[gascan]

There's the repopulation angle of conservation- there's also the education angle. People tend to care more about nature the more they learn about it. The suffering of orangutans in Borneo will tend to mean more to someone who has looked an orangutan in the eye, vs someone who has maybe heard of them once upon a time.

Same thing happens with places like our national parks. Visiting national parks gets people caring about conservation, so ironically on the one hand we despoil some of the wilderness with park facilities but as a result people vote to protect the rest.