Drivers of Willingness to Pay for Conservation in Southeast Asia: Nature Relatedness Over Visual Cues Among Japanese People

ABSTRACT Many long‐distance migratory birds are experiencing global declines, creating an urgent need for conservation actions. Engaging public commitment to their conservation is therefore crucial. However, this task is challenging as the social interest diminishes as the geographic distance to conservation issues increases. One potential solution is to reduce people's psychological distance by providing visual information that illustrates how avian migratory routes connect countries and how conservation organizations implement conservation measures in distant countries. In this study, we conducted a discrete choice experiment with the Japanese public ( n = 1081) to estimate their willingness to pay (WTP) for conservation measures aimed at improving and protecting the wintering habitats of migratory birds in Southeast Asia (i.e., establishing wetland/forest nature reserves and implementing environmentally friendly farming/forestry). We tested the impact on WTP of showing respondents avian migratory routes and photographs of activities undertaken by conservation organizations in Southeast Asia. Contrary to predictions, showing the evidence‐based migratory routes connecting Japan and Southeast Asia had limited effects on the WTP of the Japanese public for conservation measures in Southeast Asia. Surprisingly, showing photographs of activities undertaken by conservation organizations in Southeast Asia had slightly negative impacts on WTP. Instead, WTP was strongly linked to subjective connection with nature (nature relatedness), with those exhibiting a stronger nature relatedness showing higher WTP. People showed higher WTP to establish nature reserves in Southeast Asia than to implement environmentally friendly farming/forestry in Southeast Asia, and there were weak negative interactions between implementing nature‐reserve establishment and environmentally friendly farming/forestry simultaneously. These findings suggest that providing visual information alone may not be effective to foster social support for conservation measures in distant countries. Rather, approaches that cultivate the connection with nature—such as environmental education, residential camps, and local nature experiences—are needed, ideally beginning from a young age.