Mālama i ke kai: Exploring psychosocial factors associated with personal and community coral reef conservation behavior on Maui, Hawai‘i

Abstract

Local and community conservation efforts can increase coral reefs' capacity to adapt to climate change. In this community‐engaged study, we examine affective dimensions and other psychosocial factors associated with coastal user conservation intentions and behaviors on Maui, Hawai‘i. In October and November 2019, we surveyed coastal users (n = 299). We found natural place attachment, sense of responsibility, and concern for coral reef ecosystems were positively associated with personal conservation intentions; civic place attachment was positively associated with community conservation intentions; and natural place attachment was positively associated with signing the Pono Pledge, a voluntary conservation commitment. We found personal and community response efficacy were positively associated with corresponding levels of conservation intentions. Our results provide insights into psychosocial factors that may underpin coral reef conservation behavior and inform partner communications and outreach.

Many mountain paths: Perceiving change in the management of community forests in the Hindu Kush Himalaya, Uttarakhand, India

“…Model 3 also echoes popular environmental narratives, now widely articulated, which emphasize the role of attachment in fostering environmental awareness, involvement in governance, and the persistence of cultural values for reciprocity among humans and other beings, such as forests, wildlife, and water (Diver et al, 2019;Jolly et al, 2022;Santana et al, 2023). These have seen increased attention alongside widespread affirmation of the value of indigenous and local knowledge (Bohensky and Maru, 2011;Brondizio et al, 2021), and critiques of conservation models predicated on displacement and dispossession (Agrawal and Redford, 2009;Kabra, 2020), and contributed to the recent proliferation of organizations dedicated jointly to environmental protection and sustainable livelihoods.…”

“…Case studies across various sectors, from biodiversity conservation (e.g., Boubekri et al, 2023;Dencer-Brown et al, 2018) and agriculture (Below et al, 2015;Carmichael et al, 2023) to the effects of glacier recession (Gagne et al, 2014), have demonstrated the value of these insights for enriching understanding of social-ecological systems. Understanding, then, how stated perceptions relate to patterns of environmental behavior is a pressing concern for both scholars and practitioners (Laverty et al, 2019;McGinlay et al, 2023;Nzau et al, 2018;Santana et al, 2023). By illuminating the complexity of how people understand changes they observe and act on this knowledge, research centering diverse local perceptions of environmental change can counter monolithic narratives of communities as disempowered, romanticized, or misguided.…”