Motivation For Conservation Research Articles

Impact of Nature Conservation Resources of Agroecology: Insights from Hungarian Farmers and Consumer Perspectives

This study investigated the implementation of agroecological principles on three organic farms in Hungary, focusing on four resource-focused, nature conservation-related agroecological basic elements identified by the FAO: biodiversity, interactions, recycling, and resilience. This research employed a mixed-methods approach, utilising in-depth interviews as a technique to explore farmers’ practices and a questionnaire survey as a tool to assess consumer perspectives (with 63 respondents). The interviews facilitated a qualitative exploration of how agroecological practices are applied on farms, providing rich insights into the farmers’ experiences. Meanwhile, the questionnaire survey served as a structured instrument to measure consumer awareness and motivations concerning environmentally friendly farming methods. NVivo 12 software was employed for qualitative data analysis, assisting in coding and organizing responses to better understand recurring themes and patterns. The researchers found that all farms exhibited high biodiversity levels, facilitated through practices such as companion planting, crop rotation, and maintaining natural habitat patches. Agroecological farmers focus on practices suited to the landscape, fostering beneficial organisms and enhancing interactions between nature and agriculture. Integrating farm components (e.g., crops, livestock, water) promotes synergies that improve productivity and reduce reliance on external inputs. Recycling resources (like organic waste) within the farm increases efficiency, while resilience is strengthened through biodiversity, allowing farms to better withstand environmental stress. Direct marketing builds connections between producers and consumers, raising awareness of conservation practices. Consumer awareness regarding environmentally friendly agricultural practices was notably high, with findings indicating that health and ecological conservation motivations drive their purchasing decisions. This study highlights the context-dependent nature of agroecological practices, revealing that while implementation is robust, economic sustainability constraints may limit the extent to which all elements can be effectively applied. Since this research has certain limitations due to the limited sample size, expanding the study to include more farms would strengthen the findings. Nonetheless, these findings underscore the importance of integrating agroecological principles in organic farming to enhance biodiversity and foster sustainable agricultural practices.

Does nature’s contributions to people value realization policy in China improve public awareness and preferences for marine biodiversity conservation? A temporal stability analysis

Management policies are crucial for safeguarding sustained and stable marine biodiversity amidst ongoing pressures such as land use change, pollution, resource overexploitation, invasive alien species and climate change. China established a nature’s contributions to people value realization policy (NCPVR) in 2021, aiming to encourage stakeholders to prioritize environmentally beneficial production and consumption choices, thereby stimulating intrinsic public motivation for ecological conservation. Biodiversity conservation is an integral component of the NCPVR policy. A choice experiment method was employed to investigate the changes in public preferences for marine biodiversity conservation in Jiaozhou Bay before and after the enactment of the NCPVR policy (in 2017 and 2023, respectively), aiming to evaluate the effectiveness of the policy on marine biodiversity conservation. The results indicate that two years after the implementation of the NCPVR, the public’s overall breadth and depth of awareness regarding marine biodiversity increased. Additionally, public preferences for marine biodiversity conservation increased, expanding from two categories in 2017 (shallow-water swimming organisms and marine plants) to five categories in 2023 (with the addition of seabirds, plankton, and intertidal and benthic organisms). The willingness to pay (WTP) for seabirds, plankton, and intertidal and benthic organisms, as well as shallow-water swimming organisms, increased from 32.21~85.77 CNY/person·year to 98.21~140.49 CNY/person·year. China’s NCPVR policy effectively conveyed important information about biodiversity conservation in the short term, enhancing public awareness and preferences for marine biodiversity conservation. The study also revealed that economic incentive policies for NCPVR remain at the conceptual propaganda level and lack operational incentives for biodiversity conservation. It is recommended that the government deepen the design of value realization pathways and market trading arrangements to stimulate the intrinsic motivation of the public for marine biodiversity conservation and ensure the long-term effectiveness of policies.

