Human-nature Relationship Research Articles

What is “wildlife”? Legal definitions that matter to conservation

The outbreak of COVID-19 has highlighted the pressing need to prevent zoonotic diseases, resulting in a surge of interest and research on wildlife legislation and policies. These discussions cover many aspects of wildlife governance, such as wildlife farming, hunting and consumption. However, the legal concept of “wildlife” has received insufficient attention, raising the question of what it entails in a legal context. This study reveals significant differences in species classification, language clarity, and human-wildlife relationships between China and the UK through conducting a comparative analysis of the legal definitions and scope of “wildlife” in these two countries. By contributing to the growing body of literature on wildlife conservation, this study provides insights into the legal definitions and scope of “wildlife” in different countries, and underscores the significance of clarifying the context and scope of legally defined “wildlife” terms in shaping public policy and discourse in wildlife governance. Additionally, it emphasises the importance of legal clarity and harmonisation in wildlife definitions for improved conservation efforts at both domestic and international levels. Finally, this study concludes by stressing the importance of the human-nature relationship in shaping wildlife definitions and classifications, and highlighting the need for conservation practitioners to be attentive to legal details related to wildlife governance in future research and practical efforts to achieve protection.

Indigenous Ecofeminism? Decolonial Practices and Indigenous Resurgence in Lee Maracle’s Works

Ecocritical and ecofeminist studies have frequently borrowed from Indigenous epistemologies to conform new approaches to human-nature relations, particularly now that the pressing climate crisis is making western societies contemplate the need for radical solutions. As Leanne Betasamosake Simpson remarks, “the western academy is now becoming interested in certain aspects of Indigenous Knowledge” such as “Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK)” (373). However, the scope of this interest is reduced and disconnects ecological knowledge from decolonial practices, such as land claims or Indigenous feminisms. Maile Arvin et al. emphatically support that “settler colonialism has been and continues to be a gendered process” (8) and thus its ramifications and effects (upon nature or Indigenous communities) cannot be detangled without an Indigenous feminist perspective. In this article, I focus on an ecocritical analysis of several works by Lee Maracle, who dedicated her career to the regeneration and revalorization of Indigenous systems of knowledge, in order to pinpoint the intersections between feminism, decolonization, and nonhuman ecological thinking that might develop into a potential Indigenous ecofeminism that truly recognizes Indigenous epistemologies in their full context. Basing myself off Nishnaabeg scholar Leanne Betasamosake Simpson’s theories on Indigenous radical resurgence, which assert that a cultural resurgence (such as a revalorization of Indigenous ecological knowledge) cannot take place without a political resurgence (such as the acknowledgement of Indigenous sovereignty), I argue that Maracle’s portrayal of natural elements and her imagining of human-nature relations is inextricably linked to a decolonizing perspective foregrounded on Indigenous feminism.

Ethnozoological uses of wild animals among the Iraqw in Northern Tanzania

Historically, humans have developed knowledge of how to exploit and use wildlife species for food, clothing, traditional healing, and other purposes. This study aimed to determine the scale and scope of the ethnozoological uses of wild animals in the Iraqw community, in northern Tanzania. The study used semi-structured face-to-face questionnaire interviews with 45 key respondents in Endagaw, Mewadan, and Ng’wandakw villages in Mbulu District, to acquire the required data. The results found that 28 wild animal species including mammals (13 species), birds (12), insects (1), fish (1), and reptiles (1) were used by Iraqw for different purposes. Most species (n=23) were used mainly for food, namely helmeted guinea fowl (Numida meleagris), African savanna hare (Lemus microtis) and Hildebrandt’s francolin (Francolinus hildebrandti), while other wild animals were used for medicine, traditional beliefs, and rituals. This study provides information on the historical human-nature relationships and a baseline for developing future conservation efforts in the region to protect wild fauna. We recommend similar studies on other traditions and/or modern usages of wildlife to improve protection worldwide and that actions be taken to heighten community awareness of ethnozoological uses of faunal resources to ensure retention of this knowledge for future generations.

