A basic tenet of ecotourism is to enhance conservation. However, few studies have assessed its effectiveness in meeting conservation goals and whether the type of tourism activity affects outcomes. This study examines whether working in ecotourism changes the perceptions of and attitudes and behaviours of local people towards the focal species and its habitat and, if so, if tourism type affects those outcomes. We interviewed 114 respondents at four whale shark Rhincodon typus tourism sites in the Philippines to compare changes in perceptions of and attitudes and behaviours towards whale sharks and the wider marine environment. We found that the smaller scale tourism sites had greater social conservation outcomes than the mass or failed tourism sites, including changes in conservation ethics and perceptions of and attitudes and behaviours towards whale sharks and the ocean. Furthermore, of the three active tourism sites, the smallest site, with the lowest economic returns and the highest negative impacts on whale sharks prior to tourism activities, had the largest proportion of respondents who reported a positive change in perceptions of and attitudes and behaviours towards whale sharks and the ocean. Our results suggest that tourism type, and the associated incentives, can have a significant effect on conservation outcomes and ultimately on the ecological status of an Endangered species and its habitat.

The red panda Ailurus fulgens is categorized as Endangered on the IUCN Red List and is threatened by anthropogenic pressures such as livestock grazing. We surveyed people living in or near protected areas and people living away from protected areas in Nepal, to understand human attitudes towards red panda conservation. Given Nepal's participatory approach to managing protected areas, we hypothesized that local people living in or near protected areas would have more positive attitudes towards red panda conservation than those in non-protected areas. Ninety percent of the 142 respondents had positive attitudes, with people living in or near protected areas expressing less positive attitudes than those in non-protected areas. Despite this difference between protected and non-protected areas, people were generally positive towards red panda conservation. However, positive attitudes did not necessarily translate to sustainable resource-use behaviour. We found there was a high prevalence of both livestock grazing and livestock disease in red panda habitat. We suggest that alternative farming practices (e.g. stall-feeding of livestock) and awareness programmes (e.g. education on the conservation status and legal protection of red pandas, and livestock–wildlife disease transmission) could be important tools to improve conservation attitudes and protect red pandas in Nepal.

This study investigated the influence of economic, personal, and attitudinal factors on the intended conservation effort of a sample of Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) contract holders after their contracts have expired. Economic factors were found to dominate the decision about future conservation effort. Attitudes towards conservation were found to have no significant influence on the decision. This fact may relate to the recent changes in the regulatory environment brought about by the 1985 Food Security Act which changed conservation from a voluntary to regulated nature.

Some conservation finance strategies feature taxes on nature's benign, and arguably educational, uses. This applies to a recent proposal to extract payment from producers of nature films and also to past efforts to raise entrance fees to protected areas. We argue that, as they are currently formulated, it is misleading to label these proposals as payments for environmental service schemes, as they lack voluntary and conditional payments. Rather, they are a form of taxation. Such revenue-seeking measures may prove to be short-sighted. They will raise prices and curtail the demand for those environmental services that embody some element of education, thus reducing public exposure to nature. This could diminish public awareness, curb people's biophilia and devalue Nature's ‘existence values’. This drive for more conservation cash income in the short term could undermine a broad, long-term societal basis for conservation and its future financing.

This study was based on interviews with 388 randomly selected households living near four protected areas in northern and south-eastern Bangladesh: Chunati Wildlife Sanctuary, Teknaf Game Reserve and two forest reserves. The respondents were generally poor and their perception of conservation varied across the study areas. Respondents were generally reluctant to embrace conservation and their attitude towards the conservation of protected areas depended on a set of demographic and socio-economic factors. People in northern Bangladesh had somewhat more positive attitudes towards conservation than those in the south-east. The two most important variables explaining respondents’ attitudes towards conservation were the distance they lived from protected areas and their monthly income. People who are poor and who live closer to the protected areas disliked the conservation measures most.

Various conservation models have been implemented in Nepal since 1973, however their impacts on resources use and conservation attitudes are scarcely known. To address the hypothesis that conservation attitudes should improve around protected areas (PAs) with more social and economic interventions, stratified random questionnaire surveys of 234 households were conducted in two PAs in the Western Terai of Nepal: Bardia National Park (BNP), in which interventions have been more widespread for longer time periods, and Sukla Phanta Wildlife Reserve (SWR), in which interventions are relatively recent. Both are part of a major landscape-level conservation programme under implementation in Nepal, and both are under threat of political turmoil, uncontrolled immigration, inefficient land reform policies and unsustainable resource use. There was spatio-temporal variability in resource use patterns and dependence. People collected eight and seven types of resources in BNP and SWR, respectively, and people in BNP were more dependent on resources overall. About 72% of respondents mentioned the problem of inadequate firewood, and suggested the promotion of alternative energy and permission to collect from PAs as mitigating strategies. Of 11 attitude statements, five significantly differed between the two areas. Respondents from the BNP had more favourable attitudes about conservation than those from SWR, supporting the main hypothesis. Training received by respondents, damage by wildlife, dependence on resources and satisfaction towards user groups contributed significantly to the variation in conservation attitudes. The results suggest that the liberalization of PA management has enabled the use of resources, improved livelihoods to some extent and solicited more favourable conservation attitudes in Nepal.

