Human-wildlife conflict is a global issue, particularly acute in developing countries, where poverty and lack of coordinated strategies heighten the risk of retaliatory killing of rare species. Birds, as charismatic species, are often seen as prime candidates for eco-labelling schemes due to their appeal and conservation value. However, eco-labelling requires careful planning and thorough economic appraisal, as it does not guarantee success. In this study we selected the Oriental White Stork in the Lower Haihe Basin, Tianjin, China, as a flagship species to examine whether local wildlife-friendly eco-labels can mitigate human–bird conflict by comparing farmers’ willingness to accept (WTA) compensation with consumers’ willingness to pay (WTP) for bird-friendly aquaculture products. By integrating these dimensions within a unified choice experiment framework, this study provides one of the first quantitative assessments of the economic feasibility and distributional implications of eco-labelling as a policy tool for mitigating human–bird conflict in China. We find that birdwatchers play a critical role on shaping both the costs and benefits of the conflict to farmers: as key supporters willing to pay premium prices for eco-labels there by boosted conservation funding, but also as unofficial monitors which can add to farmers’ anxiety. Our findings reveal that eco-labelling alone is insufficient to resolve the conflict with farmers favoring direct compensation over labelling due to high costs and concerns about limited consumer demand. We therefore suggest a multifaceted policy that combines labeling with compensation payments, consumer education, and improved communication channels among farmers, officials, and conservationists.

Regulations prohibiting retaliatory killing of wildlife are widespread, but their efficacy depends on individuals' perceptions of, adherence to, and willingness to cooperate with these rules. We investigated the willingness of rural communities in China to cooperate with measures to reduce human-wildfowl conflict by examining the potential influence of individual attitudes and social factors on this willingness. Through a public survey and choice experiments with 1381 participants (344 rural residents in the Sanjiang Plain conflict areas and 1037 urban residents in Harbin and Beijing), we identified 5 distinct attitudes toward retaliatory killing of wildfowl in rural areas. Among these, the deterrence-driven (compliance motivated by fear of legal punishment), law-as-principle (adherence to law as a formal obligation), and law-morality-consensus (alignment between legal rules and personal moral values) attitudes predominated. Only respondents with a law-morality-consensus attitude had a significantly higher willingness to cooperate with wildfowl conservation efforts. Regarding wildfowl management policies, rural residents preferred population reduction, whereas urban residents favored population increases. Compounded by, for example, imbalanced economic development and the unilateral burden of wildlife-related losses, this urban-rural divergence may foster a sense of conservation-related inequity in rural residents. Such perceived inequity, exacerbated by limited participation in decision-making, could diminish rural residents' voluntary cooperation and create a cycle in which high economic losses by rural residents lead to differences between urban and rural conservation values that lead to shifts in local attitudes and result in retaliatory killing by rural residents. Management should prioritize ensuring that conservation benefits accrue to local communities. Such a shift could involve implementing scientifically assessed, quota-based hunting in high-conflict areas and channeling resulting revenues into community conservation efforts.

Abstract Understanding the factors shaping human perceptions on a species reintroduction can facilitate project success and foster human–wildlife coexistence. Eurasian lynx Lynx lynx has been proposed as a candidate for reintroduction in Scotland, after having gone extinct in Britain. To identify perceived impacts of a lynx reintroduction among stakeholders and to explore factors shaping these perceptions, we conducted 34 unstructured interviews with stakeholders within and in potentially suitable habitat for a lynx reintroduction and surrounding areas in Scotland. We adopted an interpretative, grounded theory approach and identified themes from the interview data. The same perceived impacts were framed to both oppose and support a lynx reintroduction, which typically reflected pre‐existing tensions between stakeholders and indicated opinion and affective polarization. A combination of individual experiences, human–human relationships, and human–wildlife relationships was pivotal in shaping perceptions. With these insights, conflict mitigation mechanisms can be developed before initiating a conservation project, such as the reintroduction of a species. We suggest that as a first step in a conservation project, relationships are built with stakeholders and immediately seeking to change opinions should be avoided, which can be counterproductive.

