Empirical Study On The Public Demand Of Preference Of Ivory Product And Willingness To Pay For Elephant Conservation

Illegal wildlife trade loots living resources of many countries,affecting economic development,hindering the process of solving the problem of poverty.Combating illegal trade is becoming an important proposition in international political economy and society,also the focus of international public and media.Elephant is the most special species in the world,also the biggest mammal and valuable wildlife resource.It is an important part of the eco-system.Recently,the number of elephant declines rapidly.Illegal killing and ivory trade becomes the most serious problem that threats biodiversity and regional safety.According to the notice,there will be the comprehensive stop for commercial trade of ivory product.Therefore,the analysis of the public’s wiliness to pay for elephant conservation and the demand preference of ivory products will help the society to reduce the demand,implement the ivory policy and enhance the public’s activities to protect elephant.This paper will help related department to curb public demand,combat black market,and protect elephant species.This paper makes a study on the basic situation of China’s ivory products market and the development of related policy.Meanwhile,this paper use Logistic model,MNL model and CE methods to design and analysis three kinds of questionnaires.First of all,basing on the perspective of public characteristics,this paper use Logistic model to analyze public people from 11 cities in China to understand their demand preferences of ivory product and their willingness to pay for elephant conservation.Then select four improtant cities,according to the attributes of product and conservation issues,this part use CE methods to design the questionnaire,making a deep research to know the factors what affect choice most by MNL model.The goal of this paper is to promote more practical suggestions to implement sustainable development,and finally make a truly control for all kinds of ivory trade,achieving the ultimate goal of protecting the elephant.Results show that,based on the public characteristics,the individual annual income,whether that products can be marketed,the degree of preference for products and whether to hold products are important factors affecting demand.Education level,individual annual income,whether to follow the collection and investment and the willingness to participate in the elephant’s public welfare activities for conservation are important factors affecting the willingness to pay for conservation.Based on product dimension,legitimacy and carrying cultural value are important factors influencing demand preference.Based on conservation issues,payment amount and goal of conservation are the important factors influencing the willingness to pay.In general,the public has the possibility of buying products,but lack the willingness to pay.Meanwhile,they do not understand the relationship between the product and the protection and they are not aware of the difficulties that conservation issues have.In addition,the increase of personal income 1s conducive to the suppression of demand,also enhance the willingness to pay,what is different from some research.Following suggestions can be put.First,strengthen our propaganda to protect the elephant and co-ordinate the public elephant protection concept and action.Second,punish ivory illegal trading activities severely.Third,help non-governmental organizations and individuals for the elephant protection develop.Fourth,make a stable and efficient development of the economy while improving the quality of protection.Fifth,focus on product control of important cities.Sixth,enhance these important cities the willingness to pay for elephant conservation.