Encouraging Residents to Save Energy by Using Smart Transportation: Incorporating the Propensity to Save Energy into the UTAUT Model

The rapid urbanization and technological advancements of the recent decades have increased the need for efficient and sustainable transportation solutions. This study examines the acceptance of smart transportation systems (STSs) among residents in Polish cities and explores the impact of these systems on energy-saving behaviors. Using the extended Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT2) model, which includes the propensity to save energy, this research seeks to understand the determinants of STS adoption. The primary research was conducted using Computer-Assisted Web Interviewing (CAWI). The sample was controlled for gender and place of residence. A sample of 471 individuals meeting the criteria of living in a city with over 200,000 residents and using smart transportation solutions in Poland were selected from the research panel. SmartPLS 4 software was used to analyze the collected data. The findings reveal that the propensity to save energy significantly influences perceived usefulness, ease of use, social influence, and hedonic motivation toward STSs. Perceived usefulness and ease of use were found to be strong predictors of the intention to use STSs, while perceived costs had a negative impact on it. This study also identified the moderating role of personal innovativeness in mitigating cost concerns. These insights underscore the importance of emphasizing energy conservation benefits and user-friendly features in promoting the use of STSs. This study concludes that aligning technological innovations with user motivations for energy conservation can enhance the adoption of sustainable transportation solutions, contributing to smarter and more sustainable urban environments.

Understanding the impact of COVID-19 lockdown on energy consumption and digital engagement in Polish households

This paper aims to analyze energy consumption trends in Polish households during the COVID-19 pandemic and assess the pandemic's influence on household behavior. The study divides the topics into three thematic blocks: the government's pandemic policies, the pandemic's impact on household energy consumption through qualitative and literature-based analysis, and the consequences of the pandemic on households and their energy-related activities. Original research findings from a study conducted in 2021 are utilized in the analytical section. The study reveals an increase in energy demand among households during the lockdown period, driven by remote work, education, and lifestyle shifts. Changes in energy-saving habits and motivations for energy conservation are explored and the potential implications of these shifts for energy suppliers are discussed. Additionally, the study employed methods of literature analysis, qualitative information analysis from secondary sources, as well as synthesis and inference. The paper concludes that lockdown-driven changes in energy consumption patterns demonstrate the adaptability of households and the potential for new forms of collaboration between consumers and energy suppliers.

The Effect of the Educational Intervention Based on the Theory of Protection Motivation in Preventing Cutaneous Leishmaniasis

Background: Cutaneous leishmaniasis is one of the most common diseases in Iran. This research was conducted to determine the effect of the educational intervention based on the theory of conservation motivation on the prevention of cutaneous leishmaniasis in boys in the seventh, eighth, and ninth grades in the population covered by Mashhad Health Center No. 1, Mashhad City, Iran, in 2020. Methods: In this quasi-experimental study, 80 (out of the 23152) seventh, eighth, or ninth grade students covered by Mashhad Health Center No. 1 were selected by random cluster sampling. After determining the needs in the framework of the protection motivation theory, an educational intervention was designed and implemented for the experimental group. Two groups completed study questionnaires before, immediately after, and three months after the educational intervention. Finally, the obtained data were analyzed using Mann-Whitney, chi-square, and Fisher exact tests in SPSS software, version 24. Results: Before the intervention, the two groups showed no significant differences regarding the theoretical structure of conservation motivation. After the intervention in the experimental group immediately after and three months after the intervention, significant differences were observed regarding the mean scores of the perceived sensitivity (P>0.001), perceived intensity (P>0.001), fear (P>0.001), perceived response effectiveness (P>0.001), protection motivation (P>0.001) and behavior (P>0.001) of the cutaneous leishmaniasis. In the control group, the changes were not significant. Conclusion: The educative intervention based on motivational protection theory in male adolescents has a significant increase in the preventative behaviors of cutaneous leishmaniasis, and the protection motivation theory can be used as a framework in designing educational programs to promote the preventive behaviors of cutaneous leishmaniasis in male adolescents.

Community perspectives of flagship species: can conservation motivators mitigate human-wildlife conflict?

Public perception of endangered species is crucial for successful management of community-based conservation and sustainability of national parks. By the method of choice experiment, our study evaluated conservation preferences and willingness to donate money for flagship and non-flagship species using a choice experiment with 409 residents living near the Lanstang river source of Sanjiangyuan National Park, China. We found that flagship species such as the Snow leopard (Pristine plateau) and White-lipped deer (Przewalskium albirostris) generated more conservation funds than non-flagship species. However, not all flagship species were accepted. Respondents disliked Tibetan brown bears (Ursus arctos pruinosus) due to direct human-wildlife conflicts such as bodily injury and property damage. Heterogeneity of preference was influenced by household income, religious beliefs, ethnicity, culture, and conservation awareness. Results can be used to establish a local community-participative framework by combining conservation motivations that alleviate human-wildlife conflict.