In the wake of apartheid, South African protected areas have come under increasing pressure to reconcile a wealth of natural resources with the acute social and economic needs of the black rural majority. Demands for land reform, poverty alleviation and job creation have all had profound implications for the conservation and management of the nation's protected areas. An attitudinal study was conducted within three diverse South African communities, and among employees of the Kwa Zulu-Natal Nature Conservation Service (KZN Wildlife) to assess how the Greater St Lucia Wetland Park (GSWP) and the authorities charged with its management are perceived in the context of post-apartheid South Africa. Despite significant revisions to South Africa's conservation policies in the post-apartheid era, attitudinal research has continued to focus on rural black communities, leaving white residents, urban black populations and the conservation authorities themselves largely under-represented. As a result, the relationships between local communities, protected areas and conservation authorities remain largely unknown and outdated. Qualitative analysis of 90 semi-structured interviews indicated limited support (5%) for the abolition of the GSWP. The potential loss of the GSWP was associated with negative economic (88%) and environmental (66%) impacts by all respondents, regardless of race, gender, age or residency. Contrary to previous research conducted during the apartheid era, an overwhelming majority of Zulu respondents perceived a positive association between nature conservation, tourism and improved local economic welfare. Thus, local attitudes towards protected areas appeared to be improving. There remained however a discrepancy between support for the GSWP and the management authorities, particularly among respondents with limited contact with conservation staff. This is consistent with previous surveys where residents expressed support for the concept of conservation, but significant hostility towards local conservation authorities. The distinction is critical, as negative attitudes towards conservation authorities are often misinterpreted as a lack of support for conservation in general. Local residents (regardless of race or socioeconomic status) also expressed high expectations of KZN Wildlife to address issues of unemployment, poverty and tourism in the region. If these expectations are not met, support for the GSWP, as well as the conservation authorities, is likely to decline dramatically.

Conservation projects around the world have been impeded by conflicting land uses. In Greece, although agriculture is considered to have significant impacts on wetlands and adversely to have affected conservation, the attitudes of Greek farmers to wetlands and conservation have not been assessed. Data on demographic variables of farm operators, characteristics of the farming operation, irrigation practices, attitudes towards environment and the wetland resources, knowledge on the impact of agriculture on the local environment and opinions on the Common Agricultural Policy reform, were collected through a survey using personal interviews from a random sample of 196 farmers operating in two wetlands, Lakes Mikri Prespa and Kerkini (Ramsar sites), and 141 farmers operating in a plain, in Macedonia, northern Greece.

Analysis of the data revealed that farmers practise crop and stock agriculture more intensively in wetlands than in the plain, and exploit wetland resources excessively. Hunting, fishing and wood harvesting are practised, and lake water is used intensively for irrigation by both groups of farmers, with no care for loss of the resources. Alternative methods of irrigation for improving efficiency of water use or alleviating hydrological pressures on the wetlands are not considered. Sustainability of agriculture is at risk as present practices result in impoverished soils, salinization of the fields and waste of water resources. Wetland farmers seemed to have a more negative attitude toward the wetland resources and seemed to be more ignorant of conservation issues or the impact of their practices on the environment than plain farmers. Moreover, their awareness and willingness to adopt an environmentally-friendly type of farming was very low.

Nepal has a number of wetlands in the lowland region of the country along the southern Indo-Nepalese border that have experienced great pressures from growing human populations due in part to migration of people from the mountains. A questionnaire survey and informal interviews with key informants in 1998 were used to explore the socio-economic status of indigenous and non-indigenous inhabitants, use patterns of forest and wetland resources and attitudes about conservation in Ghodaghodi Lake, a proposed Ramsar site, in the lowlands of western Nepal. Tharus, indigenous to the region, represented 33% of the population; the rest were migrants from the mountains. Tharus had lower literacy rates, larger landholdings and kept different livestock species. Most Tharu families were dependent on extraction from wetlands; all groups used forests for fuelwood but mountain settlers used forests for fodder more than did Tharus. Most respondents expressed willingness to participate in the conservation of Ghodaghodi Lake; however, only 12%, mostly mountain settlers, had ever participated in formal conservation activities. Conservation attitudes were strongly influenced by educational level and resource use. Educated males of higher caste and mountain origin who had previously participated in formal management activities were more positive towards conservation than other groups. There is a need to implement a participatory integrated management plan, to include community development, education and off-farm income generation, to assure participation of Tharus and lower caste households of mountain origin in the conservation and management of wetlands and forests in the area.