Conservation Intentions Research Articles

Mutiny or Clear Sailing? Examining the Role of the Asian Elephant as a Flagship Species

Flagship species are used to leverage public support for conservation. The success of a flagship is potentially determined by its popularity and ability to foster conservation intentions among a target audience. When flagships come into conflict with people, however, it is likely that conservation intentions get negatively affected. By examining peoples' exposures to the Asian elephant—a global conservation flagship—this study sought to (a) identify exposures that enable conservation intentions and (b) test whether human–elephant conflict undermines them. Survey results showed that exposure to wild elephants negatively affected intentions to conserve elephants, while specific concern for the elephant and direct involvement in conservation activities led to positive intentions. These results suggest that the effective use of the Asian elephant as a flagship may be contingent on mitigating human–elephant conflict, for which engagement with concerned local actors and initiation of participatory conservation frameworks need to be considered.

Conservation and Education Benefits of Interpretation on Marine Wildlife Tours

Marine wildlife tourism can provide a range of education and conservation benefits for visitors. These benefits derive from close personal encounters with marine wildlife and visitor learning about marine species and ocean environments. There has been limited assessment of marine wildlife tourism experiences and educational programs to identify whether these increase tourists' knowledge, promoting attitudinal shifts and also lifestyle changes that aid marine conservation and help to conserve marine wildlife. Similarly, there has been little evaluation of on-site and longer term conservation intentions, or behaviors, of visitors that benefit marine wildlife and environments. This article reviews the education and conservation benefits of marine wildlife experiences in Australia using Orams' framework of indicators to manage marine tourism. The key indicator for tourists assessed in this article is behavior/lifestyle change that benefits marine species, along with three indicators of conservation outcomes for marine environments. Information is drawn from selected case studies of research on guided tourist encounters with whales, dolphins, and marine turtles from 1996 to 2007, mainly in Australia. This analysis found tourist learning during mediated encounters with marine wildlife contributes to proenvironmental attitudes and improved on-site behavior changes, with some longer term intentions to engage in conservation actions that benefit marine species.

The Role of a Flagship Species in the Formation of Conservation Intentions

Environmental agencies increasingly use flagship species (those popular, relatively large, charismatic animals) as tools to trigger concern for the species and motivate community members to conserve the flagship species and its habitat. However, little research has considered the mechanisms behind which this strategy works. Using the platypus as a flagship species, this study aimed to (a) determine whether exposure to the platypus flagship and/or (b) a person's level of environmental concern influences intentions to conserve the platypus and its habitat. Logistic regression analyses of questionnaire responses showed that exposure to educational materials promoting the conservation of the platypus and its habitat was a strong and reliable predictor of feelings of concern specific to the welfare of the platypus and its habitat. This concern influenced intentions to conserve the platypus and its habitat. It is hoped that managers will use these findings to improve their uses of flagship species to motivate community-wide conservation efforts.

Determinants of Water Conservation Intention in Blagoevgrad, Bulgaria

Blagoevgrad, Bulgaria, has faced frequent water shortages during the past decade, but little effort has been made to encourage or implement water conservation among household water users. We employ the theory of planned behavior (TBP) as a theoretical framework in evaluating determinates of intention to implement a set of specific water conservation behaviors among Blagoevgrad residents. In addition to the TPB variables, we consider the effects of sociodemographics, environmental attitudes, information possession, and concern over future shortages on water conservation intention. The analysis is based on 728 questionnaires collected during the summer of 2003. The TPB variables all showed positive and significant correlation with water conservation intention. Self-perceived knowledge of climate change was also significantly related to intention. Environmental attitudes and concern over future shortages were significant but relatively weak determinants.

Energy Conservation Behaviour of Individuals: A New Age Imperative for Sustainable Development

Role of human behaviour in mitigating climate change, controlling Green House Gas (GHG) emissions, reducing carbon footprint leading to sustainable development, is at the centre of all policy discussions across the globe, thereby tailoring human behaviour is considered imperative by contemporary scholarship. This study attempts to understand the psycho-social interaction of individuals that promote such a human action. Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) framework has been used to predict human behaviour assuming human behaviour for energy conservation is one of the pro-social low-cost behaviour. Value orientation of individuals, energy conservation beliefs, subjective norms, perceived behaviour control, and energy conservation attitude have been measured to gauge the behavioural intention, along with capturing the socio-economic realities pertaining to households and individuals therein. Awareness towards energy conservation efforts and social interaction are found to be key behaviour influencers, whereas energy conservation intent is found to be gender neutral. Study implies the underlying necessity to explore mediating and moderating models in order to decipher complex inter-play among key variables for predicting energy conservation behaviour intent.

