Impacts of protected areas on local livelihoods: Evidence of giant panda biosphere reserves in Sichuan Province, China

- Matching was used to appraise the impacts of protected area on livelihoods.
- Traditional regression exaggerated the negative impacts of the protected area.
- The overall impact of protected area on households' wealth was negative.

Given the debates about whether Protected Areas (PAs) exacerbate local poverty or might contribute to poverty alleviation, there is a critical need for evidence to examine the impacts. In this study, we have conducted a household investigation of 560 rural households in 7 PAs of Sichuan province of China. We used matching method to value impacts of PAs on local livelihoods. The results showed that compared to the Average Treatment Effect, the results of traditional regression model exaggerate the negative impacts of the PAs. However, we should notice that the overall impact of PAs on local household wealth was still negative. Households inside the PAs had more Non-timber Forest Products gathering income and compensation, but fewer crop production income and forestry income. Better conservation policies need to be initiated to realize the harmonious and concurrent development of ecological objectives and livelihood objectives.