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Nature‐based tourism has a unique opportunity, and arguably responsibility, to promote widespread action on climate change. However, research suggests an aversion to providing information that might appear divisive or 'ruin' peoples day, particularly in places that are vulnerable to degradation.We explore how exposure to climate change information in vulnerable nature settings influences indicators of (i) the visitor experience and (ii) climate change engagement. Using a quasi‐experimental approach, we provided climate information on tourist boats operating on the Great Barrier Reef, Australia and compared visitor experiences with a control condition where climate information was not provided. Visitor surveys (n = 656) assessed perceptions and experiences.Overall, visitors on trips where climate information was provided were more likely to report that the reef experience exceeded their expectations and did not report any reduction in subjective trip satisfaction.However, we detected minimal effects of climate information on indicators of climate engagement (threat awareness, action awareness, or information seeking), suggesting room for improvement in interpretation approach and design. Indeed, visitors reported high levels of acceptability for incorporating more information about climate change, particularly about actions.Synthesis and applications: These results suggest that providing climate information does not undermine visitor experiences and while further research is required to determine the most effective approach for influencing climate change engagement, an appetite for more information exists. It is possible that what tourism operators are fearful of, may be an opportunity to improve outcomes aligned with both industry and environmental objectives. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Communities have a strong role in protecting biodiversity. In addition to participation in restoration, a range of actions in the public or private sphere may support biodiversity. Despite this, there is a lack of clarity about what actions should be prioritized for behavior change campaigns. We developed and applied a method to prioritize community actions for biodiversity conservation that incorporates an expert‐based assessment of impact and a community‐informed measure of the likelihood of uptake. In stage 1, experts (n = 143) completed a survey that quantified the relative impact of actions based on best–worst scaling of perceived impact. In stage 2, surveyed community members (n = 3200) ranked the likelihood of adopting actions based on the ease or difficulty of performing each action, and the opportunity for change based on the proportion of respondents not yet engaging in each behavior. Experts gave the following actions the highest ranking for impact: voting for the environment (first), participating in restoration in ecological priority areas (second), and purchasing and protecting remnant bushland (third). When considering the disciplinary background and institutional background of experts, voting and participating in restoration activities remained in the upper ranked options. However, there was some divergence between these groups. For example, reducing beef consumption was ranked third by university‐based experts but ranked 28th by experts based in state government. Overall, community members ranked the following behaviors as most likely to be adopted: following quarantine laws (first), reducing plastic use (second), and managing pets (third). Top likelihood ranking of actions was minimally affected by community characteristics (nature relatedness, gender, location). Integrating these findings, the action ranked most favorably for impact, likelihood, and opportunity was participating in restoration. Choosing actions for behavior change campaigns requires consideration of the entire social–ecological system—from social factors that enable or constrain adoption to the ecological impact of actions across relevant social and ecological contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Engagement in biodiversity citizen science initiatives can confer health and wellbeing benefits to individuals and communities. Yet, few biodiversity citizen science initiatives are explicitly planned to optimize health and wellbeing as a potential co-benefit, leading to missed opportunities for biodiversity conservation and human health. In this perspective, we use a dose-response approach to discuss the components that determine how engagement in biodiversity citizen science initiatives map onto opportunities to foster health and wellbeing benefits. We considered aspects related to the duration and frequency of contact with nature, and the intensity of interactions with nature and between individuals to highlight the different health benefits across the variety of citizen science initiatives. To illustrate these aspects, we use a sample of 95 citizen science initiatives from seven English and non-English-speaking countries and show how careful project design can increase the potential to confer health and wellbeing benefits to participants. We conclude with considerations on how to enhance the health and wellbeing benefits from citizen science initiatives, and propose potential research avenues to assess synergies and trade-offs between benefits to biodiversity and human health from these initiatives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Strengthening community engagement in stewardship can help to improve management of coastal and freshwater environments (blue spaces). Research suggests that recreational users of natural areas may be more willing to engage in stewardship. However, little research at a population scale has examine how recreation experiences shape psychological ingredients for stewardship.We surveyed 3271 residents of South East Queensland, Australia and quantified willingness to engage in blue space stewardship. We then quantified frequency of different types of blue space recreation, perceptions about threats to blue spaces (threat appraisal) and protective actions (coping appraisal), and satisfaction with blue spaces. We then examined pathways from recreation to stewardship intentions using mediation analysis.Results show that many types of recreation were associated with stewardship intentions. Specifically, higher frequency of social activities and nature‐appreciation activities were associated with greater intentions for individual stewardship (e.g. picking up litter, reducing use of household chemicals). Higher frequency of social activities, nature appreciation, exercise and fishing/boating was associated with stronger intentions for collective stewardship (e.g. attending a public meeting or riparian management event)Mediation analysis showed that most forms of recreation did not influence perceptions about severity of threats to blue spaces. Rather, the relationships between recreation and stewardship were mediated by greater place satisfaction, perceived vulnerability to blue space degradation, and feeling more able to contribute to waterway protection (efficacy).These findings indicate that many types of recreation (not just nature appreciation activities) can be a foundation for engaging in nature stewardship, and reinforce the importance of building efficacy when promoting stewardship. The finding that both place satisfaction and perceived vulnerability to environmental degradation suggests that there may be an optimal motivational window for stewardship: people need to connect a place with positive experiences, and have some recognition of a potential threat, but where the potential threat has not yet eroded the natural values of a place. