Ecological labeling and wildlife conservation: Citizens' perceptions of the elephant ivory-labeling system in China

Eco-labeling of products such as ivory contributes to conservation of wildlife species and is most effective when potential consumers of such products are made aware of the threats to wildlife and protections associated with the labels. This paper investigates factors affecting citizens' perceptions of China's eco-labeling system for elephant ivory, which was established in 2004, using unique datasets collected in 2015 and 2017. The results indicate that citizens in China have little understanding of the ivory-labeling system. <10% of the participants were aware of the three accreditation subsystems for ivory products regulating manufacturers, retailers, and the products and only about 20% were familiar with one subsystem. The results of Bayesian logit models show that citizens' demographic and other characteristics are significantly correlated with their knowledge of the labeling system for elephant ivory, and the effects varied for the 2015 and 2017 samples. The one consistent influence was income level, which had similar significant and positive impacts in all of the models. The temporal coefficients reflecting changes in awareness between 2015 and 2017 were not significant, indicating that knowledge of the ivory-labeling system did not increase overall during that period. Our results indicate that significantly greater outreach is needed for China's ivory-labeling system so citizens can consistently play a role in ridding the market of illegal ivory products and regulating noncommercial ivory trading. Special attention should be given to groups of citizens who have relatively little education, income, and awareness of wildlife conservation efforts.