Wouter T. de Groot

The new biophilia: an exploration of visions of nature in Western countries

Summary Visions of nature are the subject of much philosophical and policy debate. The present paper focuses, however, on the visions of nature held by people not professionally involved in the issue, namely those of the general public. These visions constitute the democratic basis of environmental conservation and the frame for effective two-way communication between professionals and communities on nature protection and management. It appears that the general public in Europe and the USA has developed a strong general ‘biophilia’ (nature-friendliness). One indicator of this is that in quantitative research, 70‐90% of the population recognize the right of nature to exist even if not useful to humans in any way. In qualitative research settings, lay people reveal a remarkable richness and depth of views and experiences of nature. A quantitative survey on images and values of nature, and a qualitative study consisting of in-depth interviews on the relationship between childhood experiences in nature and adult visions of nature were conducted in the Netherlands. A factor analysis revealed a classification of types of nature, which included ‘wild nature’, ‘arcadian nature’, ‘penetrative nature’ and other such images that, with wild nature in the lead, were ascribed a smoothly decreasing degree of naturalness. Asked to rank the values and functions of nature, the top three were formed by the value for human health, the intrinsic value and the value for future generations. In the qualitative interviews, indications were found that more intense childhood experiences with nature could be associated with later ascription of a high degree of naturalness to wild nature, and less intense experiences with later ascription of a high degree of naturalness to arcadian nature. Many significant experiences took place beyond the reach of parental supervision. Findings such as these are of obvious relevance for environmental education and the design of ‘experiential nature’ in and around protected areas. Social science research concerning nature protection is often triggered by frictions between local people and protected area authorities. Such situations tend to be dominated by the airing of grievances, demands for economic compensation and so on, and these then also tend to dominate the research findings. Taking place away from these specific hot spots of conflict, social science research of the types discussed in this paper shows that many nonconflictual lines of communication are open for nature protection agencies.

From Debate to Insight: Three Models of Immigration to Protected Areas

In 2007 the Galapagos, background of Darwin’s On the Origin of Species, made news headlines when UNESCO declared the Archipelago a World Heritage Site “in danger” (UNESCO 2007). Tourism had triggered an escalating immigration of people coming from the continent in search of employment. Its population, less than 2,000 in 1950, was up to 25,000, putting unsustainable pressures on limited resources (Gonzales et al. 2008). In 2008 the Virungas, protected areas on the borders of Congo, Rwanda, and Uganda, known for Gorillas in the Mist, made the news (Jenkins & Stirton 2008). Already a World Heritage Site in danger, the Virungas had witnessed for the second time in a decade an influx of hundreds of thousands of people in its surroundings. A few months later, it was reported that deforestation rates in the Brazilian Amazon had risen 64%, reaching an annual 8146 km2. Loggers, followed by farmers, are penetrating deep into the forest, setting back Brazil’s conservation efforts (Philips 2008). Little guidance is given to protected area (PA) managers and decision makers to deal with immigration. A decade ago, preliminary reports appeared on the impact of immigration on PAs (Noss 1997; De Sherbenin & Freudenberger 1998; Oates 1999). The first quantitative case study, in Waza-Logone, Cameroon, showed that conservation projects can trigger immigration (Scholte 2003). These case studies emphasized the need for socioeconomic monitoring to assess immigration. They also cautioned against combining conservation with development. More comprehensive studies on migration to protected areas have been published recently (Oglethorpe et al. 2007; Wittemyer et al. 2008), and we build our argument here on these studies. Oglethorpe et al. (2007) elaborate

A model integrating social-cultural concepts of nature into frameworks of interaction between social and natural systems

Existing frameworks for analysing interactions between social and natural systems (e.g. Social-Ecological Systems framework, Ecosystem Services concept) do not sufficiently consider and operationalize the dynamic interactions between peoples values, attitudes and understandings of the human-nature relationship at both individual and collective levels. We highlight the relevance of individual and collective understandings of the human-nature relationship as influencing factors for environmental behaviour, which may be reflected in natural resource management conflicts, and review the diversity of existing social-cultural concepts, frameworks and associated research methods. Particular emphasis is given to the context-sensitivity of social-cultural concepts in decision-making. These aspects are translated into a conceptual model aiming not to replace but to expand and enhance existing frameworks. Integrating this model into existing frameworks provides a tool for the exploration of how social-cultural concepts of nature interact with existing contexts to influence governance of social-ecological systems.