ABSTRACT Aim Indigenous range maps are fundamental documents in biogeography, phylogeny and conservation. We define the indigenous range of a species as ecoregions (or parts of ecoregions) where the species was likely found before humans became a major factor shaping the species' distribution, beginning at a time when the geographical alignment of the continents and the prevailing climate are (or at least were) roughly consistent with current conditions. We developed a structured, generally applicable method to map a species' indigenous range and applied this process to the tiger ( Panthera tigris ). Location Terrestrial Asia. Methods To guide our mapping, we synthesised a database of over 70,000 tiger observations with dates and locations. We developed a structured Delphi process to assign categories of indigenous range to ecoregions aided by a climate niche model. We analysed tiger habitat change at the ecoregional scale using the anthropogenically modified biomes (‘Anthrome 12K’) dataset to suggest dates of first significant human impact. Finally, we estimated extirpation dates for ecoregions where tigers have been extirpated. Results We found the tiger once occupied a likely indigenous resident range of approximately 11.5 million km 2 , crossing 116 ecoregions. We also mapped an additional c. 11.7 million km 2 of exploratory range and 1.2 million km 2 of possible resident range. Collectively these areas overlap with 36 modern countries. Significant human disruption of the species' habitat seems to have begun over 6000 years ago in some areas, but in other regions has yet to materialise. In few arid ecoregions, human activities appear to have modestly increased habitat availability in the past, yet overall tigers have lost between 90% and 95% of their indigenous range over the last 8500 years. Main Conclusions We define the ‘indigenous range’ of a species, develop a replicable biogeographical procedure, apply the procedure to the tiger and discuss transferability to other species.

Mobulid species are endangered globally, and the market trade for gill plates is believed to be a major threat. Successful conservation and the sustainable use of mobulids therefore require an objective understanding of consumer characteristics and preferences for gill plates. Previous studies focused on qualitative descriptions, and reliable quantitative analyses are currently lacking. We used a latent class choice experiment method and a semistructured questionnaire to provide important new quantitative information about gill plate consumer characteristics and the heterogeneous nature of demand for gill plates. From May to July 2019, we conducted a field study in Guangzhou, the primary consumption hub for mobulid gill plates in mainland China. Utilizing a simple random sampling method, we engaged in face-to-face interviews with 428 consumers of gill plates in the major trading markets in Guangzhou. Our results showed that 59.8% of consumers of gill plates were over 40 years old, 62.6% were female, 80.7% had annual household incomes of <200,000 yuan, and 84.5% recognized the medical and health value of gill plates and purchased them. About seventy-two percent of consumers preferred to purchase imported and less expensive gill plates from unprotected species, but they had a strong preference for large gill plates from protected species, such as Mobula birostris . This contradiction arose from consumers’ lack of knowledge of mobulids and their conservation status. We found, for example, female consumers over 40 years old had the least understanding of conservation status of mobulid species and the link between size of gill plates and rarity of mobulids. This suggests there may be opportunities to promote mobulid conservation through education and marketing targeted at this demographic. Consumers who had a positive preference for gill plates from protected species (regardless of price) (10%) may be harder to influence. Overall, we believe education alone is not enough and that the conservation of mobulids would benefit from an integrated approach that involves conservation education and strengthened trade regulations, such as the introduction of traceability systems and a stiffer legal framework for consumption of protected species.

