Impacts of conservation easements on perceived land tenure security

Secure land tenure is crucial for sustainable land use, influencing landowners' willingness to engage in conservation. This paper estimates the effects of conservation easements (CE) on rural households' perceived tenure security which would in turn impact the conservation efficacy of CEs. A conceptual framework linking changes in forestland tenure arrangements to perceived tenure security is proposed in the analysis. Based on data from a face-to-face survey with 305 households in 16 administrative villages, the analysis uses difference-in-differences with propensity score matching estimation techniques to test the effects in the context of China. The empirical results suggest that CEs have no significant impacts on perceived tenure security, measured by reported forestland conflicts and perceived likelihood of expropriation and reallocation. However, a subgroup regression shows that households with more privately managed forest plots perceive a rise in the likelihood of expropriation, highlighting the need for consideration of land tenure contexts in incentive-based conservation programs.