Abstract
Pangolins are currently the most smuggled mammals in the world. Meanwhile, Taiwan has demonstrated the world’s first case of the use of artificial feeding to raise pangolins to adulthood. The government has also begun to cooperate with farmers in pangolin-spotted areas. Agricultural products can earn the green label once they have passed the evaluation. The challenge is that very few farms have obtained the pangolin-friendly label so far. Our hypothesis is that farmers lack the knowledge that consumers would pay additional money for products that are labeled pangolin-friendly compared to regular ones. Thus, farmers have an insufficient incentive to apply for this label. This research aims to fill this gap by providing people with the necessary knowledge. Contingent valuation with the single-bounded dichotomous choice format was used, which involved investigating 417 valid observations. We found the following: (1) customers are willing to pay about 8.06 USD for pangolin-friendly rice (an increase of 397% in relation to the mean price of rice); (2) customers are willing to pay for about 11.46 USD for pangolin-friendly tea (an increase of 179% in relation to the mean price of tea); and (3) customers are willing to pay about 25.81 USD for pangolin-friendly coffee (an increase of 509% in relation to the mean price of coffee). Our findings give farmers more incentive to conduct eco-friendly production. Consequently, the quality of agricultural products as well as the habitats of endangered pangolins improve. Thus, consumers’ health, the environment, and the future of pangolin conservation can benefit in this attempt to achieve sustainability.
Highlights
Environmental labels have been used for over three decades to provide consumers with information about a product that is characterized by improved environmental performance and efficiency compared with similar products [1,2,3]
The last question assessed whether consumers were willing to pay a certain amount of money annually to the pangolin research team
After reviewing the issues, which show what world is facing regarding pangolin protection and Taiwan’s efforts in conserving and studying Formosan pangolins, this study examined how much the respondents were willing to pay for the conservation and rehabilitation of Formosan pangolins under various intertwined scenarios
Summary
Environmental labels have been used for over three decades to provide consumers with information about a product that is characterized by improved environmental performance and efficiency compared with similar products [1,2,3]. Organic farming avoids the use of synthetic substances to maintain soil fertility and ecological balance, thereby minimizing pollution and wastage [7,8]. It provides people with safer agricultural products, while the production process has a lower impact on the environment [9,10]. Taiwan’s Green Conservation Program, which was launched in 2010, means that fields that provide habitats for animals or plants of “protected species”, “commemorative species”, “indicator species”, or “rare species” can apply for green conservation labels (GCLs) for specific species [11]
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