Human-wildlife conflict is rapidly evolving in response to significant ecological, social, and economic changes affecting society globally. Developing objective and acceptable resolution strategies is challenging because of divergence in perceptions and understandings of human-wildlife conflict between urban and rural populations, and this disparity is increasing with rapid urbanization. In this study, we explore preferences for wild boar conflict management in China using a mixed methods approach of a survey, choice experiments, and interviews. We found that significant differences in the preferences of wild boar management exist between rural and urban residents. The majority of rural residents preferred hunting whereas most urban residents in cities remote from the conflict preferred non-hunting measures. However, we found that economic cost played an important role in influencing public preferences for management measures. The urban population had positive preferences for hunting if they were required to pay an environmental tax to compensate farmers for crop damage when asked to consider their preferred management strategy package. We consider that the current management of hunting wild boar in China requires improvement, and we argue that China should adjust the current hunting management policy to take into account the benefits of wild boar population control and the economic development of the surrounding rural areas.

Agricultural production is considered to be one of the main threats to biodiversity. Market-based wildlife-friendly farming (WFF) systems are thought to have great potential to reshape the link between biodiversity and agriculture. In this paper, we explore the potential for WFF rice production in China using choice experiment surveys of consumers and producers. Our results show that there is a significant difference in preferences between urban consumers and rural rice producers. Rice producers pay more attention to the practical concerns around quality (taste), location (ease of working) and prices, while urban consumers pay attention to whether the rice is healthy and free of contamination (e.g. organic or grown with fish). In addition, producers' price expectations for WFF rice production are not uniform due to different challenges with respect to technology, resource allocation and trust. Preference heterogeniety also exists among urban consumers, some of whom are skeptical of 'organic labeling', while others place high levels of trust in rice grown with "biological" indicators such as fish or frogs. Although WFF production systems may not be able to accommodate the full heterogeneity among growers and consumers it can strengthen the incentives to farm more sustainably for the benefit of the economy and the environment if appropriately designed. We suggest the most promising approach is to jointly produce organic rice with fish or another trusted biological indicator to overcome trust issues with existing organic labeling.

Proxies and indicators to monitor cumulative human pressures provide useful tools to model change and understanding threshold pressures at which species can persist, are extirpated, or might recolonize human-impacted landscapes. We integrated modelling and field observations of human pressure variables to generate a site-specific, fine scale Human Footprint Pressure map for 39,000 km2 of rangelands at the Kafue–Zambezi interface—a key linkage in the Kavango-Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area. We then modelled Human Footprint Pressure against empirically derived occurrence data for lion (Panthera leo), leopard (Panthera pardus), and spotted hyena (Crocuta crocuta) to generate Human Footprint Pressure threshold ranges at which each species were persisting or extirpated within ten wildlife managed areas linking Kafue National Park to the Zambezi River. Results overcame many limitations inherent in existing large-scale Human Footprint Pressure models, providing encouraging direction for this approach. Human Footprint Pressure thresholds were broadly similar to existing studies, indicating this approach is valid for site- and species-specific modelling. Model performance would improve as additional datasets become available and with improved understanding of how asymmetrical and nonlinear threshold responses to footprint pressure change across spatial-temporal scales. However, our approach has broader utility for local and region-wide conservation planning where mapping and managing human disturbance will help in managing carnivore species within and without protected area networks.

The illegal ivory trade is the main driver of elephant poaching in Africa. In recent years, China—long regarded as the main destination of illegal ivory trade—has undertaken a series of policy interventions to curtail ivory imports, such as the closure of ivory carving enterprises. In this article we explore the impact of these recent interventions on the price of ivory and poaching and the wider drivers connected to the illegal trade, such as China's macro-economic performance. The research demonstrates that the price of illegal ivory in China has dropped significantly, mainly due to measures taken under China's "Ecological Civilization" (EC) programme and ivory trade ban to curb demand and supply. The number of illegal ivory seizures decreased over time but remains active, with a high proportion of seizures categorized as minor infringements (ivory pieces under 2.4 kg) often imported by tourists as souvenirs. We also find that the price of ivory is recovering in other destinations such as Vietnam, and it is becoming clear that all countries should make more political commitments on the existing basis to elephant conservation and curtailing illegal ivory trade.

