Developing and evaluating the impact of an interpretive booklet on local and international visitors’ conservation learning at Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre

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In recent years, global urbanisation has increasingly segregated people from the natural environment. The effects of this urbanisation have also impacted on biodiversity in every imaginable way possible. Indeed, meeting the rising demands of the human population has led to depleted forest resources and habitat loss for both wildlife and plant species. The rate of the global biodiversity loss is now at a critical level. Despite various efforts from conservationists, global support is not yet aligned with biodiversity preservation. One particular reason for this is failing to convey messages on the importance and significance of biodiversity to the masses of people (Miller, 2005).Wildlife tourism is seen as one of the avenues that can educate and prompt people to undertake pro-environmental actions. These types of wildlife experiences have been shown to prompt positive changes in visitors‘ conservation learning. Numerous studies have shown that these changes are a result of the environmental interpretation received during the experience. However there are limited studies that have tested the effectiveness of interpretive designs. Systematic evaluations of the effectiveness of interpretation in influencing visitors‘ conservation learning are scarce within the current literature; with the majority of extant studies framed in a Western context. Limited research into interpretive materials has been carried out in wildlife settings in Asian countries, particularly those with existing habitats that are home to a large number of threatened species such as the orangutans. Further, there have been few discussions about the differences in people‘s knowledge about orangutans and beliefs about issues surrounding conservation of the orangutan species, particularly in relation to the support for sustainable palm oil market.To address these issues, this study‘s main aim is to explore the impact of an orangutan wildlife experience and interpretation on local and international visitors‘ knowledge, attitudes, conservation intentions, and behaviours (i.e., conservation learning outcomes). There were four specific aims of this study. The first specific aim was to explore local and international visitors‘ knowledge about orangutans and existing threats to habitat loss, and beliefs about conservation behaviours linked to orangutan conservation. The second aim was to develop an interpretive intervention that builds on visitors‘ knowledge and beliefs about orangutans and orangutan conservation, addresses their misconceptions, and promotes behaviours that support orangutan conservation. The third specific aim was to assess the impact of the belief-based approach to interpretation on the conservation learning outcomes of local and international visitors‘. The final aim was to explore the implications of the research findings for the design of visitor interpretation to support orangutan conservation.To achieve these aims, this study was conducted in two stages. In the first stage, an interpretive booklet was designed which was based on local and international visitors‘ current conservation knowledge about orangutans and threats to habitat loss, and salient beliefs pertaining to behaviours supporting orangutan conservation. The design of the interpretive booklet was based on a persuasive communication model, the Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM). In the second stage, an experimental design was conducted to evaluate the impact of the interpretation on post-visit conservation knowledge, attitudes, behaviours and intentions (i.e., conservation learning variables).The findings of this study found that designing interpretation based on visitors‘ knowledge and salient beliefs, and combining persuasive cues had a positive impact on visitors‘ conservation learning outcomes. Compared with participants in the control group (without booklet), participants in the treatment group (with booklet) had significantly higher conservation knowledge scores about orangutans and orangutan conservation; higher positive attitudes in relation to supporting the welfare and conservation of orangutan habitats; higher positive intentions to carry out behaviours supporting sustainable palm oil products; and an increase in on-site conservation behaviour.This study also found significant differences in levels of post-visit knowledge, attitudes and behavioural intentions scores between local and international participants who received the intervention. International visitors had a significantly higher level of knowledge, positive attitudes and conservation intentions compared with the locals. This was particularly evident in relation to issues surrounding supporting sustainable palm oil products. Findings suggested that the intervention reinforced international visitors‘ knowledge, attitudes and behavioural intentions pertaining to sustainable palm oil products. Although the intervention showed positive increases in all conservation learning outcomes for local participants, these increases were not as high as for the international visitors, other than for donating to organisations.This study highlights the importance of assessing visitors‘ prior knowledge and salient beliefs in order to design effective interpretation to support the conservation of orangutans. This further provides a greater understanding of designing interpretive materials using theoretical approaches that potentially reinforce visitors learning for conservation in wildlife sites. Findings in this study also show that major variations existed between local and international visitors in relation to conservation learning surrounding orangutan conservation. This led to eight recommendations for the design of 'best practice‘ visitor interpretation for environmental learning and orangutan conservation.