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Policy instruments—such as regulation, financial incentives, and agricultural extension—are commonly applied by governments to promote sustainable agricultural practices and tackle ecosystem degradation. Despite substantial investment, little data are available to gauge the impact of evolving policy mixes. We constructed a Bayesian network model to explore relationships between policy instruments, contextual factors, and adoption. Applying a series of scenarios, we present examples of how different instruments influence adoption and how their effectiveness is shaped by contextual factors. Scenarios highlight that the effect of policy instruments is often modest, and constrained by diverse practice and population characteristics. These findings allow us to reflect on the role of policy instruments, and the conditions necessary to support practice change. For example, our findings raise questions about the role of financial benefits versus financial capacity, and highlight the potential importance of concepts such as mental bandwidth in shaping both motivation and capacity to adopt. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite decades of conservation management, many orangutan populations are on the brink of extinction. This is primarily due to habitat loss and direct killings. A study from 2008/2009 suggested that killing was impacting orangutan populations at a rate sufficient to cause local extinctions. As an illegal and taboo behavior that is difficult to measure, killing has been severely understudied since. We conducted 431 interviews in 79 villages across Kalimantan in 2020/2021. Ours is the first quantitative field study in more than 10 years to assess the state of killing of orangutans. We aimed to: (1) assess the current state of killing of orangutans in Kalimantan and compare this to the previous study; (2) determine whether conservation projects are affecting killing; and (3) explore drivers of killing. We examined killing of orangutans across villages with forest conservation projects, orangutan conservation projects, and no conservation projects. We assessed the existence of killing and used scenarios to examine perceived norms about illegal behavior relating to orangutans. We then used matching techniques to assess whether projects have any impact on these indicators. Overall, our findings suggest that killing has occurred in recent times, and our data does not indicate a clear attenuation of the behavior. As such, we argue that killing may still present a substantial threat to Bornean orangutan populations. We also found no statistically significant evidence that conservation projects are reducing killing. Conservation project managers could seek to understand the drivers of killing, and to invest in interventions that address these drivers. Research suggests that current allocation of conservation funding has been ineffective at abating orangutan population decline. We argue that a key part of improving Bornean orangutan conservation practice involves directly addressing killing of orangutans and the underlying drivers of killing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Water management increasingly focuses on tackling stormwater pollution to improve waterway health. Community members have a role in adopting pollution-reduction practices and supporting technologies such as water sensitive urban design. However, because communities are unfamiliar with these practices and technologies, little is known about how they make sense of these 'water sensitive innovations'. Drawing on Diffusion of Innovations theory, we conduct focus groups across different regions of Australia. Our findings indicate that key barriers to adoption included poor understanding of the relative advantage of these practices and technologies, and perceived poor compatibility with community members' lifestyle and local geography. In turn, appraisals of relative advantage were constrained by limited observability of stormwater pollution and the benefits that innovations generate for people and the environment. Our findings suggest engagement strategies should emphasize the relevance and advantages of water sensitive innovations, and help individuals visualize the intangible elements of stormwater pollution management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Australia's biodiversity is facing a crisis due to factors such as habitat destruction, invasive species, disruption of Indigenous practices, and climate change. This has led to high extinction rates and significant implications for the economy, human health, and culture. To address this issue, the Biodiversity Council has been established, consisting of experts from various fields, including Indigenous knowledge. The Council aims to promote biodiversity conservation by enhancing public understanding, shaping public discourse, raising awareness of threats, and holding agencies accountable. They work in a politically neutral manner and collaborate with government officials, ecologists, First Peoples groups, and conservation practitioners to amplify their expertise and encourage action. [Extracted from the article]

Objective: Aggression is common in children and adolescents admitted to psychiatric inpatient units. Few interventions for reducing aggressive behaviors have been identified. This study aimed to evaluate the impact of a milieu-based behavioral management program on the frequency of aggressive behaviors in a child and adolescent mental health inpatient unit. Method: The behavioral management program incorporated individualized patient management plans, early detection and prevention, staff training, reinforcement of appropriate behaviors, and intervention using the least restrictive option. Outcomes were assessed for 6 months before and after program introduction, and included episodes of aggressive behavior, injuries, use of physical restraint, seclusion, p.r.n. sedation, use of security services, and staffing factors. Results: Implementation of behavioral management led to a significant reduction in the episodes of aggressive behavior (p less than 0.05) and other unwanted outcomes including injuries (p less than 0.05), use of physical restraint (p less than 0.001), and duration of seclusion (p less than 0.001). These outcomes were achieved without reducing the number of admissions, changing the types of patients admitted, increasing staff costs, or increasing the use of p.r.n. medications. Conclusions: Aggressive behaviors in child and adolescent psychiatric inpatient unit scan be reduced by implementing a broad-based behavioral management program. These findings highlight the importance of organizational approaches to behavior and risk management. (Contains 2 tables and 2 figures.)

