Conference Agenda
Overview and details of the sessions of this conference. Please select a date or location to show only sessions at that day or location. Please select a single session for detailed view (with abstracts and downloads if available).
Please note that all times are shown in the time zone of the conference. The current conference time is: 24th Aug 2026, 01:50:32am WEST
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Thematic Session: Natural capital, Marine resources and Conservation: Understanding incentives and informing effective management in the Eastern Tropical Pacific (Streaming) Location: B009 Session Chair: Cesar Viteri Mejia, Charles Darwin Foundation Session Chair: Claudia Aravena, Heriot Watt University | |
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Public acceptability of conservation entrance fees: How does reallocating revenues shift support before and after policy implementation? 1: Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, United Kingdom; 2: Charles Darwin Foundation, Galapagos Islands, Ecuador Entrance fee policies are key for regulating tourism and financing conservation, yet public resistance often hinders their implementation. We conceptualize and empirically test a mechanism through which allocating revenues to publicly preferred uses shifts support for otherwise contested policies. Exploiting a natural experiment, the first entrance fee increase in the Galapagos National Park in 25 years, we examine this mechanism across two stakeholder groups (residents and tourists) using two studies: a short-term comparison before and shortly after implementation, and a long-term follow-up nine months post-implementation. Tourists remained broadly supportive of the fee increase and less sensitive to revenue allocation over the three periods. In contrast, resident opposition persisted, but reallocating revenues became increasingly effective at improving acceptability in the longer term. These findings show that incorporating stakeholder preferences into policy design can enhance support for highly contested policies, offering insights for effective implementation and sustainable governance in other biodiversity-rich destinations. | |