Community belonging and grassland restoration willingness: Evidence from a micro-survey of herders in Qinghai Province, China

Due to climate change and human activities, the grasslands of the Qinghai-Xizang Plateau have experienced varying degrees of degradation, which has significantly reduced livelihoods of the herder households. Herders are indigenous to these vast grasslands. Over centuries, they have developed a strong sense of community belonging, which helps protect natural grasslands and prevent further degradation. This study explores how community belonging affects herders’ willingness to restore degraded grasslands and examines the underlying mechanisms of this relationship. We frame our analysis within a common-pool resource framework to clarify the collective action dilemma associated with grassland restoration. The results indicate that community belonging shows a statistically significant and positive effect on herders’ willingness to restore degraded grasslands, suggesting a 36.7% increase in willingness. Being a village cadre negatively moderates the impact of community belonging, indicating a 70.1% decrease in the positive effect. Additionally, herders with smaller livestock scales, those who have access to loans, and those residing in the Haixi region exhibit stronger behavioral willingness responses to community belonging. Therefore, grassland restoration policies should focus on enhancing community belonging and leveraging social capital as a key component of grassland protection and restoration strategies, with targeted economic incentives and improved institutional trust through better policy implementation. • This study explores the impact of community belonging on herders’ willingness to restore degraded grasslands. • Community belonging shows a positive effect on herders’ willingness to restore degraded grasslands. • Community belonging mediated through investment behavior and moderated by village cadre status and satisfaction with manager’s work. • Social capital-based interventions to complement traditional incentive policies is necessary.