Chinese Resident Preferences for African Elephant Conservation: Choice Experiment

Abstract

Despite passionate efforts to preserve African elephants worldwide, their numbers continue to decline. Some conservation programs have suspended operations because the funds provided by various governmental and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) cannot cover the enormous expenses of countering poaching, habitat destruction, and illegal ivory trading. This study investigates Chinese resident preferences for African elephant conservation using a choice experiment model. Results indicated that two-thirds of our 442 respondents with relatively higher education and income levels were willing to donate to conserve African elephants. Respondents were willing to donate RMB 1593.80 (USD 231.65) annually to African elephant conservation. Chinese residents were willing to donate the most to anti-poaching RMB 641.25 (USD 93.20), followed by enhancing habitat quality RMB 359.07 (USD 52.22), combating the illegal trade in ivory RMB 355.63 (USD 51.69), and alleviating human–elephant conflicts RMB 237.85 (USD 34.57). Our results suggest that accepting public donations could be an efficient way for NGOs to better preserve African elephants.