A Comparative Study of the Human-Nature Relationship in The Fate of Fausto and I’ll Sow My Hands in the Garden

AbstractThis article contends that the representation of human-nature relationship in children’s literature can map onto its gender politics through a comparative study of multimodal dynamics of Irish and Persian picturebooks. It builds upon the premise that children’s literature can play a significant role in sustainable education and forming pro-environmental values in the process of socialization during childhood. Oliver Jeffers’ The Fate of Fausto: A Painted Fable (2019) and Hoda Hadadi’s I’ll Sow My Hands in the Garden (2020) are examined within the framework of environmental humanities for their verbal and pictorial depictions of the human-nature relationship. The findings convey that characters’ gender and sexual identities can impact their interactions with nature; at the same time, nature can clear a space for expressing and affirming underrepresented and historically marginalized gender and sexual identities in children’s literature through creative and dynamic multimodal interactions between the text and illustrations. A comparative analysis reveals that Jeffers challenges abstract, absolute masculinity and masculine arrogance and calls for reforming the notion of need in modern societies, while more playful and transgressive dynamics between the text and illustrations provide an effective tool for Hadadi who appropriates the poetry of Forugh Farrokhzad, a maverick female writer, to undermine the plots of male homo-sociality and erotic counterplotting with a subversive alternative to heteropatriarchy and anthropocentrism.

Human-nature relationships: An introduction to social-ecological practice theory for human-wildlife interactions.

Conservation science requires a balance of social and ecological perspectives to understand human-wildlife interactions. We look for an integrative social-ecological framework that emphasizes equal representation across social and ecological conservation sciences. In this perspective, we suggest "social-ecological practice theory", an integration of general ecological theory and anthropology's practice theory, for a conservation-minded social-ecological framework to better theorize human-nature relationships. Our approach deliberately pulls from subdisciplines of anthropology, specifically a body of social theory founded by anthropology and social science called practice theory. We then illustrate how to apply social-ecological practice theory to our case study in the Makgadikgadi region of Botswana. We highlight how the practices of people, lions, and cattle-in combination with environmental and structural features-provide the needed context to deepenthe understanding of human-wildlife conflict in the region. Social-ecological practice theory highlights the complexity that exists on the landscape, and may more effectively result in conservation strategies for human-wildlife coexistence.

Dear food: Yuca’s relational role in sustaining precarious populations in Ecuador

In this article, we argue that communities’ relationship to food helps to shape their experiences of crises. The French term la vie chère – dear life – simultaneously invokes affective relations, collective valuations, and high prices, pointing to the importance of all these dimensions in understanding experiences and responses to rising costs of living. In this sense, the ways through which people apprehend and experience the cultivation and consumption of food influence their possibilities for material sustenance. The study compares the role of yuca, a regional word for cassava, in a coastal and in an Amazonian province of Ecuador, in order to shed light on trajectories of social reproduction in contexts of scarcity. Key to the divergent experiences of cassava in these two sites are histories of colonization and exploitation of land and people that shape social and human–nature relations, as well as expert studies that define and reinforce the tuber’s relational role in diverse ecologies.

A learning journey into contemporary bioregionalism

Abstract Bioregioning is a new wave of bioregional discourse that appears to be attracting interest among sustainability researchers and practitioners. Through interviews with contemporary leaders and a reflexive research process, we explored bioregioning experiences across seven countries. Our paper outlines the motivations, practices and narratives that we encountered and positions these observations against prior expressions of bioregional thought and broader themes in sustainability research. We found that in bioregioning, the concept of a bioregion remains important and seems to attract people to the discourse in three ways: It inspires visions of the future that encompass more‐than‐human thriving, it creates a conceptual container that enables a strategic narrative for change that connects places to larger scales, and it justifies the importance of everyday people exercising their right to ‘do’ something. The combination of these motivators shows bioregioning's relationship with earlier expressions of bioregional thought: Like early bioregional thinkers, regional scales carry cognitive and strategic appeal, and like critical bioregionalism, power and justice are foregrounded to ensure the process of change is ethical. We suggest that in the shift to bioregioning, the bioregion serves as a boundary device, justifying (for some) a focus on regional scale action which has made bioregional discourse unique, and for others, rationalising participatory or emotional priorities. This lets bioregioning enact a dialogic approach to change and enables practitioners to consider questions of scale in open dialogue with emotive place‐based dynamics, bringing nature re‐connection and social–ecological systems research into consideration and overlap with the practice of bioregioning. We observed parallels between our research process and the central features in bioregioning; both respond to ambitions and calls within sustainability to enact relational values and surface contextualised knowledge while also valuing generalisations and abstraction. Our study, we suggest, provides one example of how research into human–nature relationships in Western sustainability might be pursued in line with these ambitions. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.

