Tangible and Intangible Wildlife Damage Perceptions and Conservation Attitudes: Threat and Fairness Appraisals in Wuyishan National Park, Southeastern China

Wildlife damage can impose both material and non-monetary burdens on residents living near protected areas. Although associations between perceived wildlife damage and conservation attitudes are well documented, less is known about whether threat- and fairness-based appraisals provide distinct information beyond perceived damage itself. Using a non-probability survey of 513 residents across 20 villages in and around the Wuyishan City section of Wuyishan National Park, southeastern China, we examined associations among tangible and intangible damage perceptions, risk perception, relative deprivation, and wildlife conservation attitudes (overall stated support for protecting locally common damage-causing wildlife). Risk perception represented a threat-based appraisal, whereas relative deprivation represented a fairness-based appraisal reflecting perceived unfair disadvantage in conservation burdens and recognition relative to others. Latent structural and interaction models were further used to examine whether these associations varied with compensation evaluation and community participation. Both tangible and intangible damage perceptions were positively associated with risk perception and relative deprivation. In turn, both appraisals were negatively associated with wildlife conservation attitudes, and each retained a distinct association with attitudes when modeled jointly. Tangible damage perception also retained a significant negative direct association with conservation attitudes, whereas the corresponding direct association for intangible damage perception was nonsignificant. All four indirect associations through risk perception and relative deprivation were negative. The association between tangible damage perception and relative deprivation was weaker at higher compensation evaluation, whereas the association between intangible damage perception and risk perception was weaker at higher community participation. The corresponding negative conditional indirect associations were also smaller in magnitude. Distinguishing threat- from fairness-based appraisals may help clarify the potentially complementary roles of compensation procedures and community participation in national park governance. Given the cross-sectional design, the estimated indirect associations should be interpreted as statistical pathways rather than evidence of temporal or causal mediation.