Enhancing participation of local people: some basic principles and an example from Burkina Faso

Abstract The enhancement of participation first of all requires that people are treated as knowledgeable and trustworthy actors. The interaction between outside staff and local people should be given shape in flexible, “learning” programmes, not in single-design, “knowing” projects. Exemplified by a rural programme of environmental improvement in the Sahel, the programmatic principles of non-doing, non-paying, non-forcing and “development stages” are dealt with. The article is rounded off by a reflection on the conflict between local and supralocal interests, often encountered in wetland management.

Environmental research in the environmental policy cycle

A recent article in this journal put forward an environmental research policy, organized around the environmental policy cycle The research policy concerned is flawed by a bias generally occurring in the philosophy of science, i e., the inability to include the normative science disciplines in the science and research concepts. This inability results in a biased environmental research effort. Almost all attention goes to physical science research in the problem-identification phase of the environmental policy cycle. Practice shows that it is wise to be more open-minded It may be more efficient to employ normative science research, directly productive for solving environmental problems, than to be able to identify these problems better and better This article describes and underpins a more comprehensive approach to environmental research and exemplifies typical research questions.

Tree Adoption in the North-East Philippines Uplands: Analysis of a GO-NGO Partnership

In recent decades, the Philippines have put much effort into designing strategies for motivating upland communities to plant trees. The accomplishments of these programs have been variable, however, and need further investigation. Focusing on five villages located in the uplands in north-east Luzon, this paper assesses the response to a government program that supplied tenure security to upland farmers in exchange for tree planting, implemented through an NGO project that supported farmers with advice, logistics and free seedlings. Response was measured as the percentage of households that joined the program, the percentage of their lots that they submitted for tenure contract and the percentage of these lots that were actually planted with more than 50 trees. The resulting overall tree adoption rate was that 22% of the lots in the villages had been planted, with a variation of 15–35% between villages. Main motivational factors were the land tenure prospect and the perceived stable markets for fruit and timber. Farmers were not only motivated but also capacitated, both financially and in terms of the bureaucratic procedures, by the NGO project. Without these, the government program could only have benefited the few well-off and educated farmers. The case study stands, therefore, as an example of effective government-NGO partnership.

Environment and Security: Improving the Interaction of Two Science Fields

With the growing insight that outbreaks of violent conflict may be linked to environmental degradation and scarcity, “environment and security” has become an object of interest to both political and environmental science. The road to mutually reinforcing activities is blocked by several antagonisms, however, and the heavy emphasis on the national level has precluded the tapping of the wealth of conflict knowledge in anthropology. An improved relationship between the security and environment science fields is suggested by clarifying and linking the generalized “causal stories” that security and environmental scientists tell around their core concepts (security and sustainability, respectively). On that basis, and if focusing on a (subnational) scale that facilitates the involvement of anthropology too, joint research projects can yield a balanced understanding of the links between environment and security.

What makes you a 'hero' for nature? Socio-psychological profiling of leaders committed to nature and biodiversity protection across seven EU countries

Biodiversity loss is a widely debated world problem, with huge economic, social, and environmentally negative consequences. Despite the relevance of this issue, the psychological determinants of committed action towards nature and biodiversity have rarely been investigated. This study aims at identifying a comprehensive social-psychological profile of activists committed to biodiversity protection and at understanding what determinants best predict their activism. A questionnaire investigating relevant social-psychological constructs identified in the literature on environmental activism was administered to 183 outstanding leaders (vs. non-leaders) in biodiversity protection across seven EU countries. Leaders (vs. non-leaders) in biodiversity protection showed, among other constructs, higher scores on environmental values, attitudes, identity, perceived control, a feeling of union and spirituality with nature, and willingness to sacrifice for their cause. Results are discussed within the theoretical framework of a motivation model of committed action for nature and biodiversity protection. Applications of the results are also proposed.

Tropical Forest Policies for the Global Climate

Abstract This paper summarizes the approach and findings of the NRP project ’Local Actors and Global Tree Cover Policies’ ( Kamminga and De Groot, 1995 ; Toornstra, Persoon and Youmbi, 1995 ; Kamminga and Van den Top, 1995 ; Kamminga, 1995 ). The aim of this project has been to identify the most effective and efficient options for global climate policies focusing on the tropical forest. Tropical deforestation is a process with very complex and variable causes. In the projects conclusions, therefore, much care has been given to arrive at a coherent image of what really counts most in the myriad of factors, actors, policy levels and policy options.