A Bibliometric Analysis on Conservation Land Trust and Implication for China

Modern land protection and biodiversity conservation depend greatly on the application of land trust. With the accelerated development of land trust organizations, the land trust has become the most effective land conservation method. Land trusts have been widely used in the ecological protection of nature reserves abroad and have achieved remarkable results. The research on international land trusts has important reference value for the innovation of ecological protection models of China’s nature reserves. This study aims to explore the research hotspots of international land trust conservation, clarify the evolution of related knowledge, and provide a reference for domestically related theoretical research and practical work. The research results show the following: (1) From the perspective of the publication trend, the number of international research publications increased exponentially from 1997 to 2021, and the research involves a wide range of disciplines. (2) In terms of research hotspots, land trust and private land protection, the impact of and response to climate change, and the trust mechanism in collaborative governance constitute three hot research topics. (3) From the knowledge base of the research, the international land trust research has formed seven knowledge clusters with clear boundaries, and five key documents with the theme of conservation easements constitute an important knowledge base in this field. (4) Land trust conservation easement as private law can effectively make up for the deficiency of public law. These findings can provide help and reference for domestic land conservation, as well as the reform of China’s ecological civilization system.