Herders' willingness-to-participate in the Grassland Ecological Compensation and Award Policy in China: a meta-analysis

Since implementation of its first phase, the Grassland Ecological Compensation and Award Policy (GECAP; 2011–2015) has significantly influenced participants’ livelihoods in China. Willingness-to-participate (WTP) is an important component of successful policy implementation. The effects of influential factors on herders’ WTP have received considerable research effort, although no systematic literature review or quantitative analysis has been conducted to provide evidence-based policy insights. Focusing on 3405 observations extracted from 13 empirical studies, this research conducted a meta-analysis and aggregated the effects of factors affecting Chinese herders’ WTP in the GECAP. The study also analysed the heterogeneity in influential factors and its sources. Factors increasing herders’ WTP included a higher formal education level, a higher farm income from raising livestock, access to larger grassland area, improved grassland condition, and better policy understanding. The cumulative effects of the number of livestock and grassland area on herders’ WTP had increased since the policy was implemented. We examined publication bias that may arise from research with favourable results being more likely to be published and found that publication bias was statistically insignificant for the selected case studies. However, we found significant heterogeneity in household income and number of livestock. The sources of heterogeneity included regional differences, publication year, and sampling method. Future policy modification and formulation should better incentivise active participation of herders by targeting specific pastoral regions and herder groups at certain income levels and/or herd size.