Abstract
Purpose of ReviewThe review examines recent scientific discussion on the concepts and measurements of human connection to nature (CTN) and pro-environmental behaviour (PEB). In addition to that, we explore the environmental contexts in which study populations are exposed to nature or nature experiences, particularly the contexts in which forests emerge from these studies, and lastly outline gaps in research.Recent FindingsOutlining the association between CTN and PEB has been widely researched over the past 5 years. The concepts and measurements referring to these terms vary, but a few commonly used concepts were identified. The review classifies the approaches used for exploring the relationship between CTN and PEB into four categories. The review indicates that the interconnection between CTN and PEB is mostly studied as a part of the wider concept. Approximately half of the reviewed articles explored the actual exposure to some natural environment or nature activity either directly or indirectly. Forests only played a small role as a natural environment in the reviewed articles.SummaryForests appear to be of very little weight or under-represented in CTN and PEB literature as an explicitly identified natural environment. Results also indicate that the human-forest relationship has not been defined precisely in empirically based scientific literature. The paper discusses implications for the future research focusing on emphasizing the role of forests as natural environments in the research of CTN and PEB.
Highlights
Understanding the drivers for human pro-environmental behaviour (PEB) is becoming increasingly important when considering the goals set towards sustainable future development
School children and adolescents had small representation in the studies. This is in line, e.g. with Whitburn et al [12], who concluded that adults have mainly been investigated concerning human connection to nature and PEB, some evidence shows similar results concerning children
The findings from this review show that forests appear to be of very little weight or under-represented in connection to nature (CTN) and PEB literature as an identified natural environment, with the exception of a few studies that measured experiences or perceptions of people after exposure to forests
Summary
Understanding the drivers for human pro-environmental behaviour (PEB) is becoming increasingly important when considering the goals set towards sustainable future development. Human connection to nature is a concept that contributes to explaining PEB and human well-being. Human connectedness to nature and its association with PEB. The human-nature relationship can generally be defined as the way human beings or societies perceive nature and the environment around them. It is foremost a worldview, an ethical and philosophical phenomenon. A nature relationship describes attitudes or ways of thinking about nature rather than a concrete way of interacting with it [7]. Human connection to nature is considered as a rather stable trait that does not change
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