The loss and degradation of nature can lead to hopelessness and despair, which may undermine engagement in conservation actions. Emerging movements, such as that behind the organization Conservation Optimism, aim to avert potential despair of those involved in conservation. Some argue that fostering positive states, such as hope or optimism, can motivate engagement and action; however, others question whether fostering hope or optimism may inadvertently undermine perceived gravity of conservation challenges. We examined this issue by quantifying dispositional hope and optimism with a representative sample of Australians (n = 4285) and assessing their relationship with indicators of conservation engagement. We used the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) in Australia as a case study. We asked participants what they could do to help the GBR, then classified their responses into 2 outcome variables: identifying climate actions (i.e., actions that tackle the main threat to the reef) and identifying plastic actions (i.e., actions that are popular among community members). We also quantified likelihood of performing these actions and appraisals of both threats and actions. One dimension of hope, hope pathways (defined by Snyder's hope theory as knowing different ways to act), was associated with greater capacity to identify climate‐related behaviors (odds ratio [OR] = 1.44) and plastic reduction behaviors (OR = 1.22) and greater likelihood of adopting climate‐related actions (β = 0.20). Optimism was associated with recognition of plastic reduction behaviors only (OR = 1.22). Neither hope nor optimism undermined appraisal of conservation threats. The effects of optimism were mediated by reduced action futility, and effects of hope pathways were mediated by stronger perceptions of threats to the reef (threat appraisal) and confidence in performing useful actions (coping appraisal). Our findings suggest that dispositional hope can strengthen, rather than undermine, appraisal of conservation challenges and solutions and thereby increase conservation engagement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Forest restoration has been proposed as a scalable nature-based solution to achieve global environmental and socio-economic outcomes and is central to many policy initiatives, such as the Bonn Challenge. Restored forests contain appreciable biodiversity, improve habitat connectivity and sequester carbon. Incentive mechanisms (e.g. payments for ecosystem services and allocation of management rights) have been a focus of forest restoration efforts for decades. Yet, there is still little understanding of their role in promoting restoration success. We conducted a systematic literature review to investigate how incentive mechanisms are used to promote forest restoration, outcomes, and the biophysical and socio-economic factors that influence implementation and program success. We found that socio-economic factors, such as governance, monitoring systems and the experience and beliefs of participants, dominate whether or not an incentive mechanism is successful. We found that approximately half of the studies report both positive ecological and socio-economic outcomes. However, reported adverse outcomes were more commonly socio-economic than ecological. Our results reveal that achieving forest restoration at a sufficient scale to meet international commitments will require stronger assessment and management of socio-economic factors that enable or constrain the success of incentive mechanisms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Natural soundscapes experienced in parks are increasingly recognised as a valuable ecosystem service, yet urban parks soundscapes also commonly contain anthropogenic noise.While studies show bird calls can promote psychological restoration, the factors that might influence actual experiences of these sounds by individuals in urban parks are less clear. Equally, continual exposure to anthropogenic noise, such as vehicle traffic, is associated with negative health outcomes, but determinants influencing negative experiences of such sounds within a park soundscape are poorly understood.To address this gap we used an ex situ survey of over 4000 Australian residents and examined a range of spatial and social factors in influencing perceptions towards noticing and pleasantness of bird sounds and traffic noise within urban parks.The results indicate older age, recent park use, and valuing parks for uses such as exercising, socialising and to hear nature, were positively associated with pleasant bird sound experiences in parks. For traffic sounds, we found indicators of disadvantage, such as renting a home were associated with a higher likelihood of unpleasant experiences of traffic noise within parks. Notably, individuals using parks for social activities were still positively associated with pleasant bird sound experiences and less likely to perceive traffic sounds as unpleasant. Conversely, whilst those with greater nature‐relatedness had a strong positive association with pleasant bird sound experiences, they were more likely to perceive traffic as unpleasant.Overall, these findings suggest that whilst many types of park users can potentially experience the beneficial effects from bird sounds, the detrimental effects of traffic noise may constrain these benefits in certain social groups, particularly those of greater socio‐economic disadvantage. We discuss strategies to promote greater equity of therapeutic experiences of bird sounds in parks, whilst outlining traffic mitigation measures within urban parks. