Intervention levers for increasing social acceptance of conservation measures on private land: a systematic literature review and comprehensive typology

Abstract

Private lands are increasingly targeted for ecological restoration and conservation initiatives in high-income countries. However, the fragmented nature of private land tenure, the large number of landowners and their heterogeneous profiles can pose significant challenges for conservation initiatives. This can lead to a range in landowners’ attitudes toward conservation initiatives, with some initiatives being received with resistance, and others with consent and participation. Most research dealing with social outcomes of conservation or restoration initiatives on private lands addresses regionally specific case studies, but few studies have attempted to derive general trends. To fill this gap, we performed a systematic literature review of conservation measures on private lands to develop a comprehensive typology of factors influencing the acceptance of conservation initiatives on private lands. Our results show that conservation agents (typically government agencies or NGOs), despite their limited power over individual factors of private landowners, can seek to encourage both the adoption and perceptions of conservation initiatives on private land through improving institutional interactions. We propose six recommendations to help support and design conservation programs on private lands and to identify intervention levers that may be acted upon to improve the social acceptance of such conservation initiatives.