Study on Categories and Hotspots of Community Conservation Conflicts in China’s Natural Protected Areas: Based on Literature Research

The purpose of this study is to analyze the categories and hotspots of community conservation conflicts in China’s natural protected areas, and make a correlation analysis on conflicts distribution, and natural or economical condition. It employs the methods of text analysis, mapping, kernel density and overlay analysis based on literature review. The results indicate that there are nine categories of communities’ conservation conflicts. Among them, four categories are more common, which are the restricted access conflict, agriculture and land use conflict, park benefits and revenue distribution, and human-wildlife conflict. There is a strong correlation between conflict hotspots and forestry resource distribution, and there is a weak correlation between conflict hotspots and community economy and income condition. The hotspot distributions of four common kinds of conflicts are different. The study concludes that current community conservation conflicts in China’s natural protected areas mainly rest on the material aspect instead of the spiritual one. Limited direct resource utilization is the primary cause of conflicts. The conflicts in forestry ecosystem protected areas get the most attentions and exist in different economic development levels. The hotspots of each conflict category are different based on the factors of resource dependence of communities, tourism development and so on.