Nature conservation efforts by forest owners – intentions and practice in a Swedish case study

Before a forest operation Swedish forest owners need to fill in a registration form. Since 1994, when a new Swedish Forestry Act came into force, intended nature conservation measures can also be noted on the form. I evaluate 1) if the self-reported nature conservation intentions displayed any trends from 1995 to 2000, and 2) if the intentions were implemented. All forms from these years, in one municipality, were analysed and the stand structure retention was measured on 40 clear-cuts. The intentions, noted as check-marks on the form, showed an increasing trend during these years. However, the increase may be an artefact of changes the form during the time period. The number of check-marks on the forms and the stand structure items actually present on the 40 clear-cuts showed a positive relation. The clear-cuts with ≤ 3 check-marks on the form had lower amounts of the three most common items, than those with ≥ 4 check-marks. To conclude 1) a true increase in the self-reported intentions of the forest owners could not be established; 2) the intentions were generally followed by associated practices on the clear-cuts; 3) the amounts of stand structures retained were probably not enough to reach the biodiversity goal of the Forestry Act. The registration form could be improved to become less open for interpretation and contain quantified recommendations. Self-reported intentions of the forest owners could then possibly be used as indicators of real structural retention, which could facilitate planning and allow for making predictions about the future forests.

Questions about educational effectiveness and developmental processes in prosocial education arising from a seven-year study of water conservation

AbstractThe results of research into patterns of change and stability in water conservation are used to draw attention to some potentially important questions for prosocial teaching in schools. The patterns emerged from a main study measuring three rounds of responses from 2,600 urban, primary and secondary students and their parents and teachers in cross-sectional and longitudinal samples over seven years and from a similar, four-year, comparative study of 600 participants in a regional area. The results tracked water conservation knowledge, attitudes, intentions, and behaviour as well as sources of information and persuasion that participants considered to have been influential in bringing them to their current level of water conservation. Similar patterns of change and stability prevailed across all data sets in both studies. Changes in student behaviour were minimally related to knowledge. Changes were best explained in two ways: stable, age-related, developmental patterns and differences across time in general community influences rather than in school-specific effects on change. For prosocial education in general, these findings raise various questions about effective delivery and about the potential role of development. It is argued that these questions, by virtue of their significance in public policy decisions, need further investigation.

Indices of factor comparison for homologous and non-homologous personality scales in 24 different countries

Individuals usually present highly stable differences in household energy conservation intentions. Personality traits are a possible explanation for such differences. However, the mechanism through which personality traits affect household energy conservation intentions is still unclear. This research aims to explore the roles of personality traits in household energy conservation intentions by connecting the Big Five personality traits with household energy conservation intention through the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB). The study employs data from a survey in Xi'an, China, with a valid sample size of 279 households. The analysis results indicate that, except for Extraversion, the other four personality traits affect household energy conservation intentions through different mechanisms. Agreeableness and Openness show positive correlations with all three TPB predictors. Conscientiousness also presents a positive correlation with perceived behavioral control, while Neuroticism only presents a negative relationship with attitude. This study combines personality traits with TPB to investigate household energy conservation intentions. The results provide a shred of empirical evidence on the relationships between personality traits and pro-environmental behaviors in northwest China. The findings of this study would contribute to eco-friendly policy-making for sustainable community development.

The Role of Individual Differences and External Variables in a Test of the Sufficiency of Fishbein's Model to Explain Behavioral Intentions to Conserve Water

The sufficiency of fishbein's attitude model was tested with respect to behavioral intentions to conserve water. Regression analysis showed subjective norms (SN) to be the variable most highly correlated with intentions. It was also found that, contrary to the model, SN and evaluative attitudes (Aact) did not adequately mediate all the variation in intentions accounted for by the variables included in this analysis. Age was found to be an important external variable in explaining water conservation intentions, The equations of the models which predict SN and Aact were also analvzed. Analysis of regressions for dichotomized groups revealed strong individual differences in regression equations. Age, along with SN and Aact, was found to be an important variable in accounting for individual differences. The findings are discussed in relation to the sufficiency of Fishbein's model and the role of individual differences in Understanding water conservation intentions.