Economic Analysis on the Spatial Distribution of Nature Reserves in China

By using China's Nature Reserve Inventory Data of 2008,with spatial analysis tools,this paper reveals the characteristics of the spatial distribution of nature reserves in China and analyzes the relevant socio-economic conditions,especially opportunity cost and financial situation.It finds out that the existing spatial distribution is the reasonable choice of local government under current economic and institutional context,which implies that opportunity cost has a key impact on the designation of nature reserves.The failure of nature reserve management has been rooted with current financial mechanism,especially for national nature reserves.The poor financial situation of the local governments in counties,where national nature reserves are mostly located,could drive the local governments to deal with failure.These conclusions remind us that an integration of nature conservation and local socio-economic conditions is very crucial in forming an effective conservation system,and reforming the current financial mechanism is a must-to-do to remove the institutional root of conservation management failure.