Evidence for a fundamental and pervasive shift away from nature-based recreation

Science for managing ecosystem services: Beyond the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment

“…1). Human use is increasing for all ecosystem services studied, except for wood fuel, agricultural fibers, wild terrestrial foods, and wild-caught fishes [but see recent evidence of declining trends for some recreational use (16)]. Improvements in life expectancy and reduction in poverty over the last few decades have been predicated on human efforts to enhance the provision of food (crops, livestock, cultured fish).…”

Flourishing in nature: A review of the benefits of connecting with nature and its application as a wellbeing intervention

“…The shift to urban living is expected to continue and become even more pronounced as the twenty-first century progresses. In financially wealthy, industrialized nations, less than 10% of each day, on average, is spent outdoors (Evans & McCoy, 1998;MacKerron & Mourato, 2013;Matz et al, 2014) and per capita participation in nature-based recreation is declining (Pergams & Zaradic, 2008). Children are spending less time outdoors (Louv, 2005), opting for large amounts of screen time instead (Rideout, Foehr, & Roberts, 2010).…”

Monitoring nature-based tourism trends in Japan’s national parks: Mixed messages from domestic and inbound visitors

“…The root cause remains uncertain, but is linked to a complex combination of socio-economic and demographic factors somewhat akin to the USA, where per capita NBT participation is said to be in decline due to structural change in socio-demographics (Ghimire et al, 2014;Stevens et al 2014). Prior research used Japan's national park data to support such claims from the USA that NBT has peaked and entered a state of decline (Pergams & Zaradic, 2007). This was attributed to shifting trends in recreational demands and the emergence of 'videophilia 8 ' which has in turn been used to corroborate speculation of a 'nature-deficit disorder' whereby young people's connection with nature is being eroded (Louv, 2005).…”

“…Interestingly, aggregated visitation to Japan's national parks has demonstrated negative growth since 1991, seemingly bucking the Jones PARKS VOL 22.1 MARCH 2016 aforementioned trend of universal NBT growth. The data has thus attracted the attention of international researchers, with one comparative study contending that national park visitation had peaked and entered a state of per capita reduction in the USA 1 and absolute decline in Japan (Pergams & Zaradic, 2007). However, the validity of the Japanese data was not discussed in detail, and there have been no follow-up studies to date, so this paper employs empirical evidence to firstly investigate Japan's monitoring methods and then reassess the reported decline in visitation.…”