A meeting with gardenia: an ethnographic exploration of multispecies relationships and space construction in Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden

In an age of climate and ecological breakdown, questions of how we relate to the natural world and the more-than-human beings around us are more important than ever. This ethnography seeks to bring these questions to the Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden in Cape Town, South Africa, a place known for its conservation and tourism value, by taking an experimental multispecies approach. Multispecies ethnography is particularly useful for these types of explorations as it allows the stories of the more-than-human to emerge from the periphery and be put in conversation with the human. This ethnography found that despite Kirstenbosch’s socioecological benefits, the intimacy fostered between humans and more-than-humans in the gardens is distinctly human-centric and centres on a colonial construction of nature and natural beauty. Practices of photography and viewing and the commercialisation of the gardens reinforce such a relationship, producing a space where human needs and desires are prioritised and the boundary between humans and more-than-humans reified. This multispecies approach to human–environment interactions highlights the potential failures of western conservation practices and contributes to the growing exploration of complex human–nature relationships in ways that are deeper and kinder and that recognise nature’s agency and animacy in the Anthropocene.

The intricate diversity of human–nature relations: Evidence from Finland

Supporting sustainability requires understanding human–nature relations, which we approached as social constructions that can be studied through nature-related discourses. We examined human–nature relations in Finland by combining approaches from environmental social sciences and arts-based research into a mixed-methods design. A public online survey (n = 726) and post-performance audience interviews (n = 71) portrayed nature positively. Respondents’ ideas of nature ranged from natural scientific to philosophical; from dualistic to holistic; and from ecocentric to anthropocentric. A factor analysis revealed discourses focusing on wellbeing, conservation, ecoanxiety, pro-environmentalism, outdoor activity, and enjoying nature. Interviews added spiritual and over-generational aspects and revealed the importance of embodied experiences in nature relations. We identified dimensions that structure the relations, including human–nature positionality, engagement and contact with nature, and conception and thought. The emotional and experiential aspects, and nature-related practices, deserve further research. We demonstrate how a diversity of human–nature relations co-exists and co-evolves.

Recognising plural valuation of nature when shaping conservation policies: A New Zealand perspective

Plural valuation of nature seeks to overcome a lack of attention by conservationists to the multiple values people assign to nature. Proponents claim plural valuation makes conservation socially and ecologically more effective. This study analyses conservation laws and uses a survey of New Zealand conservation professionals to investigate the potential of plural valuation for conservation. Document analysis revealed a plurality of values and multiple co-existing framings of nature in New Zealand’s conservation laws. Also, relational values of nature, embedded in the uniqueness of New Zealand’s native fauna and flora, are important to most surveyed conservation professionals and complement instrumental reasons to value nature. However, answers showed various positions on human-nature relationships that correspond to divergent perceptions of the place of introduced species and humans in nature. The New Zealand experience illustrates how multiple values of nature could influence conservation decision-making and management in different ways. Therefore, investigators of plural valuation of nature will need to elicit the divergent underlying understandings of what nature means for individual actors. Failing to do so may lead to an underestimation of the variety of visions of conservation values assigned to nature can sustain, hamper cooperation between conservation stakeholders, frustrate the potential of plural valuation of nature and hence, lead to less effective conservation.

What drives our aesthetic attraction to birds?

In the Anthropocene, the era when the imprint of humans on nature is pervasive across the planet, it is of utmost importance to understand human relationships with other species. The aesthetics of nature, and of species, is one of the values that plays a role in shaping human-nature relationships. Birds are ubiquitous across the world. The beauty of birds exerts a powerful tug on human emotions, and bird-rich areas attract scores of eco-tourists. People naturally find some birds more beautiful or interesting than others, but we currently lack a global understanding of the specifics of what makes a species aesthetically attractive. Here, we used a global citizen-science database on bird attractiveness covering nearly all extant bird species, to show that there are specific visual features that drive our aesthetic appeal for some bird species over others. First, our aesthetic attraction is highest for smaller birds with specific, vivid colors (e.g., blue and red, and departing from brown-grey) and extreme ornaments (a long crest or tail). Second, our aesthetic attraction is highest for species with broad ranges, possibly because such species may be more familiar to us. The features that make us attracted to a particular bird strongly align with broad human visual aesthetic preferences in modern society. Unveiling the visual features underpinning our aesthetic attraction to birds is a critical step towards optimizing conservation (e.g., via conservation marketing) and education campaigns, and leverage the cultural ecosystem service potential of birds.