Group of Community-Based Tourism Awareness (Pokdarwis) Strategies in Addressing Conflicts in Utilization and Conservation of the Environment

The use of natural resources is very prone to conflict because of the friction between economic motives (utility) and conservation motives (protection). This potential conflict also occurs in the use of Mount Sewu UNESCO Global Geopark where the main development is through the tourism sector. This research aims to find out the strategies of the people who are members of the Tourism Awareness Group (Pokdarwis) in dealing with potential conflicts over use and environmental conservation in the Gunung Sewu UNESCO Global Geopark area. This research is a qualitative study with a descriptive approach. The locations of this research are in Gunungkidul Regency, namely the Nglanggeran Ancient Volcano Geosite, the Pindul Cave Geosite, and the Siung Beach Geosite. This area was chosen as a representation of 2 (two) other districts in the Gunung Sewu UNESCO Global Geopark area, namely Wonogiri District and Pacitan District. In this research, researchers used participatory observation where data was collected through observation and sensing where the observer or researcher was truly involved in the respondent's daily life. The results of this research show that there is physical and non-physical damage as a result of the use of geoparks in the tourism sector. Physical damage includes damage to karst rocks, soil erosion, damage to vegetation, decreased water absorption capacity, pollution of rivers and seas, and vandalism. While non-physical damage includes economic inequality and social conflict. As a response to this damage, Pokdarwis adopted strategies and policies, including holding environmental cleanup work, building tourist attractions with environmentally friendly materials, installing signs calling for environmental cleanliness, limiting the number of tourist operators, managing waste in an integrated manner, building alternative tourist attractions, and forbid investors from entering. Based on a literature review, these strategies are classified as grassroots innovations. This research also strengthens the theory that community participation or empowerment is one of the best strategies in dealing with conflicts over environmental use and conservation.

Perceptions of Ecosystem Services and Bonds with Nature: The Case of Fish-Farming Ponds in France

Recent studies have shown the importance of relationships with nature, emotions felt, forms of attachment, and experience of nature on conservation motivations. They have proposed characterizing relational values based on these complex interactions with ecosystems. We analyzed these links for ecosystem services (ESs) associated with fish farming ponds. The analysis was based on an online survey conducted on mainland France. We identified the types of pro-environmental profiles and investigated the determinants of pro-environmental behaviors. We analyzed the types of services prioritized according to individual profiles and the factors determining sensitivity. We distinguish between individual ESs that are more hedonic in nature, and regulating or heritage cultural ESs that refer to collective motivations rather linked to eudaimonic well-being. The results highlight the importance of factors related to eudaimonic well-being, which help integrate the role of ethical values and commitment to conservation. The modeling shows little influence of the usual sociodemographic variables and the strong significance of variables considering the knowledge and familiarity with these ecosystems and the pro-environment commitment, which refers to eudaimonic well-being. These results allow us to discuss the specificities of awareness-raising policies, which imply a rationale for active citizenship.

Understanding Community Participation in Tree Planting and Management in Deforested Areas in Cameroon's Western Highlands.

