Spatial tradeoffs between residents’ preferences for brown bear conservation and the mitigation of human–bear conflicts

The present study analyzes the preferences of residents around protected areas for brown bear conservation. We use a discrete choice experiment visualized with regional maps in order to explore preferences for bear conservation across six areas, namely three residential areas, popular tourist sites, and protected areas in Shiretoko Peninsula, Japan. The presented results show that the sampled residents have heterogeneous site-specific preferences. They prefer bear conservation in protected areas and they are more averse to conservation in residential areas. However, they support coexistence with bears in general. Moreover, residents’ attitudes become more negative with closer proximity between bear habitats and their residences. In addition, the occupations of local residents also affect their preferences. Those residents that depend on agriculture and commercial fishing have more negative attitudes toward bear conservation relative to those that depend on tourism. Therefore, we conclude that integrating the preferences of residents into zoning management planning helps promote wildlife conservation and resolve potential human–wildlife conflicts.