The importance of future generations and conflict management in conservation

Emily Lewis‐Brown,Jeannot Ramiaramanana,Katrina Davis,Morena Mills,Ando Rabearisoa,Hope Beatty,Michael B Mascia

doi:10.1111/csp2.488

Abstract

AbstractThe need to scale‐up conservation initiatives is widely accepted, but understanding how to catalyze the adoption of conservation initiatives remains elusive. To address this challenge, we used diffusion of innovation theory and Best‐Worst Scaling experiments to rank the factors that influence the adoption of Locally Managed Marine Areas (LMMAs) by villages in north Madagascar. The most important driver for respondents to adopt LMMAs was the wellbeing of future generations, while the most important barrier was conflict within and between villages that could arise from the adoption of LMMAs. This emphasis on the benefits and costs of adoption is consistent with diffusion of innovation theory. However, our results indicate that people's intrinsic values (e.g., benevolence and peace) were more important to survey respondents in the adoption of LMMAs than is generally reported in the diffusion of innovation literature. Concerns about conflict from LMMAs and the distribution of livestock incentives warrant further consideration to support the adoption of this conservation initiative in the context of the Sustainable Development Goals. Our study can guide future conservation research and practice to identify the “best” and “worst” attributes of LMMAs and other initiatives to increase the adoption of conservation.

Highlights

Environmental degradation has led to detrimental impacts on people, ecosystems and wildlife (IPBES, 2019)
We found the strongest positive driver for establishing Locally Managed Marine Areas (LMMAs) in our sample
Our findings are broadly consistent with previous research into the motivations of individuals and communities to engage in conservation, and the importance of relative advantages and disadvantages in the decision to adopt within diffusion theory (Dearing & Cox, 2018; Pannell et al, 2006; Rogers, 2003; Wisdom et al, 2014)

Summary

| INTRODUCTION

Environmental degradation has led to detrimental impacts on people, ecosystems and wildlife (IPBES, 2019). The local policy environment can help or hinder engagement in marine and terrestrial conservation initiatives (Gladkikh, Collazo, Torres-Abreu, Reyes, & Molina, 2020; Rocliffe, Peabody, Samoilys, & Hawkins, 2014) Despite this literature base, there remains insufficient information about what drives people to adopt conservation projects (Admiraal et al, 2017) and an integrated analytical framework for conservation is only just emerging (Bennett et al, 2018). Five key characteristics of innovations influence their adoption: relative advantage (e.g., status and income); compatibility (e.g., with values and needs); complexity of the innovation; trialability; and observability (Rogers, 2003; Wisdom, Chor, Hoagwood, & Horwitz, 2014) The importance of these characteristics can depend on their interactions with characteristics of the adopter and context (Pannell et al, 2006). Conservation practitioners can use these results to inform the design of future conservation initiatives to improve the likelihood of adoption

| METHODS

| RESULTS

| DISCUSSION

Findings

| Limitations and recommendations for future research