Influencing Factors of Community Residents' Pro-environmental Behavior in East Dongting Lake National Nature Reserve under the Policy Intervention

Abstract

Abstract In the study of protected areas, the " Fences & fines " approach is increasingly becoming acknowledged as obsolete and ineffectual, and there is mounting evidence suggesting that the "Community-based conservation" approach is acquiring consideration. It is significant to identify which protection model or factors perform a definitive part in China. Taking the East Dongting Lake National Nature Reserve in China as a survey site, this paper utilizes a random sampling method to interview 431 households to investigate the relationship between legal system, ecological compensation, environmental education, community participation, concessions, livelihoods, job provision, intrinsic motivation and pro-environmental behavior. The regression results declare that intrinsic motivation and legal system are the most effective factors impacting on pro-environmental behavior; concessions has a critical adverse consequence on pro-environmental behavior; ecological compensation, community participation, environmental education, livelihoods, and job provision had insignificant positive impacts on pro-environmental behavior. Further mediating effects analysis and SEM model construction indicated that intrinsic motivation mediates between legal system and pro-environmental behavior of community residents, legal system promotes pro-environmental behavior by promoting intrinsic motivation, which is more effective than legal system promoting pro-environmental behavior directly. This demonstrates that in communal protected areas, long-term strict legal constraints can shape community residents' positive attitude towards conservation and pro-environmental behavior, and appropriate "community-based conservation" approaches can mitigate conflicts between special groups represented by hunters and protected areas. With the combination of these two approaches, the management of protected areas can be successful. This supplies a valuable real-world case for the current debate on biodiversity conservation.