Jonathon Howard

Research in Progress: Does Environmental Interpretation Influence Behaviour through Knowledge or Affect?

Interpretation is frequently seen as effective in managing tourist-wildlife interactions because it increases awareness about a species and encourages a conservation ethic (Beckmann 1991, Moscardo 1998). Interpretation has been advocated as the most effective management strategy for wildlife encounters (Orams 1996). Implicit in this belief is that by changing peoples attitude, interpretation will change their behaviour (Roggenbuck 1992). Petty et al. (1997) define an attitude as an evaluation of an object (eg. people, animal, etc.) that exists along a dimension ranging from positive to negative. In reflecting on attitude change it helps to conceptualise an attitude as comprised of three main components: affect, cognition, and behaviour. The affective component consists of a persons feeling towards an object, the cognitive component consists of a persons knowledge and understanding of an object and the behavioural component involves a persons actual behaviour towards the object (Knudson et al. 1999). Although attitude is conceptualised as having three main components, most past research on interpretation has focused on changes in cognition (Beckmann 1991). Howard (1998) suggested that as people attend interpretive programs at leisure affective realms are important, and as such, mood theory might improve our understanding of: the intrinsically rewarding feelings that characterise this type of leisure experience; and how interpretation may influence peoples behaviour. The influence of affective realms on interpretive programs is poorly understood and not well researched (Howard 1998). This paper contributes to our understanding of cognition and affect in interpretive setting by providing the results of a preliminary study conducted at Mon Repos Conservation Park.

Managing for justice in community-based water planning: a conceptual framework

This paper provides a systematic way to consider justice in community-based environmental planning and management. A conceptual framework connects the literature on management functions to the empirical and theoretical research on justice. Two contrasting case studies of the water reform process in Australia are used to illustrate how to apply this framework. These case studies show that certain perspectives of justice are particularly pertinent during different phases of a planning process, and that community-based environmental planning and management can be more difficult when the stakeholders involved have different values and views about a resource, and when perceived injustices occur early in a planning process.

Is today shaping tomorrow for tertiary education in Australia? A comparison of policy and practice

The Commonwealth Government of Australia appears to be moving towards a national policy on environmental education for a sustainable future. Using the new environmental campus of Charles Sturt University in New South Wales as a case study, this paper outlines how one Australian university is providing sustainability in higher education by integrating its designs, operations and teaching practices. In doing so, it shows recent initiatives in the higher education sector and highlights the gap between Commonwealth Government moves to enhance the national effort and what is happening on the ground. It is suggested that this gap exists because the Government outlines a series of actions rather than a set of ethical propositions for development at a local level.

Environmental Education and Interpretation: Developing an Affective Difference

Rather than create another definition this paper explores the philosophy of interpretation in order to identify its core values. This shows that the main difference between environmental interpretation and environmental education is whether affect is considered to be pre-or post-cognitive. To the interpreter particularly significant experiences create deep emotional responses in participants that need no explanation. While moods, feelings and emotions are known to be important to attitude and behaviour change, how they create behaviour change is largely unknown. Interpretation will only make significant advances and become more challenging when it is informed by articulated theory. The implications for practice are that affective rather than cognitive models of learning need to be both employed and explored in future.

Using game theory to explain the behaviour of participants involved in a regional governance process

Abstract Starting in 2000, the NSW Government used a regional governance process to develop water management plans throughout the State. Under the process, the Minister appointed a range of stakeholders such as water users, conservation interests, indigenous interests, and natural resource management agencies to each committee, which then had to make difficult management and policy choices regarding the sustainable use of water. Several committees often worked in the same catchment, each focusing on a slightly different part of the entire water resource. One factor that affects the ability of these types of committees to operate is the institutional arrangements, or rules of operation and policies, under which they must work. Based on data from interviews and documents, this paper interprets how different participants behaved under certain sets of rules using game theory. The paper concludes by suggesting that game theory is helpful in explaining stakeholder behaviour. As such, its application may guide the development of robust operational rules prior to creating such regional governance processes.

