The role of ecosystem services in park–people relationships: The case of Gaoligongshan Nature Reserve in southwest China T.D. Allendorf a,⇑ , J. Yang b a Department of Forest and Wildlife Ecology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1630 Linden Drive, Madison, WI 53706, USA b College of Ecotourism, Southwest Forestry University, Kunming, Bailingsi, Bailong Road, Kunming, Yunnan 650224, China article info Article history: Received 25 April 2013 Received in revised form 6 August 2013 Accepted 10 August 2013 Keywords: Park–people relationships Ecosystem services Protected areas Attitudes Perceptions China abstract Finding common ground between local residents’ livelihoods and the conservation of protected areas in developing countries has been considered a challenge. Recently, ecosystem services have been used as a framework to understand the benefits that protected areas provide local residents. In this study, we explore the role of ecosystem services in residents’ relationships with Gaoligongshan Nature Reserve (GNR) in Yunnan, China. GNR is located in a biodiversity hotspot and in an area that has been affected severe droughts. Results show that the majority of people recognize ecosystem services as benefits from GNR, particularly regulating services such as the provision of water. Respondents who perceived regulat- ing services were more likely to be older, male, of Yi ethnicity, more educated, and grow sugarcane but not corn. However, controlling for residents’ knowledge about GNR, the effects of gender, age, and edu- cation decrease or disappear, while ethnicity and agricultural crops grown remain significant. This study demonstrates that people recognize common ground between their livelihoods and GNR and suggests that people’s knowledge about GNR, cultural context, and agricultural experiences influence their appre- ciation of ecosystem services from GNR. This study highlights that protected area conservation, if con- ducted with awareness of people’s already-existing perceptions of benefits, can begin with a discussion of win–win scenarios. Ó 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Finding common ground between local residents’ livelihoods and the conservation of protected areas in developing countries has been considered a challenge. Many of the approaches to creat- ing positive park–people relationships have relied on the provision of direct economic benefits to local residents. Recently, however, ecosystem services, such as the provision of food, pollination of plants, and climate regulation, are being used as a framework to understand the benefits that protected areas may provide to local residents. For example, Turner et al. (2012) found a high correla- tion between hotspots of biodiversity and the potential for ecosys- tem service benefits to local people. Much of the discussion on how to incorporate ecosystem ser- vices into biodiversity conservation is focused on discussions of whether win–win situations exist that can achieve conservation and development goals (Tallis et al., 2008; Vira and Adams, 2009). To a large extent, a major assumption underlying the dis- cussion is that people need to be convinced of the benefits of bio- diversity and ecosystems. Often, there is an underlying assumption that ecosystem services must be quantified and monetized, for example, through payments for ecosystem services, in order to cre- ate people’s appreciation of them (Tallis et al., 2008). Wallace (2007) emphasizes the importance of understanding ecosystem services in terms of how they are experienced at the individual human level, which may not correspond to the way sci- entists or policy-makers categorize them. Studies on park–people relationships have found that people value biodiversity conserva- tion and ecosystem services. In protected areas in Myanmar and Nepal, many people appreciate biodiversity conservation and eco- system services (Allendorf, 2007; Allendorf et al., 2006). Sodhi et al. (2010) found that a majority of people living near five protected areas in Southeast Asia valued a diversity of ecosystem services. Hartter and Goldman (2011) found that 73% of respondents in their study perceived improved local rainfall and air quality as a benefit of Kibale National Park. Other studies have also qualitatively de- scribed local residents’ recognition and appreciation for ecosystem services from protected areas as a benefit of protected areas in the Dominican Republic (Schelhas et al., 2002), Cameroon (Abbot et al., 2001), Costa Rica (Moorman, 2006), and India (Mukherjee and Borad, 2004). Combining an ecosystem services framework with an under- standing of how communities around protected areas perceive and value protected areas may help elucidate the potential from 0006-3207/$ - see front matter Ó 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2013.08.013 ⇑ Corresponding author. Tel.: +1 608 262 3946. E-mail addresses: allendorf@wisc.edu, allendorf@wisc.com (T.D. Allendorf), yangjm21@gmail.com (J. Yang). Biological Conservation 167 (2013) 187–193 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Biological Conservation journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/biocon