Supporting Nature-Based Solutions via Nature-Based Thinking across European and Latin American cities

Nature-Based Solutions concepts and practices are being used worldwide as part of attempts to address societal challenges but have also been criticised for not dealing with deeper transformations needed to face urgent issues including biodiversity loss, climate change and inclusion. In this paper, we explore how an inclusive, integrated and long-sighted approach, emphasising a more radical integration of nature within cities, might support the transformations needed to endure major contemporary challenges. Addressing important emerging critiques of Nature-Based Solutions, we consider the potential of a more incisive form of Nature-Based Thinking (NBT) in cities, based on more holistic perspectives. The paper draws on a reflective and iterative research process that engaged both the research and practice communities through a symposium and a series of futures workshops that together explored the potential of NBT to develop future nature-cities relations in Europe and Latin America. The results of the reflective process suggest that notions of nature with people—not for people— new organisational structures, and the intention and capacity to apply long-term perspectives, are needed when planning for NBS interventions aimed at sustainable urban development. This includes developing a cultural-structural change based on new and inclusive understandings of human–nature relations, and novel governance paradigms that allow cross-sectoral coordination and engagement of local stakeholders beyond formal organisational structures.

Students’ perceptions of the natural world and their attitudes toward ecological issues: What is the relationship between them?

AbstractThis study examines the perceptions and attitudes of 234 Greek secondary school students regarding ecological issues arising from human intervention in food webs. The results of this study indicate that the following factors are crucial for students’ attitudes toward environmental protection: scientific knowledge, perceptions of the relationship between humans and nature and personal motivations. It was found that those students who understand the interconnectedness of populations in food webs are able to evaluate arguments on an ecological issue and have positive attitudes toward environmental protection. However, students who have limited knowledge in evaluating arguments make decisions to solve environmental problems based on their perception of human-nature relationships. Thus, it has been shown that students who adopt an ecocentric or biocentric view sometimes adopt a negative or neutral attitude toward environmental protection because their incomplete knowledge leads them to misjudge the ecological impact of the proposed solutions. This study confirms that the development of values is best accompanied by the development of basic ecological knowledge. It also recognizes the usefulness of food webs as a means of revealing students’ worldviews. Finally, the food web proves to be a specific indicator of the attitudes studied.

Ecological restoration in Tibet optimises the cognitive structures of stakeholders on social‐ecological systems

Abstract Facing the dual threats of climate and socioeconomic changes, how Tibet can seize the opportunity for ecological restoration to enhance environmental quality while improving the relationship between humans and nature is of great significance for regional sustainable development. Situated in an ecologically vulnerable area, the cognitive structure of Tibetan residents regarding resources and policies is a crucial reference for evaluating whether environmental governance is sustainable. We aimed to detect what impact ecological restoration in Tibet had on the cognitive structures of stakeholders. We distributed questionnaires to Tibetan residents, distinguished experimental groups (EG, n = 325) and control groups (CG, n = 165) by the implementation of ecological restoration projects or not, used a network approach to construct indicators of overall connectivity and evenness for assessing the cognitive structure and explored the influencing factors on cognitive structures. We found that interviewees in areas where ecological restoration was implemented had more positive perceptions of the importance of ecosystem services, the relationship between ecological conservation and well‐being, attitudes towards ecological restoration, and the impact of governance measures. The overall connectivity and evenness of the EG were significantly higher than those of the CG. It showed an increase in positive stakeholder perceptions about policy and nature and a greater emphasis on the balance between environmental protection and productive life. The implementation of ecological restoration enhanced the connection between local people and the environment. Elevation and annual precipitation were the geographic influencing factors that dominated overall connectivity. Based on the cognitive structure of Tibetan residents, the implementation of ecological restoration enhanced connections in social‐ecological systems elements, played a positive role in the human–nature relationship and promoted collective governance of common pool resources. Safeguarding and improving residents' livelihoods and enhancing the regional low‐connectivity cognitive structure under different geographical contexts are important for future governance. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.