Deforestation and forest degradation continue to take place at alarming rates in Africa despite global net forest loss reductions. This is prompting large-scale forest restoration involving community volunteers to prevent, halt and reverse the loss of biodiversity for the sustainable development of forest landscapes in Africa. The study explored the motivations, challenges, barriers and negotiation strategies of community volunteers in ecosystem restoration and conservation initiatives in Cameroon's Western Highlands (Mount Bamboutos landscape), given that many such interventions are not achieving desired targets and goals. A total of 134 respondents involving farmers and local implementing NGO workers were interviewed, using semi-structured open-ended questionnaires. One focus group discussion was held with paramount traditional rulers to assess the strength, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT) of the community-led ecosystem restoration and conservation initiative. The principal components analysis with oblique (Direct oblimin) rotation was used to reduce the number of constitutive items in each dimension of motivation, challenge and barrier to community participation. Linear regression analysis was used to examine how the different dimensions of motivations, challenges and barriers influence community participation. Community participation was initially driven more by environmental motivations given the highly deforested and degraded Mount Bamboutos landscape, but later on driven more by economic and community motivations. Social factors were least expressed and non-significant predictors of participation. Community participation was primarily limited by management, financial, psychological, personal, and information challenges and barriers. Providing financial incentives to cover daily subsistence costs of food and transport was a key negotiation strategy that increased community participation. Conservation organisations should capitalise on environment, community and social motivational appeals during community education and awareness campaigns to increase voluntary community participation. The local knowledge on ecosystem restoration and conservation motivations, challenges, barriers, negotiation strategies, recommendations and SWOT analysis provide relevant baseline information for environment management decision-makers in Cameroon and other Sub-Saharan African countries.

Conservation motivations and willingness to pay for wildlife management areas among recreational user groups

Conservation agencies routinely evaluate the costs and benefits of land management and land acquisition options for wildlife management areas (WMAs). Non-market values, for example visitors’ consumer surplus, are often absent from these comparisons. Better estimates of willingness to pay (WTP) for WMAs will allow managers to quantify consumer surpluses for different user groups, identify opportunities to generate additional conservation funding, and improve communication with users. We used the contingent valuation method to estimate the WTP for conservation of WMAs by different user groups. We used interval censored regression to estimate WTP for each user group and modeled how WTP varied with visitation frequency, demographics, and type of use. Dual users, those who participated in both licensed (hunting, angling, or trapping) and non-licensed (all other) activities, had greater WTP ($200.07, 95% CI [$161.18, $238.95]) than users who exclusively participated in either a single non-licensed ($74.74, 95% CI [$50.45, $99.02]) or a single licensed activity ($68.21, 95% CI [$48.41, $88.00]). Willingness-to-pay increased with the number of visits to WMAs per year, college education, and income. The most popular donation motivations were that respondents cared about WMA conservation (72%), wanted WMAs to be around for future generations (70%) and personally benefited from the conservation of WMAs (64%). Similar to a scope test, this study demonstrated greater WTP by users who participate in more diverse recreation types on WMAs. Additionally, our findings show that WMA users, particularly users who engage in multiple activities including at least one that does not require a license, enjoy large consumer surpluses and thus could be drawn on for additional financial support for WMA conservation.

Non-Timber Forest Products benefits for community groups and conservation motivation in mountains of Tanzania

Non-Timber Forest Products benefits for community groups and conservation motivation in mountains of Tanzania

Understanding barriers to adoption of sustainable nitrogen management practices in California

Achieving sustainability in agricultural nitrogen (N) management relies on farmers’ decisions to reduce fertilizer inputs and adopt conservation management practices. Understanding the drivers and barriers to farmers’ adoption of improved N management practices is critical to developing effective management and policy approaches on this intractable challenge. Existing research on farmer behavior has assumed that any barrier to adoption will result in lower practice adoption rates, without fully understanding how barriers may vary across different management practices, farm and farmer types, and stages of adoption. By leveraging two farmer survey data sets (total <i>n</i> &gt; 1,900), this study diagnoses key barriers to adoption across 11 different N management practices and a large diversity of farmer and farm types across the California Central Valley. We find resource constraints, technical knowledge, and uncertainty emerge as key barrier types that differentially affect farmers at various stages of adoption. On a practice-by-practice basis, uncertainty barriers appear greatest for nonadopters of a practice, whereas practice adopters are more likely to report resource barriers. Across management practices at the farm level, farmers with higher self-reported conservation orientations are more likely to report being affected by all barrier types, as compared to their peers with lower self-reported conservation orientations. Our findings demonstrate that barriers to adoption are more complex than simply the factors that predict lower adoption, as both adopters and nonadopters experience barriers. Furthermore, factors that typically predict higher adoption, such as conservation motivation, do not insulate a farmer from facing barriers to adoption. We consider how adopters are likely to go through a learning process while moving from considering to fully implementing a new practice, during which different barriers to behavior change may be encountered. We argue that interventions intended to motivate farmer adoption of improved management practices need to take more nuanced approaches to understanding how barriers to adoption are likely to vary across stages of adoption, farm and farmer type, and specific management practices.

