Applying IUCN reintroduction guidelines: an effective medium for raising public support prior to conducting a reintroduction project

Sampson, Lawrence, Riley, Jennifer and Carpenter, Angus ORCID logo ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0262-9895 (2020) Applying IUCN reintroduction guidelines: an effective medium for raising public support prior to conducting a reintroduction project. Journal for Nature Conservation, 58 . p. 125914. Full text not available from this repository.

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Official URL: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jnc.2020.125914

Abstract

IUCN guidelines state that public support for conservation projects should be garnered prior to any ‘on the ground’ activities taking place, as public knowledge and support, both passive and / or active, can influence greatly the success of a species reintroduction. This study investigated the effectiveness of generating public support within a zoo setting for a conservation species reintroduction project. Questionnaires were completed by public visiting the zoo allowing data collection, pre and post the display of the species, that provided an opportunity to report on the impact a species presence has on generating levels of support. Generally, passive support was very high for the project, but increased after the red-billed chough were viewable to the public. However, levels of donations reduced once the species was visible to the public, with people appearing to favour mammalian species over a bird species. However, red-billed chough raised more ‘virtual’ funding than water vole, which was not on public display. Innate favouritism or likeability for a species appeared to play a major role in decision making by the public, indicating that where conservation conflicts may arise they would lend support to ‘likeable’ over ‘dull’ species regardless of conservation priorities. This indicates greater education would be needed in such cases to reinforce the wider conservation positives from proposed projects. Whilst not all human dimensions were measured here, the study showed that education and having an animal on display can positively raise public passive support and potential active support for a conservation project.

Item Type: Article
Journal / Publication Title: Journal for Nature Conservation
Publisher: Elsevier
ISSN: 1617-1381
Departments: Institute of Science and Environment > Forestry and Conservation
Depositing User: Anna Lupton
Date Deposited: 14 Nov 2022 11:58
Last Modified: 29 Jan 2024 10:44
URI: https://insight.cumbria.ac.uk/id/eprint/6678
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