AbstractAt least one third of sharks and their cartilaginous relatives (Class Chondrichthyes) meet the IUCN Red List Criteria for being threatened with extinction. Overfishing is the primary threat, with less than 4% of the world's shark catches managed for sustainability. The high‐value shark‐fin trade has gained the greatest attention as a conservation issue, yet there has been little research on shark‐fin consumer preferences, and how these might be leveraged to deliver sustainability goals. We used an online discrete choice experiment to explore preferences for price, quality, rarity, and finning among 2914 shark‐fin soup consumers in China. Overall, consumers prefer higher priced and rare shark‐fins, obtained without finning, yet we found three distinct groups with substantial heterogeneity between them. Our results provide evidence for the conspicuous consumption nature of shark‐fin use, but also suggest these preferences could be leveraged to incentivize responsible shark fishing. In addition, messaging for future unsustainable demand reduction should focus on shark‐finning and animal welfare as opposed species rarity and extinction.

The use of trophy hunting as a wildlife management option has been a highly controversial topic, especially in southern Africa, but trophy hunting has historically also taken place also throughout Asia. In China, trophy hunting was the topic of intense public discussion more than a decade ago, leading ultimately to the suspension of this practice in 2006. Yet, this debate was dominated by urban voices, with no formal consultation of rural populations from minorities such as the Tibetan herders who previously benefited financially from commercial trophy hunting acting as guides and who are also concerned about the negative impact of rising blue sheep numbers on livestock grazing. We used a discrete choice experiment econometric method to better understand the trade-offs made by both urban and rural populations across China in relation trophy hunting as a rural development and wildlife management tool. We find that trophy hunting is supported by the majority of rural residents but opposed by most urban residents, although there is heterogeneity within both these groups. We recommend that policy-making in this realm should be informed by a better understanding of the preferences of different stakeholders, including the local people who bear the costs of living with wildlife.

Many global biodiversity hotspots have been cultivated for food for centuries and their unique agrobiodiversity is now under threat from land-use conversion, land abandonment or agricultural intensification. Wildlife-friendly farming (WFF) certification is a market-based approach that aims to alleviate the threats through charging a premium over conventional food products. This study explores the economic demand for WFF to protect biodiversity and maintain traditional rice cultivation in the Satoyama landscape of Japan by quantifying the price differential for key attributes of a landscape scale WFF scheme using choice experiments with consumers. A novel component of this study was to combine the choice experiment data with qualitative interviews with stakeholders together with observational and participatory approaches to identify underlying motivations for purchase decisions and to assess using a mixed methods approach the potential of WFF schemes to support landscape scale conservation and rural development. We found that consumer's willingness to pay (WTP) for organic rice was the highest, with a premium of 2937 JPY (26.83 USD) compared to non-organic rice. Respondents were also willing to pay more for all rice that conserves individual target species, with WTP for bird species the highest and for rice produced specifically in the traditional Satoyama landscapes. Although a WFF-Satoyama programme would bring public benefits and support rural livelihoods we suggest there are several challenges to widespread adoption that include an ageing farming population, a lack of appropriate business skills and technical capacity, and obstacles arising from Japanese land use policies concerning forestry and hunting.

China is one of the world’s leading consumer markets for wildlife products, yet there is little understanding of how demand will change in the future. In this study, we investigate the consumptive habits and attitudes of the millennial ‘Juilinghou’ demographic – a subset of society in China with the potential to substantially influence future demand for wildlife products. We surveyed 350 Chinese university students across Harbin and Beijing, China, and found that the intended future consumption of wildlife products was relatively low in this population but with a strong orientation towards wildlife products with medicinal properties. Seventy percent of those respondents who had used and/or intended to use wildlife products were willing to try substitutes, but this was heavily dependent on their price (cheaper) and quality. The insights gained through this survey are intended to meaningfully inform future initiatives to introduce sustainable substitutability into wildlife markets to alert future wildlife product consumers to alternative choices.

