Farmers′ willingness to coexist with wild animals and its influencing factors: evidence from Sichuan Area of Giant Panda National Park

Human-wildlife conflicts are severe and often unavoidable in national parks. How to move from conflict to coexistence is a hot and difficult topic in policy and academic research. This study, focusing on the Giant Panda National Park, employed tolerance and acceptance metrics to measure farmers′ willingness to coexist with wildlife. This study analyzed the current situation and factors influencing farmers′ willingness to coexist with wildlife through a questionnaire of communities in and around the national park. The results indicate that over a quarter of the surveyed farmers perceive wildlife as hurting their households and are unwilling to coexist with wildlife. Less than half of the farmers are willing to accept the presence of wildlife in their living areas, while only about 36% can tolerate the impact of wildlife incidents. Farmers′ willingness to coexist with wildlife is influenced by the perceived costs and benefits of wildlife conservation, their capacity, perceptions, trust, and resource endowments. Specifically, the perception of hidden costs negatively affects the willingness to coexist, while the perception of hidden benefits positively affects it. In contrast, the explicit cost-benefit of wildlife protection for farmers did not significantly affect coexistence intention. Additionally, the higher farmers′ trust in national parks, the stronger their ability to solve wildlife accident hazards, and the better their knowledge of wildlife protection laws, the higher their willingness to coexist.