Wanting Peng, former visiting scholar with the Spatial Sciences Institute and the USC School of Architecture Landscape Architecture program, has published “What factors influence the willingness of protected area communities to relocate? China’s ecological relocation policy for Dashanbao Protected Area” in Science of The Total Environment (Volume 727, 20 July 2020, 138364).
Peng is integrating biophysical and socioeconomic modeling with spatial analysis to protect the habitat of the threatened black-necked crane (Grus nigricollis) as well as human livelihoods in a rural mountainous region of China. In this article in Science of the Total Environment, Peng and her co-authors examined factors that affect local communities’ willingness to relocate in Dashanbao Protected Area (DPA), an important location for conservation of the rare black-necked crane and the subject of a large-scale relocation policy in China.
The results indicated that participation in a payment for environmental services programs (PES) program for wetland conservation significantly decreases willingness, while distance from scenic spots and roads increases willingness. Participants in the PES program for wetlands also had a greater positive perception of the benefits from the DPA. Concern about a sustainable livelihood and loss of a sense of belonging represent the two main categories or ‘clusters’ of reasons explaining unwillingness to relocate.
During her two-year visiting scholar appointment at USC, Peng worked on this research with Dr. Travis Longcore, currently Adjunct Associate Professor with the UCLA Institute of the Environment and Sustainability; Ph.D. student Xiaozhe Yin; and the Spring 2018 SSCI 412L GeoDesign Practicum course.
Peng is a Ph.D. candidate in Landscape Architecture at Tongji University.
