Visitors’ Attitude and Willingness to Pay Towards Conservation of Bornean Orangutans

• Main Authors: Nur Rasyiqah, Adam, Nor Afiza, Abu Bakar
• Format: Proceeding
• Language: English
• Published: 2023
• Subjects: H Social Sciences (General)
• Online Access: http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/42822/1/Visitors.pdf; http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/42822/
• Institution: Universiti Malaysia Sarawak

The conservation of Bornean orangutans is confronted with significant predicament arising from the destruction of their natural habitat, illegal poaching and human – wildlife conflicts. The species is culturally significant in Sarawak and is endemic to Borneo, but there are only around 104,000 of them currently surviving in the wild and their numbers are decreasing rapidly. Therefore, many efforts and strategies are taken into account to conserve the species, including several conservation and fundraising programs in Matang Wildlife Centre (MWC) and Semenggoh Wildlife Centre (SWC) in Sarawak. However, because to the large sums of funds needed for Bornean orangutan conservation, it is essential that entrance fees to MWC and SWC be revised to obtain more funds. The results reveal that most people care about protecting endangered species, but they view that the burden of acquiring financial means for conservation should be primarily be shouldered by the government. Most respondents are also willing to pay higher entrance fees to improve Bornean orangutan conservation efforts, however only up to a certain threshold. The primary takeaway from this research aids conservationists and policymakers in comprehending the multifaceted factors that affect public opinion on Bornean orangutan conservation and in developing more effective strategies to increase funding.