Susan K. Jacobson

Ecotourism, sustainable development, and conservation education: Development of a tour guide training program in Tortuguero, Costa Rica

A tour guide training program was developed for rural communities near Costa Ricas Tortuguero National Park to respond to the impacts of the 24-fold increase in park visitation in the past decade, to involve local communities in resource management, and to provide regional environmental education. The development of the training course involved a survey of scientists and park managers to ascertain resource management needs, priorities for information to be disseminated, and impacts of tourism on the resource base. Current and potential tour guides were surveyed to identify their information needs, solicit their input in the training program, and to determine their knowledge and skills. Written questionnaires were developed and given to 400 tourists to determine their activities and environmental information needs, and hotel owners were censused to examine the economic feasibility of a local guide program. A pilot training course and guide program involving 12 Tortuguero residents demonstrated that a tour guide program: (1) helped mitigate negative tourism impacts on Tortuguero National Parks natural resources, particularly by regulating tourists on the parks 35-km beach used for nesting by endangered sea turtles; (2) provided environmental education to an important segment of the local community not traditionally reached through school or government development projects; (3) provided environmental information to tourists, thus enhancing their visit; and (4) provided local economic benefits through lucrative part-time employment, thereby allowing local people to participate more fully in the tourism system. An extended training course is being planned to provide further environmental education programming and to increase year-round employment opportunities for the tour guides.

Estimating Illegal Resource Use at a Ugandan Park with the Randomized Response Technique

Illegal resource use is a major threat to conservation in protected areas throughout the world, yet accurately estimating the number of poachers has been difficult. People violating the law seldom identify themselves for fear of retribution; thus quantifying illegal resource use is constrained by methodological problems. We evaluate the effectiveness of the randomized response technique (RRT) with a population that is partially illiterate to assess the extent of illegal resource use at Kibale National Park, Uganda. RRT is unique in allowing respondents to disclose sensitive information because the interviewer can not ascertain an individuals true response to the incriminating question. We found estimates of six types of illegal resource use when measured by RRT were significantly higher than when measured by direct questioning. This method offers a potentially powerful tool for understanding conservation threats in the developing world.

Content Analysis of Newspaper Coverage of the Florida Panther

Populations of large carnivores are declining globally, and analysis of public discourse about carnivores is useful for understanding public opinion and influences on management and policy. Portrayal of carnivores in the media affects public perceptions and support for their conservation. We conducted a content analysis of 513 articles about Florida panthers (Puma concolor coryi) published from 2003 to 2006 in newspapers with local circulation in core panther habitat in southwest Florida and papers with statewide circulation to compare the differences in the amount of coverage and portrayals of panther risks to people and property on the basis of proximity of human communities to panthers. Local papers published significantly more news articles and significantly longer news articles primarily about panthers. Articles in local and statewide papers used both episodic frames, which focus on specific occurrences (e.g., a panther sighting or predation) and thematic frames, which focus on general trends (e.g., abundance of panthers over time). Local articles more often emphasized risks that panthers might harm people, pets, or livestock than statewide papers. Our results are consistent with theory that proximity to human-carnivore conflict influences perceptions and salience of risks posed by large carnivores. Most articles mentioned panthers as a secondary topic, which we believe was a result of the relevance an endangered carnivore has in discussions of public land management, development, and regulations in Florida. Claims made by sources quoted in each article had a neutral to positive depiction of panthers, and most quotations were from federal and state agency scientists. We suggest continued use by the media of agency sources provides the opportunity for clear, concordant messages about panther management. Content analysis provides a way to monitor media portrayal of carnivores for consistency with agency outreach goals.

Evaluation model for developing, implementing, and assessing conservation education programs: Examples from Belize and Costa Rica

Evaluation of conservation education programs can: (1) provide accountability in demonstrating a programs worth, (2) offer an opportunity for receiving feedback and improving programs, (3) further our understanding of the process of program development, and (4) promote conservation education by substantiating claims about its benefits. The Planning-Process-Product systems evaluation model provides feedback needed for making decisions about the development, implementation, and outcome of a program. Planning evaluation was useful in assessing the needs, goals, opportunities, and constraints of a number of programs in Costa Rica and Belize, such as a forestry education project and a zoo outreach program. It provided a basis for making planning decisions incorporating specific objectives, such as the reforestation of a region or a change in knowledge and attitudes in program participants. Process evaluation provided a Costa Rican sustainable development program with feedback during its implementation and enabled it to modify and improve its newsletter for local farmers and its ecology classes for school children. Product evaluation assessed project accomplishments, such as the

Content Analysis of Tropical Conservation Education Programs: Elements of Success

700,000 raised by the Childrens Rainforest group and the 20 miles of riparian land under conservation management as part of the Belize Community Baboon Sanctuary project. Outcomes are compared with the programs original monetary or land management objectives to determine the success of the programs and to provide feedback for improvement.

