Uncovering Patterns of Public Perceptions Towards Biodiversity Crime Using Conservation Culturomics

Abstract

This paper examines aspects of the relationship between (1) the recently typified form of biodiversity crime, (2) information made available to the public through the Internet, and (3) cultural dynamics quantified through info-surveillance methods through Culturomics techniques. Two conceptual models are proposed: (1) the building-up process of a biodiversity crime culturome, in a language, and (2) a multi-stage biodiversity conservation chain and biodiversity-crime activities relating to each stage. Crowd search volumes on the Internet on biodiversity crime-related terms and topics are used as proxies for the public’s interest measurement. The main findings are: (1) the concept of biodiversity-crime per se is still immature and presents low penetration to the general public; (2) biodiversity-crime issues, which are not recognized as such, are amalgamated in conservation-oriented websites and pages; and (3) differences in perceptions and priorities between general vs. ‘niche’ public with particular interest(s) in environmental issues- are discernable.