Understanding Influencing Behaviors in Conservation and Natural Resources Management
Publisher: USAID, World Wildlife Fund, Nature Conservancy, and World Resources Institute
Author(s): Bruce A. Byers
Date: 2013
Topics: Assessment, Economic Recovery, Governance, Monitoring and Evaluation
This chapter will set the stage for the chapters that follow by introducing some key themes. First, we explain why we have chosen to emphasize behavior—the decisions, practices, and actions of people, both as individuals and in groups. We then discuss why social assessment and research is necessary to understand the social context of behaviors and to overcome the biases and test the assumptions of conservation practitioners. Next, we consider participation and explain why it is essential for understanding and influencing conservation behavior. Finally, we discuss the values that underlie and motivate conservation and natural resources management. For reasons explained in the section on values, we view “conservation” and “sustainable natural resources management” as the same thing; those terms will be used interchangeably throughout this report.