Effects of the awareness of ecosystem services on the behavioral intentions of citizens toward conservation actions : A social psychological approach

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  • 市民の生態系サービスへの認知が保全行動意図に及ぼす影響 : 全国アンケートを用いた社会心理学的分析
  • シミン ノ セイタイケイ サービス エ ノ ニンチ ガ ホゼン コウドウ イト ニ オヨボス エイキョウ : ゼンコク アンケート オ モチイタ シャカイ シンリガクテキ ブンセキ

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The involvement of a wide range of stakeholders in conservation actions is essential for achieving lasting conservation efforts at a large spatial scale. This issue was one primary focus of the Aichi Biodiversity Target endorsed at the COP10 of the Convention on Biological Diversity. Citizen participation is particularly important given the potential for addressing a wide spectrum of issues concerning biodiversity conservation. To facilitate such participation, it is necessary to understand how behavioral intentions toward conservation actions are determined and which factors play important roles in this process. Here, we examined how awareness of ecosystem services affects the behavioral intentions of citizens to engage in conservation efforts. We designed a questionnaire asking individuals to rate their awareness of various ecosystem services on a scale of one to five. Data were collected from 5225 people through an internet survey. Using structural equation analysis, the data were used to test a decision-making model modified from an existing social psychological model to incorporate causal paths from awareness of ecosystem services to behavioral intentions toward conservation actions. Our results demonstrated that awareness of only one (cultural) of four (basal, provisional, regulation, and cultural) types of ecological services significantly facilitated positive behavioral intentions toward conservation efforts. Additionally, the social physiological terms "consciousness of social norms" and "consciousness of cost of the activity" had significant positive and negative effects, respectively, on behavioral intentions. Moreover, these relationships were robust regardless of the degree of urbanization of the area in which the respondents lived. These results suggest that improving citizen awareness of ecosystem services, especially cultural services, is likely to facilitate participation in conservation activities.

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