Do people really support conservation?Evidence from China and the United States

Survey studies have consistently shown strong public support for biodiversity conservation,even though conservation regulations often face strong local resistance when they are implemented.This seemingly contradictory phenomenon is due to the fact that previous polls have sought opinion only in the abstract,yet many conservation measures are implemented at the expense of local economic development,and policymakers often face a‘Conservation-Development Tradeoff’-a policy dilemma that remains understudied by social scientists.To fill this gap,this study conducts one of the first comparative surveys on public support for biodiversity conservation in China and the United States.I measure public support for conservation using two separate question versions online.The‘regular version’asks directly about individual support for biodiversity conservation,and the“tradeoff version”asks the same question but in the context of the policy tradeoff.The results show that both American and Chinese citizens are highly supportive of conservation in the abstract.But after they learn about the tradeoff effect,the aggregate support falls sharply,and the Chinese citizens show significantly less support compared to their American counterparts.The survey findings expanded on existing academic research on public attitudes toward conservation policies and can encourage future conservation policymakers to understand the significance of the tradeoff issue,as conventional wisdom may have overestimated public support for biodiversity conservation.Moreover,as China has become a crucial player in global conservation governance,understanding the Chinese public sentiment on the real-world policy dilemma can have important implications for conservation policymaking in the world.

How does environmental concern influence public acceptability of congestion charging?Evidence from Beijing

As a market-based instrument of transportation demand management,congestion charge can not only effectively reduce traffic congestion,but also improve air quality.However,due to its low public acceptability,this policy only has a few urban practices.As one of the fast-growing metropolises in emerging economies that are facing both traffic congestion and industrial pollution problems,Beijing is now considering the feasibility of implementing congestion charging.Some researchers address that though people with strong environmental concerns are more prone to support congestion charges,the associations between environmental concerns and support for congestion charges are context-dependent.A survey was conducted in Beijing in 2016 to understand how the pollution context in cities of emerging economies affects these associations.We find that the acceptability in Beijing is 33%,and expected policy effects and environmental concerns are the most important impact factors.Due to the influence of the regional industrial pollution context,most residents in Beijing do not consider congestion charge to be an effective way to tackle air pollution.Under these circumstances,even if the public environmental concerns,in general,are high and congestion charges are“marketed”as environmental policies,there is no guarantee that policy support will rise.

Analysis of Sydney＇s recycled water schemes

Recycled water provides a viable opportunity to partially supplement fresh water supplies as well as substantially alleviate environmental loads. Currently, thousands of recycled water schemes have been success- fully conducted in a number of countries and Sydney is one of the leading cities, which has made massive effort to apply water reclamation, recycling and reuse. This study aims to make a comprehensive analysis of recycled water schemes in Sydney for a wide range of end uses such as landscape irrigation, industrial process uses and residential uses （e.g., golf course irrigation, industrial cooling water reuse, toilet flushing and clothes washing etc.）. For each representative recycled water scheme, this study investi- gates the involved wastewater treatment technologies, the effluent quality compared with specified guideline values and public attitudes toward different end uses. Based on these obtained data, multi criteria analysis （MCA） in terms of risk, cost-benefit, environmental and social aspects can be performed. Consequently, from the analytical results, the good prospects of further expansion and exploration of current and new end uses were identified toward the integrated water planning and management. The analyses could also help decision makers in making a sound judgment for future recycled water projects.