Community residents′ perception and willingness to construction of national parks: a case study of Limu Mountain Area at Hainan Tropical Rainforest National Park

As community residents are the direct stakeholders in the construction of national parks, the study of their perception and willingness is of great practical significance for promoting the ecological conservation and economic development of national parks. This paper takes the Limu Mountain area of Hainan Tropical Rainforest National Park as a case study. Through questionnaire surveys and in-depth interviews in three spatial levels, namely the entrance community, the in-park community, and the fringe community, sample data are obtained. Using factor analysis and one-way ANOVA analysis are used to explore the differences and dominant factors in the perceptions and willingness of residents across these communities. The results reveal that: (1) The perception and willingness of residents in the study area towards the construction of national parks show a clear trend of differentiation. The willingness of each perception dimension is ranked from high to low as follows: living environment, participation willingness, economic livelihood, and social culture. (2) Except for the economic livelihood dimension, there are significant differences among the three types of communities in other perception dimensions.Residents of the entrance community exhibited the strongest perception regarding economic livelihood, social culture, and living environment, and showed the highest willingness to participate joint activities between the national park and the community and technical training. Residents of the fringe community had the lowest perception of economic livelihood and living environment. Residents of the in-park community displayed the strongest willingness to engage in field patrol and technical training, the least willingness to participate in policy making, and the weakest perception in social culture. (3) Combined with the perception and willingness of different community residents to the construction of national parks, the proposed improvements and optimizations can, to a certain extent, increase community residents′ acceptance of national park construction.