No crowding out among those terminated from an ongoing PES program in Colombia

This paper presents novel evidence of no crowding out, of either motivations or donations, among those terminated from an ongoing program of payments for ecosystem services (PES) in Colombia. PES programs have risen in number. However, claims about perverse impacts after programs end could inhibit their growth. PES end for different reasons (planned duration, budget reduction, issues in implementation) and in different ways (some participants or all). An expressed concern for PES is that receiving payments lowers conservation, after PES end, if participants' intrinsic motivations for conservation are ‘crowded out’ by financial incentives. We test for crowding out by an ongoing program in which some but not all contracts were terminated. We see no evidence of crowding out, since neither the motivations nor the donations for the terminated farmers are significantly different than for non-PES land owners (and this is robust to matching on levels of assets, residence on farm past donation behavior, main economic activity, and participation in collective activities). Our results add evidence from an actual PES to literature questioning the relevance, importance and even sign of crowding effects.

Do economic incentives crowd out motivation for communal land conservation in Ethiopia?

Do economic incentives crowd out motivation for communal land conservation in Ethiopia?

LAVA-Lobos: Raising Environmental Awareness through Community Science in the Galápagos Islands

Community science involves scientists and community members co-creating and co-executing scientific research. Given their deep engagement of non-scientists, these projects have great potential to improve their participants’ scientific knowledge and pro-environmental attitudes, as well as to collect first-order data on issues of local and scientific concern. To investigate this potential, we implemented a community science project to monitor an endemic species of sea lion in the Galápagos Islands and empirically assessed its impacts on the community scientists (local high-school students). We discovered that our community scientists increased their understanding of the nature of science, knowledge of sea lion biology, and intrinsic motivations for conservation as a result of their participation. These results provide empirical evidence that community science initiatives can be effective tools for helping community members to increase both their scientific knowledge and their environmental awareness.

The Khan Al-Shilan: Appraising and Synthesizing Cultural Heritage Significance and Its Impact on Conservation Practices

The holy city of Najaf has a number of historical buildings, many of which are in danger of permanent deterioration due to muddled conservation practices. Khan Al-Shilan, built in 1899, is a significant historic structure, continuously changing and adaptable to several functions. Possession of the structure was transferred from one party to another, and it has not been well maintained, suffering damage and neglect. The khan existed during the Ottoman era and British colonialism, and it stands today as a physical reminder of the Iraqi people’s struggle against occupying powers. It is also an interesting example of the limitations of conservation in Iraq. Using secondary sources and primary evidence gathered through interviews with stakeholders, local residents, heritage elites, and conservationists, this article examines the current state of Iraqi conservation practices, with a particular focus on the extent to which they have affected the existing historic fabric. It includes a detailed examination of the approaches and the problems that exist in applying international standards of heritage protection to the Iraqi context. The case study demonstrates that there is local motivation for conservation that is accompanied by an awareness of the processes to manage change effectively.

Motivations for birdwatching scale – Developing and testing an integrated measure on birding motivations

IntroductionBirding has become a widespread, nature-related outdoor leisure activity. However, birding motivation has received little attention in research on this leisure activity so far. Since previous work showed some inconsistencies that are based on different measurements and concepts, the current study aimed at unifying and broadening the construct of birding motivation. For this purpose, we summarized the previous attempts to assess and categorize birding motivation and tried to unify them in one measurement model.MethodsStarting point was a widely accepted model on outdoor recreation to which further dimensions have been added. We investigated birders (N=569) from German speaking countries regarding their birding motivations, birding specialization, and participation in various bird-related projects.ResultsExploratory factor analysis revealed six motivation factors: Enjoyment had the highest scale mean, followed by achievement, conservation, detachment, social, and finally reputation. Confirmatory factor analysis showed a better fit of the posited six-factor model compared to the previous three-factor model supporting the initial concept of adding further scales to cover the motivational constructs more widely. Higher skilled, specialized and involved birders showed higher motivation in the dimensions conservation, social, and reputation. Conservation motivation was highly correlated with submitting observations to a citizen sciences portal and with participating in breeding bird surveys or waterbird counts.DiscussionWith our results, we expand the basic three-dimensional model of recreation motivation with the additional dimensions conservation, detachment, and reputation.

