Engaging urban residents in primate conservation: Impact of a conservation education intervention in Hong Kong

The global market for forest-risk commodities has become the major driver of deforestation across the tropics, threatening the survival of many forest-dependent primates. To combat deforestation and extinction, conservation interventions should include both supply- and demand-side measures, targeting the commodity producers and consumers respectively. We evaluated the impact of an open-air exhibition, 'The Gibbon’s Life in the Treetops', which was held on a prime shopping street in Hong Kong. The aim of the exhibition was to raise public awareness of the plight of gibbons and encourage consumers to switch to palm-oil-free and forest-friendly certified products. Visitors who were about to enter the exhibition (pre-visit group) and visitors who had just left the exhibition (post-visit group) were intercepted and invited to complete a questionnaire regarding their knowledge of gibbons, knowledge of forest-friendly purchasing, awareness of the impacts of human behavior on forests, efficacy belief (an individual’s confidence in his/her ability to contribute to forest conservation), moral obligation (an individual’s sense of moral responsibility to protect forests) and their behavioral intention to purchase forest-friendly products (N = 105). The results revealed that their knowledge of gibbons and of forest-friendly purchasing were significantly higher (p < 0.05) in the post-visit group than in the pre-visit group, while the remaining variables did not show any significant difference. Specifically, we did not observe a distinctly higher intention to buy palm-oil-free and forest-friendly certified products in the coming months among participants in the post-visit group. Our findings further contribute to the literature suggesting knowledge enhancement alone does not necessarily prompt behavior change. Conservation scientists and educators should also consider psychological and contextual factors when designing behavior-change interventions. We suggest that the exhibition interpreters should deliver information tailored to the visitors’ needs and provide post-visit action resources to extend the visitors’ experience and repeat their exposure to the campaign.