Governance explains variation in national responses to the biodiversity crisis

Zachary Baynham-Herd,Tatsuya Amano,Paul F Donald,William J Sutherland

doi:10.1017/s037689291700056x

Abstract

SUMMARYGrowing concern about the biodiversity crisis has led to a proliferation of conservation responses, but with wide variation between countries in the levels of engagement and investment. Much of this variation is inevitably attributed to differences between nations in wealth. However, the relationship between environmentalism and wealth is complex and it is increasingly apparent that other factors are also involved. We review hypotheses that have been developed to explain variation in broad environmentalism and show that many of the factors that explain such variation in individuals, such as wealth, age and experience, also explain differences between nation states. We then assess the extent to which these factors explain variation between nation states in responses to and investment in the more specific area of biodiversity conservation. Unexpectedly, quality of governance explained substantially more variation in public and state investment in biodiversity conservation than did direct measures of wealth. The results inform assessments of where conservation investments might most profitably be directed in the future and suggest that metrics relating to governance might be of considerable use in conservation planning.

Highlights

It is axiomatic that concern for and investment in biodiversity conservation varies greatly both between individuals and between countries, yet the reasons for this variation remain elusive
A greater understanding of this variation in state-level responses to biodiversity conservation might help identify means to increase the prevalence of positive conservation efforts, as well as being useful in conservation planning (Eklund et al 2011; Lindsey et al 2017)
We modelled seven country-level response variables: per capita membership of environmental non-governmental organizations (NGOs); the number of International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) organizations operating in the country; the extent to which Aichi Biodiversity Target 11 to protect biomes has been met; an index of ecosystem vitality; governmental spend on domestic conservation; governmental

Summary

Introduction

It is axiomatic that concern for and investment in biodiversity conservation varies greatly both between individuals and between countries, yet the reasons for this variation remain elusive. The current biodiversity crisis has united the world’s nations in attempts, far with mixed success, to address it (Butchart et al 2010). National conservation effort varies by region (Lindsey et al 2017) and protected area cover appears to depend mainly upon an interaction between democratic strength and inequality (Kashwan 2017). A greater understanding of this variation in state-level responses to biodiversity conservation might help identify means to increase the prevalence of positive conservation efforts (and thereby contribute to Aichi Target 1 of the Convention on Biological Diversity Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011–2020; CBD 2010), as well as being useful in conservation planning (Eklund et al 2011; Lindsey et al 2017)

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