Changing Human Behavior to Conserve Biodiversity

Conservation of biodiversity is above all else an exercise in human persuasion. Human behavior drives all substantive threats to biodiversity; therefore, influencing it is the only path to mitigating the current extinction crisis. We review the literature across three different axes to highlight current evidence on influencing human behavior for conservation. First, we look at behavioral interventions to mitigate different threats, from pollution and climate change to invasive species and human disturbance. Next, we examine interventions focused on different stakeholders, from voters, investors, and environmental managers to consumers, producers, and extractors. Finally, we review delivery channels, ranging from mass and social media to interventions involving changes to the physical environment or carried out in person. We highlight key gaps, including the lack of scale and robust impact evaluation of most interventions, and the need to prioritize behaviors, overcome the reproducibility crisis, and deal with inequality when designing and implementing behavior change interventions.

Authors

Institutions

Publication Details

Journal
Annual Review of Environment and Resources
Published
2024-08-21
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-environ-111522-103028
Citations
25
Primary Topic
Environmental Education and Sustainability
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
17.75
Controls
|||
ALL TIME
JAN
FEB
MAR
APR
MAY
JUN
JUL
AUG
SEP
OCT
article

Changing Human Behavior to Conserve Biodiversity

Laura R. Perry, Takahiro Kubo, Emily A. Gregg, Ganga Shreedhar et al.
25 citations
Annual Review of Environment and Resources
Environmental Education and Sustainability
17.75
article

Changing Human Behavior to Conserve Biodiversity

Laura R. Perry, Takahiro Kubo, Emily A. Gregg, Ganga Shreedhar, Dulce Espelosin, Judy Mann-Lang, Katie Blake, Matthew J. Selinske, Diogo Veríssimo, Laura Thomas‐Walters, Hilary Byerly Flint, Hunter Doughty
article en
25 citations

Abstract

Conservation of biodiversity is above all else an exercise in human persuasion. Human behavior drives all substantive threats to biodiversity; therefore, influencing it is the only path to mitigating the current extinction crisis. We review the literature across three different axes to highlight current evidence on influencing human behavior for conservation. First, we look at behavioral interventions to mitigate different threats, from pollution and climate change to invasive species and human disturbance. Next, we examine interventions focused on different stakeholders, from voters, investors, and environmental managers to consumers, producers, and extractors. Finally, we review delivery channels, ranging from mass and social media to interventions involving changes to the physical environment or carried out in person. We highlight key gaps, including the lack of scale and robust impact evaluation of most interventions, and the need to prioritize behaviors, overcome the reproducibility crisis, and deal with inequality when designing and implementing behavior change interventions.

Annual Review of Environment and ResourcesVol. 49(1)
University of Wyoming (US), Instituto Tecnológico de Querétaro (MX), National Institute for Environmental Studies (JP), Rhodes University (ZA), Indianapolis Zoo (US), Yale University (US), University of Oxford (GB), American Marketing Association (US), Carbon180 (US), International Union for Conservation of Nature (CH), RMIT University (AU), London School of Economics and Political Science (GB)
Life in Land
Openalex Percentile: Top 1%
Environmental Education and Sustainability
17.75
DOIOpen Access PDFOpenAlex
AI Navigator

Ask Laika to Summarize, Analyze, and Connect papers live on the map.

Summarize Papers & Methodologies

Extract key findings, datasets, and comparative methods across publications.

Benchmark Rankings & Visual Analytics

Rank top research institutions, authors, funders, topics, and journals by Field-Weighted Citation Impact (FWCI) and paper volume with instant charts.

Connect Distant Disciplines

Bridge topological clusters on the map to find hidden collaborative intersections.