IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/forpol/v170y2025ics1389934124002144.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Spatial effects of ecological cognition on firewood collection by households in protected areas: An analysis based on the giant panda nature reserves

Author

Listed:
  • Zhang, Yijing
  • Zhang, Duxun
  • Shen, Jinyu
  • Duan, Wei

Abstract

The issues of unbalanced and inadequate energy development in rural China remain prominent, particularly in areas rich in natural resources, such as nature reserves, where households still tend to rely on traditional energy utilization modes. On one hand, the traditional use of firewood for energy results in low energy efficiency and indoor air pollution; On the other hand, it exacerbates problems such as habitat degradation for wildlife and environmental collapse. Although previous studies have explored rural energy source utilization from varies of aspects, there are still limitations in examining the impact of ecological cognition on household behaviors from a spatial correlation perspective. This study conducts a field survey of rural households in the giant panda nature reserves in Sichuan and Shaanxi Provinces to explore the impact of ecological cognition on rural households' firewood collection behaviors. By incorporating a spatial weight matrix, the study further analyzes the spatial spillover effects and the spatial heterogeneity of ecological cognition on rural households' firewood collection. The results show that: (1) ecological cognition significantly reduces firewood collection behaviors; (2) household income also decreases the consumption of firewood energy; (3) ecological cognition exhibits spatial spillover effects on rural households' firewood collection, indicating that household ecological cognition can impact surrounding households' ecological cognition and indirectly affect their firewood collection behaviors; and (4) significant spatial heterogeneity exists inside and outside the protected area. Ecological cognition significantly influences the firewood utilization of rural households within protected areas through spatial spillover effects, whereas its impact outside the protected areas is minimal. Strengthening forest ecological education to further raise ecological awareness, focusing on low-income households to provide energy subsidies, and utilizing the spatial spillover effects to enhance information dissemination channels are recommended for policy implications.

Suggested Citation

  • Zhang, Yijing & Zhang, Duxun & Shen, Jinyu & Duan, Wei, 2025. "Spatial effects of ecological cognition on firewood collection by households in protected areas: An analysis based on the giant panda nature reserves," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 170(C).
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:forpol:v:170:y:2025:i:c:s1389934124002144
    DOI: 10.1016/j.forpol.2024.103360
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1389934124002144
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.forpol.2024.103360?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:forpol:v:170:y:2025:i:c:s1389934124002144. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/forpol .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.