Understanding experiences in metaverse: How virtual nature impacts affect, pro-environmental attitudes, and intention to engage with physical nature

The metaverse which is constructed by virtual reality (VR) can afford immersive experiences that are more vivid and attractive than those in the physical world. In this research, we focus on virtual nature experiences in the metaverse, and investigate how its exposure influences affective states and attitudes towards physical nature. Two studies were conducted, and results consistently showed that through the mediation of connectedness to nature, experiencing virtual nature resulted in more positive affect, pro-environmental attitudes, and intention to engage with physical nature, compared to experiencing a virtual art museum. These findings highlight how experiences in the metaverse may affect our emotions and behaviors in the physical world and have important implications for human-nature relations in the age of the metaverse.

A time with e-Natureza (e-Nature): a model of nature-based health interventions as a complex adaptive system.

Discussions surrounding the positive impacts of nature on human health and strategies to enhance our connection with the natural world have been ongoing. However, a limited number of theoretical models are available to guide research and practice in this area. Therefore, there is a pressing need for a systematic framework that outlines clear steps for conducting research implementing nature-based interventions. In this study, we investigate the relationship between health and nature through the lens of Complex Adaptive Systems. This approach involves examining the dynamic interactions between multiple interconnected elements to understand the complex emergent behaviors that arise from such relationships. Our model is designed to support nature-based interventions, considering the essential interdependence between humans and nature. This perspective aims to improve both human health and biodiversity conservation in a mutually beneficial manner. The underlying interactions that drive nature-based health interventions are thoroughly explored, leading us to propose a novel intervention model named "A time with e-Natureza" (e-Nature). This model encompasses four types of experiences, drawing from scientific literature and insights from authors engaged in an interdisciplinary research group: (1) Aesthetic and emotional experience; (2) Multisensory integration experience; (3) Knowledge experience; and (4) Engagement experience. Each experience within the model targets affective, cognitive, and behavioral aspects, with a specific focus on fostering a deeper connection with nature. Distinct activities are incorporated within each experience to promote successful outcomes. The model is grounded in existing theories that address the human-nature relationship and is informed by Nursing theories that support health promotion interventions. By presenting this new model, our aim is to contribute to the effective implementation of nature-based interventions that not only enhance human well-being but also support the conservation of nature. This integrated approach recognizes the mutual benefits of human-nature interaction and offers valuable insights for future research and practical applications in the fields of nature and health.

Dynamic change of habitat quality and its key driving factors in Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, China

Habitat quality reflects the level of biodiversity, and habitat maintenance functions are related to human well-being and ecosystem stability. Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region is a typical ecologically fragile region in Western China with complex human-nature relationships. Maintaining good habitat is not only a fundamental requirement for biodiversity conservation but also a necessary path for sustainable regional development. In this study, we assessed and analysed the spatial and temporal patterns and changes in habitat quality in Ningxia from 2000 to 2020, and explored the driving factors of habitat quality using a geographically weighted regression (GWR) model. The results indicated: (1) The overall habitat quality level in Ningxia was low to intermediate, with an upwards and then downwards trend during the past 20 years, showing a small change in overall magnitude. (2) The high- and higher-level habitat quality patches in Ningxia were mainly distributed in areas with high vegetation cover, such as the Helan Mountain and Liupan Mountain. The patches of moderate-level habitat quality mainly included cultivated land, while the low- and lower-level patches were mainly distributed in areas subjected to more frequent human activities, such as cultivated land and construction land. (3) The spatial and temporal distribution patterns and changes in habitat quality in Ningxia from 2000 to 2020 were mainly influenced by fractional vegetation cover (FVC), soil moisture content (SMC), proportion of construction land area (PCL), and proportion of cultivated land area (CLP). Among them, FVC and SMC were positive driving factors, and PCL and CLP were negative driving factors. The results support that increasing vegetation cover and reducing anthropogenic disturbance to natural habitats are important measures to maintain fragile habitats and that key ecological function areas such as nature reserves are crucial for habitat quality protection in ecologically fragile areas.