Heritage tourism evolution in Guangfu Ancient City, Hebei Province, China: an analysis with the improved creative destruction model

Ancient cities and towns are popular tourism destinations worldwide. In this paper, Guangfu Ancient City in Yongnian County, Hebei Province, China, is taken as the case study and the modified creative destruction model is applied as the analytical framework to evaluate the multiactor dynamics of heritage tourism development. A mixed method approach is adopted, including a local resident survey, in-depth interviews with staff of the Guangfu Ancient City tourism site and government officials responsible for the heritage conservation and tourism development of the site, and a review of online tourist reviews, relevant government documents and reports. Based on the modified creative destruction model, local residents’ attitudes towards tourism development, changes in tourist numbers, the level of business and government investments, and the motivations of different stakeholders in tourism development are assessed by synthesising on-site research, historical data and other materials. Then, the tourism development stages for Guangfu Ancient City are identified as the precommodification stage before 2006, the early commodification stage from 2006 to 2011 and the advanced commodification stage from 2012 to 2017. The findings indicate that with rapid increases in investments from both corporate and government sources and in the number of tourists, the attitude of local residents towards tourism development remained positive. The results show that instead of entering the initial destruction stage, Guangfu Ancient City is in the transition stage from advanced commodification to creative enhancement given the government’s dominant role in tourism development, the heritage conservation motives of tourism entrepreneurs, the benefits to residents from tourism development ensured by government policies, and the shift in tourist type to postmodern tourists with double demands. The applicability of the modified creative destruction model is further discussed, and policy and management recommendations are generated to support the sustainable development of Guangfu Ancient City after the COVID-19 pandemic.

Five psychological principles of codesigning conservation with (not for) communities.

A growing number of environmental professionals are realizing that equitable and meaningful engagement of local community members in the development of programming is essential for catalyzing the durable, long-term action needed to conserve wildlife. Many who attempt to codesign programs with (not for) communities find that choosing the most effective strategies to accomplish this task is crucial and can oftentimes feel daunting. In this paper, a validated psychometric instrument called the Five Factors of Sustained Engagement (Five Factors) was used to analyze community engagement projects from two AZA-accredited institutions, highlighting how the leaders of each project believe they have fostered each factor in their projects. Professionals can use the FiveFactors as guideposts and evaluation criteria to increase the long-term motivation of community members to engage in conservation efforts over time. The discussion offers strategies that psychological research has shown to increase long-term motivation for wildlife conservation and suggest how to implement them in the codesign of conservation programming with the communities that are impacted by it the most. Together, this synthesis offers an innovative, psychology-based approach to fostering and evaluating the success of sustainable community engagement for conservation Wildlife conservation projects are rarely su long-term engagement from the humans who are most impacted by those projects.

Response to Water Scarcity: Gender Analysis of the Motivation Factors Toward Water Conservation Behavior in the Workplace

Provision and availability of water continue to be a major socio-economic challenge in many countries. The problem is prevalent particularly in arid and semi-arid regions which are affected by droughts and wide climate variability, combined with high population growth and economic development. Shortages and compromised water availability are causes of concern to food security (agricultural sector), performance of businesses, and economic growth among others. The study adopted a quantitative research approach and was underpinned by a positivist research paradigm. Data were collected from 72 managers at North West University—Mahikeng (NWU-Mahikeng), South Africa using an online self-administered survey questionnaire. This study evaluates the factors related to predictors of water-conservation motivation behavior at work. The study used the Chi-square statistics (Phi and Cramer's V-tests) to test the relationship between Manager's gender and motivation predictors of water conservation at work. Findings from the statistical results showed that the Phi and Cramer's V-test gave a P-value &amp;lt; 0.05 (P &amp;lt; 0.05), which shows that within the sample of managers, there is significant relationship between Manager's gender and the motivation to conserve water. These results highlight that gender orientation affects one's response to water scarcity and motivation for conservation. The variations underscored gender as an important component of sustainable development goals which must be included when implementing policies and programs to promote water conservation consciousness and efficient water use at work.