Do livelihood strategies affect the willingness to participate in land conservation? The case of landless people in rural Tigray

Communal land-based resources are an essential source of livelihood in the rural economy of Ethiopia. In particular, the dependence of the landless people on the direct use of communal natural resources for their livelihoods jeopardizes both the resources they depend on and economic opportunities. To overcome such challenges, conservation of communal natural resources through collective action while addressing the food security problem has been described as one of the most appropriate resource management approaches. Thus, this paper explores how the livelihood strategies of landless people influence their willingness to participate in the conservation of natural resources. The study was conducted in five administrative districts in the Tigray region of northern Ethiopia. The findings of this paper are based on the cross-sectional data collected through structured questionnaires from 324 randomly selected landless households. This study extends the previous analyses by introducing a new method of analytical tool, particularly in modeling rural people’s willingness to participate in conservation. The results of ordered probit regression show that a higher level of willingness to conserve natural resources is observed if the household has access to farmland and harness resources generated in protected lands but with no access to artisanal mining and quarries. The study hence concludes that granting landless rural people access to farming activities and allowing them to reap economic benefits generated in protected lands promotes their participation in the conservation of natural resources.