Study On The Public Intentions Towards Protecting African Elephants In China: The Amendment And Extension Of The Theory Of Planned Behavior

African elephants are the global flagship species.Its population has declined sharply in the past100 years.African elephant protection requires the cooperation of the international community and the participation of the public.Our government highlights the wildlife conservation,actively performs international duty of global wildlife conservation,increasingly promotes public participation,and expands public base of the conservation.The public participation in domestic species conservation has been discussed in the existing literatures,of which little literatures concern public conservation willingness of global wildlife conservation,providing poor references in promoting public participation in global wildlife conservation.The purpose of this paper is to analyze Chinese public’s willingness to protect African elephants.We construct an extended theoretical framework based on a review of relevant studies and practices of African elephant conservation,and the Theory of Planned Behavior,conduct empirical research to obtain data,and quantitatively analyzes the public’s willingness and the influencing factors.The results are as follows : Firstly,68.5% of the public responds their positive willingness of African elephant conservation,but it has not reached a very strong level.There are problems such as limited participation experience and insufficient knowledge of conservation.Secondly,the model passes the statistical testification,indicating the results being robust.Thirdly,the factors of individual attitude(coef.,0.157),perceived behavioral control(coef.,0.160),past experience(coef.,0.253),and norm(coef.,0.422)have positive and increasingly large impacts on the public willingness of African elephant conservation.The male public(coef.,-0.057)have lowers conservation willingness,while the public living in the western region(coef.,0.067)have higher willingness.And age,education level,family background and information channel also affect the willingness.The policy implications of this study are as follows:Firstly,to clarify the role of policy guidance and enhance the public’s sense of moral obligation and social responsibility.Second,to strengthen publicity and education,enrich public knowledge and experience,and cultivate the public’s positive attitude towards conservation.Thirdly,to broaden the channels of conservation participation,improve public perception and the perceived behavior control.Fourthly,to formulate reasonable programs and strengthen the effectiveness of practical activities such as conservation publicity and education.