The Vulnerable snow leopard Panthera uncia experiences persecution across its habitat in Central Asia, particularly from herders because of livestock losses. Given the popularity of snow leopards worldwide, transferring some of the value attributed by the international community to these predators may secure funds and support for their conservation. We administered contingent valuation surveys to 406 international visitors to the Annapurna Conservation Area, Nepal, between May and June 2014, to determine their willingness to pay a fee to support the implementation of a Snow Leopard Conservation Action Plan. Of the 49% of visitors who stated they would pay a snow leopard conservation fee in addition to the existing entry fee, the mean amount that they were willing to pay was USD 59 per trip. The logit regression model showed that the bid amount, the level of support for implementing the Action Plan, and the number of days spent in the Conservation Area were significant predictors of visitors’ willingness to pay. The main reasons stated by visitors for their willingness to pay were a desire to protect the environment and an affordable fee. A major reason for visitors’ unwillingness to pay was that the proposed conservation fee was too expensive for them. This study represents the first application of economic valuation to snow leopards, and is relevant to the conservation of threatened species in the Annapurna Conservation Area and elsewhere.

In recent years, wildlife policies that consider the participation of stakeholders have been promoted. An understanding of the stakeholders' attitudes towards conservation and existing policies are critical in designing new policies or sustainable conservation strategies. This paper examines stakeholders' (local people, park staff and professional hunter guides) attitudes, towards the Bénoué Wildlife Conservation Area (BWCA) and towards Cameroonian wildlife policy. The BWCA encompasses the Bénoué National Park and its surrounding hunting concessions that also include some villages. Both the Park and the hunting concessions are two categories of protected areas. Data were collected using informal interviews and questionnaires administered to 114 households from three communities, 17 park staff and seven professional hunter guides. Local people's attitudes towards protected areas depended on the management category of the particular protected area. Local people were positive towards the existence of the Park, but negative towards the system of hunting concession areas. There was local variation between communities concerning these attitudes. Local people were generally positive to maintaining the present Park area, but preferred a reduction in the size of the hunting concessions. Both Park staff and professional hunter guides expressed concern about present management strategies and the extent of illegal resource exploitation. Despite having poor knowledge of the current Cameroonian wildlife policy, most of the local households expressed support for it, but called for increased local involvement in management, off-take and the harvesting of benefits from both Park and hunting concession activities. The Park staff were sceptical about local participation in this context and saw such endeavours as a threat to a sound biodiversity management scheme. The findings indicate the need to strengthen current wildlife policy, promote the involvement of local people and empower the Park staff, both in terms of resources and in terms of skills in interacting with local people. The revised policy should be designed so as to vary according to the category of protected area and allow site-specific adaptations. Local people must experience reduced incurred costs and increased incomes from the Park. An environmental education programme is recommended to extensively disseminate the policy to user groups in the area.