Model (SEM) to explore the influencing factors of community farmers’ land reallocation intentions and drew the following conclusions: farmers’ intentions to leave their land for nature conservation purposes and for urbanization purposes are different. In the five land function situations above, farmers’ perceptions of land function in national parks did not directly affect their land reallocation intentions, while their trust in the land management ability of NPA was a complete mediator. Farmers’ preferences for the economic value of land had no significant moderating effect on land reallocation intentions. Farmers’ characteristics have a moderating effect on different land function situation models. Older and less educated farmers are more likely to receive livelihood compensation rather than monetary compensation after leaving their land. Therefore, some management suggestions are put forward, such as strengthening the capacity for building national park land and other natural resources management, adapting to the collective land policy in different function zones, and paying attention to the livelihood compensation of community farmers after they leave the land.