The integrity of the natural habitat benefits the harmonious coexistence of nature and humans. However, a negative anthropogenic impact on natural habitats exacerbates the ongoing decline of global biodiversity, further undermining ecosystem services for human well-being, and making it difficult to reach the UN sustainability development goals (SDGs). Understanding people’s willingness to engage in habitat conservation is essential to provide realistic recommendation and coordination for building environmentally sustainable rural communities. We conducted social field interviews in rural communities and evaluated how external factors, individuals’ perceptions, and attitudes impacted villagers’ willingness to conserve nature by using structural equation modeling analysis method. Particularly, we examined the influence of the Chinese government’s two mountains theory (TMT) propaganda campaign, which encourages environmentally sustainable behavior and appreciation of ecosystem services. Our surveys examined behavior in the context of the theory of planned behavior (TPB) in Menglun town in rural Southwest China in 2020. The results indicated that villagers had a basic understanding of the two mountains perceptions and tended to be willing to engage in conservation. The path analysis revealed that villagers’ willingness to conserve nature was directly influenced by external factors, mainly containing policy advocacy and environmental education, and was indirectly influenced by their perceived ability through identification and assessment of local habitats’ ecosystem services. We identified the importance of TMT slogan advocacy with natural conservation perceptions and local traditional culture as key drivers for the impact paths. These factors can achieve the SDGs 4, 8, 13, and 14. We also identified the importance of social perceptions of villagers’ willingness to conserve nature as a way to bring insights into habitat conservation in rural emerging areas of other regions and achieve the SDGs 13, 14. The study suggests that government and stakeholders should fully consider villagers’ demands for acquiring material benefits and recreational pastimes when optimizing ecosystem services of the natural habitat. Certainly, considering public environmental education and environmental advocacy can be a complementary strategy for rural development and conservation.

Amid ongoing habitat degradation and fragmentation, along with the disruption of traditional moving routes, the Kunming‐Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework underscores the urgent need to enhance species connectivity to improve their adaptability to climate change. Recent instances of long‐distance movements by Asian elephants ( Elephas maximus ) have raised concerns about the potential for such events to become more frequent under future climate scenarios. A landscape adaptation strategy is urgently needed to improve the connectivity and integrity of Asian elephant habitats to meet their long‐distance movement requirements. However, large‐scale ecological networks for Asian elephants that incorporate long‐distance corridors remain lacking. This study employs species distribution models and minimum resistance models to construct current and future multi‐scenario ecological networks, aiming to elucidate key features of climate adaptability and priority corridor strategies for Asian elephants. Our findings indicate that long‐distance corridors identified under future climate scenarios play an integral part in maintaining connectivity within the priority network. The study identifies 162 priority long‐distance corridors, accounting for 25.5% of the overall network, whose lengths and importance are expected to increase. Additionally, 37.2% of these priority corridors pass through protected areas, providing guidance for optimizing existing reserves and addressing conservation gaps that cover 61.2% of the study area. The study highlights the need for habitat conservation strategies for Asian elephants to fully consider the uncertainties of dynamic spatiotemporal changes. It emphasizes the global significance of macro‐scale ecological network design and the critical role of constructing long‐distance corridors. Furthermore, the integration of protected areas with long‐distance ecological corridors is identified as a key measure to address future uncertainties and achieve lasting biodiversity conservation.