The Human–Nature Relationship as a Tangible Target for Pro-Environmental Behaviour—Guidance from Interpersonal Relationships

Major environmental institutions around the globe are realising that the failing human–nature relationship is a root cause of environmental issues. Despite this shift in thinking, there is more work to be done to highlight the human–nature relationship as a tangible target for pro-environmental behaviour. This review argues for the importance of targeting human–nature relationships. It emphasises that nature connectedness, with its robust links to pro-environmental behaviour, is a useful operationalisation of such relationships. Following a review of recent references to the human–nature relationship in policy documents, this paper draws on theories of interpersonal relationships to illustrate how they can inform efforts to repair the human–nature relationship. Parallels between nature connectedness research and research on interpersonal relationships are highlighted. The potential for new routes to a closer human–nature relationship—including a more meaningful (e.g., intimate) engagement with nature, a cultural shift in support for human–nature relationships, fostering trust in nature and recognising reciprocity with nature—are noted. This review concludes that the human–nature relationship can be seen as an extension of interpersonal relationships, provides a tangible pathway to a sustainable future, and suggests that such explicit relationship-focused thinking can guide both policy and research.

Elucidating human–nature connectedness in three EU countries: A pro‐environmental behaviour perspective

Abstract Strengthening positive human–nature relationships is seen as a way to more pro‐environmental behaviour and leads to a greater environmental sustainability. Therefore, understanding human–nature relationships has attracted increasing attention among researchers. Nature connectedness is a concept developed to measure such relationships. Since nature connectedness is complex and context dependent phenomenon, more research comparing sociocultural and environmental factors within societies in different countries is needed to understand its determinants. In this study, we explored how sociodemographic and socioeconomic characteristics and value orientation of respondents and environmental variables affected nature connectedness across different contexts in the European Union. We used 11 sociodemographic, socioeconomic and personal value factors from the computer‐assisted web interview (CAWI) and six environmental variables characterizing the local environments of 1054 respondents as independent variables to explain the nature connectedness of the respondents in Greece, Poland and Sweden. The individual level of nature connectedness (response variable) was expressed by an additive index (NC‐index) based on a 5‐item scale originating from CAWI. The general additive model was applied to link NC‐index to sociodemographic, value orientation and selected environmental variables. We found that the sociodemographic characteristics of the respondents and their value orientation were substantially more important in explaining the individual level of nature connectedness than environmental variables. The NC‐index was positively correlated with the frequency of visits to the natural environment and biospheric values of the respondents, and was higher for women and the most prosperous respondents. Moreover, we observed several country‐wise differences in associations between explanatory variables and NC‐index. For example, altruistic orientation was positively related to the level of nature connectedness only in Greece, but not in two other countries, and residence during childhood was important to nature connectedness only in Sweden. Our findings that some sociodemographic, socioeconomic and value orientation variables affect the level of individual nature connectedness across studied countries are encouraging. They indicate that some universally applied educational actions may elevate the level of nature connectedness. We argue that exploration of nature connectedness from a cross‐country perspective may provide significant insights into the environmental debate in national and international contexts. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.

Revisiting Decentralised Governance of Natural Resources in India: Conceptual Binaries and Restrictive Policy Design

In India, in the post-1990s, fresh and renewed attention has been given to promoting participatory decentralised governance of natural resources (DGNR). The current paper reviews research on the DGNR in India. The paper observes that DGNR has failed in implementing its several objectives, such as ensuring meaningful and effective local participation, incorporation of local knowledge and conservation of natural resources. The paper goes further to claim failure of DGNR in India is beyond procedural. The reasons for failure are deep-rooted in the conceptual assumption underlying policy design. The paper finds that some of the problematic conceptualisations predominantly resulted from policy designing from an objectivist strandpoint. The paper reviews the available literature on the decentralised governance in India and the state’s decentalised resource governance policies. The current paper claims that the current designing of decentralised governance of natural resources (DGNR) is restrictive in nature and limits effective participation of local community in natural resources governance. As an improvement to the current design, the paper argues for a reflexive understanding of human–nature relation to be incorporated into DGNR designing.