Conservation debates, fuelled by social media, are becoming increasingly polarised, especially where animal conservation and welfare are concerned. This study reveals how the ‘evidence-based approach’ founded on scientific knowledge and consensus-building can be insufficient when addressing conflicts that are driven by deeply held and opposing belief systems about nature, wildlife and their exploitation. Using targeted semi-structured interviews grounded in inductive approaches, we unveil core attitudes and viewpoints of captive lion breeders in South Africa and compare them to those of key-informants from science and governance arenas. Further, we demonstrate how the value-systems and worldviews of stakeholders influence their interpretations of scientific knowledge when assessing the conservation value of captive-bred lions. Since polarised conflicts are frequent in conservation, the insights of this study highlight the need to create a deeper understanding of the social-psychological perspective of all main stakeholders to prepare the foundation for solution-building processes and evidence-based decision-making.

Encouraging people’s pro-environmental behaviors is an objective of Education for Sustainable Development. In the context of small-scale fisheries, unsustainable fishing practices are compromising the integrity of coastal communities and ecosystems. Ecopath with Ecosim (EwE) is an ecosystem modeling software that presents interactions/changes in the food web as a result of fishing. Despite the multiple applications of EwE in fisheries management, it is unknown from a quantitative perspective whether the application of EwE trophic modeling in environmental education processes and management produces effects on norms and ecological beliefs, and if it alters behavioral intentions of the participants receiving ecosystem modeling information. We conducted a behavior change intervention with gillnet fishers in the Gulf of Nicoya, Costa Rica, to compare antecedents of pro-environmental behavior between participants who received an ecosystem-based intervention (lectures containing EwE models; treatment) and those who received lectures that didn’t involve EwE (control). Based on theories of environmental psychology, we used a pre–post survey design, to evaluate changes between control/treatment, and to assess the influence of psychometric constructs and fishing characteristics on the behavioral intentions to support sustainable fishing measures and owning a fishing license (revealed behavior). Personal norms and values were significant at explaining management measures’ support, along with some fishing characteristics (e.g., fishing site). Deliberating about possible future scenarios (via EwE-modeling) helped reduce uncertainties, increasing legitimacy and a perceived behavioral control (PBC) to support measures. Currently, licenses in the Gulf aren’t granted under defined ecological criteria, and although altruistic-biospheric values scored highly before the intervention began, due to mistrust and high illegal-unlicensed fishing, fishers may be underestimating how much others care about the environment. Value-oriented and ecosystem-based interventions may assist to effectively redesign the licensing system and encourage fishers to support sustainable measures. Our research indicates the importance of education interventions that teach about the impacts of fishing in the ecosystem while helping participants to perceive themselves as capable of implementing actions (PBC) and expressing biospheric-altruistic values to restore trust. Redirecting human behaviors to reconnect with ecosystem resilience can be a leverage point for sustainability and for the compliance of small-scale fisheries management measures.

The widespread dissemination of information related to wildlife utilization in new online media and traditional media undoubtedly impacts societal conservation concepts and attitudes, thus triggering public discussions on the relationship between conservation and utilization. A study on how public attitudes and concepts are affected by the related information on wildlife utilization is helpful to implement the scientific wildlife conservation and management strategies, and to propose targeted measures to optimize the information environment. We designed the questionnaire to investigate the public's awareness and agreement with related information on wildlife utilization so as to measure how information with different dissemination channels, source types, and content orientation influenced the public's concept of wildlife conservation and utilization. The questionnaire was distributed in seven major geographical regions throughout China. Out of a total of 1645 questionnaires that were collected, 1294 questionnaires were valid, with an effective rate of 78.7%. Results show that respondents had the greatest awareness of information on preventing unsustainable and illegal utilization, and the lowest awareness of information on promoting unsustainable utilization, and that awareness of information that against utilization was higher than that of information which supported sustainable utilization. At the same time, respondents showed the greatest agreement for information on preventing unsustainable utilization and the lowest agreement for information on promoting unsustainable utilization; also, their agreement with information that against utilization was higher than that for information which supported sustainable use. Respondents had a high level of awareness of information on wildlife related to COVID-19 provided by experts. Gender, age, the level of development of the city in which they live, education, vegetarianism, and religious beliefs all affected respondents' agreement with related information on wildlife utilization. This research suggests that the publicity and education of scientific conservation methods should be emphasized in the future conservation education. In addition, scholars in the field of wildlife research should assume the role of 'influencer' and give full play to the scientific guidance of public opinion.

