{"title":"Economic impacts at the county level of marine protected areas designation in China","authors":"","doi":"10.1016/j.ocecoaman.2024.107366","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Designating protected areas to balance environmental conservation and economic development is a widely debated issue. Evaluating the economic impacts of protected areas designation offers solutions to this challenge, and studying the economic impacts of China's marine protected areas (MPAs) holds particular significance due to their predominant location along the economically developed eastern coast of China. Treating MPAs designation as a quasi-natural experiment, it is analyzed using a multi-period difference-in-differences (DID) model based on the panel data of coastal counties during 2000–2021. The results consistently inform that China's MPAs designation has negative impacts on the economic development of coastal counties, and these negative economic impacts can accumulate over time. Mediator tests show that MPAs designation significantly hampers the improvement of the local industrial structure, which partially explains the negative economic impacts. This indicates that after the designation of MPAs in coastal counties, there is an opportunity cost in terms of economic development, highlighting the need for ecological compensation for the designation of MPAs in coastal counties. Additionally, the extent of the negative impacts varies depending on the location of the MPAs, with MPAs in the North Sea producing the biggest impacts and those in the South Sea the least. This suggests that priority should be given to the South Sea in selecting marine national parks to achieve a balance between economic and conservation objectives. The study effectively quantified the negative impact of MPAs on economic development within a novel context. The findings offer valuable insights for addressing the broader conflict between environmental protection and economic development.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":54698,"journal":{"name":"Ocean & Coastal Management","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":4.8000,"publicationDate":"2024-09-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Ocean & Coastal Management","FirstCategoryId":"93","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S096456912400351X","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"OCEANOGRAPHY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Designating protected areas to balance environmental conservation and economic development is a widely debated issue. Evaluating the economic impacts of protected areas designation offers solutions to this challenge, and studying the economic impacts of China's marine protected areas (MPAs) holds particular significance due to their predominant location along the economically developed eastern coast of China. Treating MPAs designation as a quasi-natural experiment, it is analyzed using a multi-period difference-in-differences (DID) model based on the panel data of coastal counties during 2000–2021. The results consistently inform that China's MPAs designation has negative impacts on the economic development of coastal counties, and these negative economic impacts can accumulate over time. Mediator tests show that MPAs designation significantly hampers the improvement of the local industrial structure, which partially explains the negative economic impacts. This indicates that after the designation of MPAs in coastal counties, there is an opportunity cost in terms of economic development, highlighting the need for ecological compensation for the designation of MPAs in coastal counties. Additionally, the extent of the negative impacts varies depending on the location of the MPAs, with MPAs in the North Sea producing the biggest impacts and those in the South Sea the least. This suggests that priority should be given to the South Sea in selecting marine national parks to achieve a balance between economic and conservation objectives. The study effectively quantified the negative impact of MPAs on economic development within a novel context. The findings offer valuable insights for addressing the broader conflict between environmental protection and economic development.
期刊介绍:
Ocean & Coastal Management is the leading international journal dedicated to the study of all aspects of ocean and coastal management from the global to local levels.
We publish rigorously peer-reviewed manuscripts from all disciplines, and inter-/trans-disciplinary and co-designed research, but all submissions must make clear the relevance to management and/or governance issues relevant to the sustainable development and conservation of oceans and coasts.
Comparative studies (from sub-national to trans-national cases, and other management / policy arenas) are encouraged, as are studies that critically assess current management practices and governance approaches. Submissions involving robust analysis, development of theory, and improvement of management practice are especially welcome.