The impact of human-elephant conflicts on farm households’ land lease behavior: The case of Yunnan Province, China

Abstract

In recent years, the persistent interactions between Asian elephants and agricultural communities have posed significant challenges to the livelihoods of farmers as well as the utilization of their land resources. This study analyzed whether and how the Human-Elephant Conflicts (HEC) affected the land lease behavior of the farm households using a sample of 915 farm households in 9 counties of Yunnan Province, China, in 2022. The Bivariate Probit model was used to explore the impact of HEC on the land lease in and land lease out of farm households. Four options were recognized in the Bivariate Probit model: no lease, sole lease in, sole lease out, and both lease in and lease out. The results show that: (1) The incidence of HEC signified a 25.40 % rise in sole lease out, and a 28.90 % rise in both lease in and lease out. (2) There was heterogeneity in the effect of HEC on farmers' land lease behavior. Farmers who live far away from nature reserves had a higher probability of leasing in (14.70 %) and leasing out their land (8.30 %) than farmers who live close to nature reserves. High-income farmers had a higher probability of leasing out (14.20 %) than low-income farmers; yet, they had a lower probability of leasing in (5.00 %). Small-scale land management farmers had a higher probability of leasing out land (6.70 %) than the large-scale land management group; yet, they had a lower probability of leasing in land (11.80 %). The results suggest that more focused strategies need to be adopted to help the local communities reduce the harm induced by HEC.