Reducing nutrient enrichment of waterways through public education: a tale of two cities

Summary: Eutrophication of waterways, expressed as excess growth of cyanobacteria, is frequently caused by excessive inputs of phosphorus. Human activities are o ften the cause o f such nu trient enrichment and so many governments have add ressed the issue b y implementing a range of technological, legislative and biological measures. By contrast, Australia ha s taken a different approach and also relied hea vily on pub lic education. This paper compares the success of t wo o f t hese ‘Phoswatch’ public education p rogrammes. One campaign o ccurred within the Murray-Darling Basin in a country town called Albury-Wodonga. The o ther occurred within the Hawkesbury-Nepean Basin in the western suburbs of Sydney. The campaigns were e valuated u sing a series of community surveys and by monitoring pho sphorus loads at a sewage treatment plant. The Albury-Wodonga campaign was the most effective of the two campaigns with increases in the number of people reporting a range of behaviours and these resulted in a decrease in phosphorus loads entering the local treatment plant. The comparison suggests that clear simple messages, a d iversity of media e xposure, and some form of f eedback are critical to p rogramme success. It is c oncluded that campaigns s uch a s Phoswatch can p rovide a long term, cost effective way of addressing eu trophication b y focusing on the source o f t he problem at source and creating community support for an integrated strategy.

Using a Virtual National Park to Teach Workplace Skills in Conservation Management

Teaching conservation management means more than just learning about solving complex and difficult environmental issues. Such learning must also consider the likely administrative context that students will end up working in. This article outlines the development of a role-play that uses online technology to teach several administrative processes associated with conservation management. As such, this paper shows how a role-play within a digital environment can be used to provide scenarios that are difficult to obtain through a work placement. In developing this role-play, a number of errors occurred most noticeably with insufficient consideration about how to facilitate the use of IT in the classroom. Having made some changes, evaluation now suggests that students find the role-play more stimulating that the traditional lecture-style format of the same material. An important lesson is that the use of role-plays within a digital environment is not simply about using technology, but about people and the way learning is supported.

Managing the natural environment: The role of park rangers and the skills they need

Abstract The paper explores the roles and skills needed by park rangers in today’s challenging work environment. Data from semi-structured interviews with 20 park rangers from NSW, and 14 from Victoria was analyzed using the frameworks widely cited in the management literature as a frame of reference. From this data it was possible to identify the situational and contextual circumstances that make the role of a protected area manager unique. The ability to make sound decisions about resource allocations, acting as spokesperson to manage community expectations, using flexibility to implement policy, and leading projects involving various people are particularly important roles. The skills most commonly identified were not the technical skills such as managing plants or animals but skills such as priority setting, multi-tasking, and communication. The results are very different to the iconic image of a ranger as someone in the outdoors dealing with animals. In comparing this data with other studies, I conclude context is a critical factor affecting the particular set of roles and skills needed by people in the workplace. I further suggest that the key contextual factor related to the roles and skills needed by rangers is the increasing polarization of environmental issues within the wider community and that training needs to focus more on non-technical skills.

Exploring the Relationship Between Conservation Agencies and Schools

This studys primary aim was to address the lack of accessible information about successful government sector programs in environmental education. In doing so it also explored the role of conservation agencies in schools by quantifying the environmental education resources used and preferred by teachers, and by determining the factors that influenced conservation agencies in the developing these preferred resources. Eighty seven percent of teachers stated they used resources from conservation agencies and sixty three percent of these were from government conservation agencies. Teachers were highly selective of the resources used. Interviews with people involved in developing and implementing the programs most often preferred showed a high level of expertise involved developing such programs. However responses also raised questions about the role of conservation agencies in agenda setting, whether conflicts occur between corporatisation and environmental education, and the degree of fragmentation and territoriality between agencies. It is concluded there are limits to the role conservation agencies can play in school environmental education and that there needs to be greater cooperation in providing school environmental education resources.

Sustainable coastal management and climate adaptation: global lessons from regional approaches in Australia

CSIRO plays a pioneering role in scientific research in Australia. A key strength is the organizations ability to pull together the best and brightest minds in Australia to focus on a particular p...