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Changing human behaviour and social systems are key to reversing the global biodiversity crisis. Pro‐environmental behaviour is guided by values and connection with nature, but because they have mostly been studied separately, the interplay between values and nature connection in influencing pro‐environmental behaviour remains unclear.In particular, it is uncertain whether people who hold anthropocentric values have a less positive connection with nature than those who hold ecocentric values, and whether nature protection behaviours differ between people with different values or strengths of connection to nature.We used a stratified survey of 2100 respondents across Australia to measure orientation towards nature. We created segments based on individual values and connection with nature and characterised each segment based on demographics, nature‐exposure, pro‐environmental behaviours, support for environmental policies and political alignment.We discovered that a quarter of respondents had anthropocentric values alongside a strong connection with nature. Moreover, of those with a strong connection with nature, people with anthropocentric values more frequently undertook certain pro‐environmental behaviours than those with ecocentric values.Our findings indicate that the strong expression of pro‐environmental behaviour is not limited to people with ecocentric values. Rather, people with different values and strengths of connection to nature engage in different types of impactful nature protection behaviours, challenging stereotypes about those with anthropocentric values.These results further suggest that behavioural intervention strategies could be tailored to reach sectors of society with various combinations of values and strengths of connection to nature, thus maximising the expression of pro‐environmental behaviour across the entire population. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The biodiversity crisis poses a real and present global threat to humanity. The acceleration of species and ecosystem decline coupled with climate change suggests that as it stands, nature cannot absorb the pressure humanity is placing on the planet. Bold new approaches to biodiversity conservation are needed.Promoting an engaged community is an important part of achieving conservation outcomes. Research shows that citizen science has the potential to elicit conservation engagement. However, research has not specifically explored how intensive citizen science expedition programs contribute to change.Here we use transformative learning theory as a tool to investigate how participation in citizen science programs influences conservation engagement. We analysed evaluation surveys of Earthwatch Institute citizen science participants (N = 608) and conducted in‐depth interviews (N = 11), to examine the links between citizen science experiences and engagement outcomes.We discovered that while nature‐based components of citizen science programs attract participants and create a salient environment for transformation, these are not objectively associated with engagement outcomes. Strengthened awareness was associated with learning, social interactions and cultural experiences, whereas intentions to engage in conservation action was only influenced by experiencing a sense of contribution.Rather than focusing only on learning and nature experiences, our results suggest that the elements of citizen science programs which support social change may require allowing participants to develop a sense of contribution amid an interactive social environment. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Dysphoria and depression have been cited as side effects of the opioid antagonist naltrexone. We aimed to assess whether depressive symptoms are a clinically relevant side effect in a [...]

The role of a conservation scientist has never been more challenging. Amidst the rapid degradation occurring across Earth's natural ecosystems and the loss of biodiversity and ecosystem services, conservation scientists must learn new and effective ways to build trust and engage with the wider community. Here, we discuss the potential utility of a particular communication technique, Nonviolent Communication (also known as Compassionate Communication or Collaborative Communication), in conservation science. Nonviolent Communication is a structured form of communication, developed in the 1960s by Dr. Marshall Rosenberg, that seeks to foster interpersonal understanding and connection through communication of judgment‐free observations, recognition of people's feelings, needs and values, and requests for specific actions to meet those needs. It has delivered positive outcomes in diverse fields such as prisoner reform, health science, and social work, and holds great promise for conservation applications. While there is no single communication strategy that resonates with all people, we argue that Nonviolent Communication could be used by conservation scientists and practitioners when communicating with colleagues, politicians, and the general public about important and sometimes contentious environmental issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]