The State of Community Knowledge, Attitude, and Intention to Conservation of Wildlife in the Rimbang Baling Wildlife Sanctuary, Riau, Indonesia

Abstract

This survey reveals how the community in Rimbang Baling Wildlife Sanctuary in their understanding of positive laws, especially the state regulation, both concern the rule of law and laws related to conservation. In addition, their attitude towards sharia law such as the wildlife fatwa (MUI’s Fatwa No 4/2014) is about the protection of endangered wildlife to maintain ecosystem balance. We ask which rules must be obeyed first, the religious regulations, such as fatwas, or government rules? It has been revealed in this study that sharia complied with 20.1% (intervention villages = intervention) and 17.1% (control villages = control), government regulations of 15.3% (intervention), and 10.9% (control), while those who answered that both regulations must be obeyed were of 53.3% (intervention) and 65.1% (control), and the rest answered “don’t know”. The survey also questioned of hunting and trading of endangered animals prohibited by MUI Fatwa No. 4 of 2014. The respondents were on opinion that agreed and strongly agreed of 57.8% (intervention) and 65.1% (control), disagreed of 22.5% (intervention) and 21.7 (control), while the remainder was neutral, of 15.9% (intervention) and 10.9% (control). The results of relations of attitudes towards wildlife conservation between intentions and the resulting Spearman correlation values were of: p, 389 ** (control) and p, 523 ** (intervention). This means that, for the control villages, the correlation of the two variables is suficien; on the other hand, the correlation in the intervention area has a strong value. The intervention areas, villages: Aur Kuning, Pangkalan Serai, Lubuk Bigau, and Kebun Tinggi, have relatively higher attitudes than the control villages, namely: Gajah Bertalut, Sungai Santi, Terusan, and Tanjung Permai.