Media Coverage of Climate Change in Chile: A Content Analysis of Conservative and Liberal Newspapers

Abstract Evidence of success is needed to justify the use of educational approaches as a tool to achieve conservation goals. A content analysis of 56 reports on tropical conservation education programs published between 1975 and 1990 revealed that fewer than half of the programs were successful in achieving their objectives. The use of either formative or long-term evaluations in the program design was correlated with significantly higher rates of program success. Program longevity was also associated with program success, suggesting a need for long-term data collection in assessing the value of conservation education programs. Other program attributes, such as location, sponsorship, and form of publication used for information dissemination, were not correlated with success.

Quantitative assessment of a Tanzanian integrated conservation and development project involving butterfly farming.

Media influence public awareness through agenda setting and framing of news by selecting what is published, how frequently and through what frames. This content analysis compares portrayals of climate change based on political ideology of the media. It examines daily coverage of climate change in Santiago, Chile by the conservative, El Mercurio, newspaper, and the liberal, La Nación. Twenty percent of the 1,628 articles published in 2003, 2005, and 2007 which included the words “cambio climático” (climate change) or “calentamiento global” (global warming) were analyzed for frequency, content, images, and frames. The liberal newspaper published twice as many articles that were twice as long, with four times as many illustrations about climate change. They presented more thematic and diverse frames than the conservative newspaper. Government sources and conflict frames dominated both newspapers, reflecting some similar maturation processes of climate change coverage found in Europe, the United States, and elsewhere.

Conserving wildlife : international education and communication approaches

Scientific understanding of the role of development in conservation has been hindered by the quality of evaluations of integrated conservation and development projects. We used a quasi-experimental design to quantitatively assess a conservation and development project involving commercial butterfly farming in the East Usambara Mountains of Tanzania. Using a survey of conservation attitudes, beliefs, knowledge, and behavior, we compared 150 butterfly farmers with a control group of 170 fellow community members. Due to the nonrandom assignment of individuals to the two groups, we used propensity-score matching and weighting in our analyses to control for observed bias. Eighty percent of the farmers believed butterfly farming would be impossible if local forests were cleared, and butterfly farmers reported significantly more participation in forest conservation behaviors and were more likely to believe that conservation behaviors were effective. The two groups did not differ in terms of their general conservation attitudes, attitudes toward conservation officials, or knowledge of conservation-friendly building techniques. The relationship between butterfly farming and conservation behavior was mediated by dependency on butterfly farming income. Assuming unobserved bias played a limited role, our findings suggest that participation in butterfly farming increased participation in conservation behaviors among project participants because farmers perceive a link between earnings from butterfly farming and forest conservation.

Human-Wildlife Conflict and Environmental Education: Evaluating a Community Program to Protect the Andean Bear in Ecuador

This volume documents 25 programmes that have contributed, through education and widening channels of communication, to the conservation of wildlife and natural resources. Case studies range from a national park programme in Borneo to water quality improvement in the Michigan River.

Threat reduction assessment of conventional and community-based conservation approaches to managing protected areas in Uganda

Environmental education is a widespread, yet relatively unexamined strategy to reduce human-wildlife conflicts. We evaluated knowledge, attitudes and behavioral intentions toward bear conservation after five years of environmental education in a Quichua community. Conflicts with livestock predation created mixed attitudes and behaviors toward bear conservation. Some program objectives were achieved, such as 88% of participants reported satisfaction with environmental knowledge gained. Behavioral intentions to decrease bear conflicts increased, and multiple regression analysis revealed support for the project was associated with program participation. Focus group meetings with teachers, local policy makers and para-biologists provided a context for recommendations to improve program success and revealed new issues for better bear management.