Sustainable wildlife management (SWM) is based on a synergy of traditional/local knowledge, advances in scientific knowledge, and fast-evolving economic and social circumstances. A widely accepted cornerstone of SWM globally is that conservation and utilization need to be effectively integrated, emphasizing the benefits humans can derive from biodiversity, thereby further encouraging people to protect and value wildlife though its management. However, with demand from biological resources growing at an unprecedented rate and the emergence of social media, conservationists must respond quickly to new challenges and conflicts associated with species management and public policy. For example, the rise of the “Compassionate Conservation” (CC) movement, fueled by social marketing and media, which promotes the welfare of individual animals, has introduced a set of challenges for conventional conservation management as it opposes most or all forms of wildlife utilization and hunting. CC advocates are increasingly influential at global and national policy levels; hence, it is imperative that conservationists are informed and aware of the future challenges from a rapidly changing global society. In this paper, we report the findings of a large semi-structured questionnaire in China which investigated the attitude of the urban public toward sustainable wildlife management (SWM) and wildlife conservation across a range of issues and identified the key socio-economic and demographic factor drivers for those attitudes. The survey was conducted from November 2018 to October 2020, across 15 cities randomly selected among China’s seven administrative geographic regions. The survey was initially conducted through face-to-face interviews, but later, due to COVID-19 restrictions, was completed via online questionnaires. A Likert seven-point scale method was used to score the public’s degree of agreement or disagreement for each question; a multivariate stepwise linear regression method was used to analyze whether the overall attitude of the respondents toward SWM and wildlife conservation was affected by their demographic characteristics; and a classification and regression tree (CART) was used to conduct an in-depth analysis of the issues with negative scores in the questionnaire, so as to understand how the respondents’ demographic characteristics affected the public’s attitude about such issues, which could supplement results obtained from the multivariate stepwise linear regression analysis. The results show that the public are broadly supportive of SWM, but only moderately so. On issues of “Animal Welfare and Rights,” “Wildlife Utilization and Captive Breeding,” and “Trophy Hunting”, the core concerns of the “Compassionate Conservation” movement and the overall public view are more antagonistic to conventional SWM. We also find specific demographic characteristics significantly influence attitudes about SWM, with vegetarians, those with religious beliefs, and with lower educational standards demonstrating weaker support for SWM. For younger people, “Animal Welfare and Rights” is a special concern, hence, we identify this as a key issue to be addressed for SWM and conservation in the future. Our research suggests that conservation organisations may need to adapt their management aims and practices to avoid direct conflict with the rising tide of animal rights sentiment, especially among the young. Furthermore, significant investment will be required to promote science-based conservation in social marketing on all social media platforms to help educate and engage the public with the science behind conservation management.

Online crowdfunding can help address the perennial financial shortfalls in environmental conservation and management. Although many online crowdfunding campaigns fail to collect any funds due to not achieving their targets, little is known about what drives success. To address this knowledge gap, we applied a mixed-methods approach to data from 473 successful and failed campaigns hosted on the online crowdfunding platform Readyfor. We found that fundraising performance varied by topic, with campaigns on pet animal management outperforming those focussed on landscape management and sustainable use. We also found that marketing strategies associated with online findability and increased reach through social networks, increased fundraising success. However, the existence of other environmental campaigns running simultaneously, reduced the chance of success, which implies that the selecting popular topics does not always increase the likelihood of success due to increased competition. Wider applications of marketing could enhance the ability of environmental crowdfunding campaigns to raise funds.