Reserve regulation and multidimensional relative poverty of farmers: Evidence from the Panda Nature Reserves in China

The accurate evaluation of the relationship between nature reserves and poverty is highly significant for the harmonious coexistence between human and nature. It is widely recognized that the establishment of nature reserves is of great importance to the income poverty of farmers, but less attention has been paid to the impact of different reserves on the multidimensional relative poverty of farmers. Based on the survey data of Panda Nature Reserves in China, we analyze the influence of reserve regulation (or not) and regulation intensity on the multidimensional relative poverty of farmers and its mechanism. Results show that farmers in reserves are more likely to fall into multidimensional relative poverty than those outside the reserves, and there is a U‐shaped relationship between regulation intensity and multidimensional relative poverty. Further, the mechanism analysis show that, on average, the establishment of reserves has no significant impact on farmers' resource utilization capability, but too high or too low regulation intensity will affect farmers' resource utilization capacity, and aggravate their multidimensional relative poverty. The conclusions of this paper are not only conducive to the expansion of theoretical research on regulation and poverty, but also provide policy implications for realizing the coordinated development between biodiversity conservation of nature reserves and rural livelihood.