Community Participation in Biodiversity Monitoring
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COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION IN BIODIVERSITY MONITORING Sarah Jennifer Hobbs Thesis submitted for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Environment Department University of York January 2012 ABSTRACT The involvement of communities with wildlife is increasing on a global scale. Participatory approaches differ across the world, from natural resource management, environmental quality monitoring, to species and habitat data gathered through citizen science programmes. The personal and community benefits of engaging with nature are acknowledged through ongoing research, particularly in terms of health and wellbeing, yet simultaneously people are becoming increasingly distanced from nature due to factors such as urbanisation. In order to maximise the benefits associated with participatory initiatives, it is important to engage with a cross section of societal groups, providing opportunities for all, at the same time as collecting wildlife data from all habitats. In this study, I confirm that participation in citizen science can achieve social and potentially community-level benefits on national, local and individual scales. Through semi-structured qualitative interviews, I found that conservation organisations strive to engage with a cross section of societal groups. However, postcode analysis of current wildlife recording scheme participants confirmed that socioeconomically deprived communities are under-represented in these activities. I designed a simple garden wildlife study in a socioeconomically deprived community to investigate the reasons behind this, and found that although a proportion of residents were motivated to participate, the majority had not done so in the past, which was largely attributed to a lack of awareness of opportunities. Despite this, many of these participants shared the same motivations for participation as those currently engaged. Working with a small group of community volunteers, I used semi-structured interviews to reveal that participation in an ecological study can bring about positive personal benefits with the potential to lead on to wider positive outcomes in the future. A significant factor in these transformative effects appeared to be the role of activity practitioners in supporting future participation. Alongside this investigation, a study of habitat use by hedgehogs in an urban setting, current garden management, and resources in the wider area appeared to have a positive effect upon hedgehogs. Throughout all participants in this study, motivations for involvement were centred on contributing to a local study, an interest in the focal wildlife species/taxa, helping 2 conservation and learning. Gardening for wildlife was a popular activity, with many participants reporting both an active encouragement of wildlife into the garden, and a desire to learn more about this topic. This thesis demonstrates how traditional environmental activities are not successfully engaging with people from socioeconomically deprived communities. There are likely to be many factors associated with this, but from the findings of this research, some recommendations can be made to improve future participatory approaches as well as building upon the positive effects of working with community volunteers. 3 TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS 2 LIST OF TABLES 7 LIST OF FIGURES 8 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 9 AUTHOR’S DECLARATION 11 CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 12 References 24 CHAPTER 2: Community participation in biodiversity recording: the social and ecological implications of an unrepresentative participant base 34 Preface 34 Abstract 36 Introduction 37 Methods 41 Results 45 Discussion 60 References 65 CHAPTER 3: Motivations and barriers to participation in biodiversity recording within a socioeconomically deprived urban community 71 Preface 71 Abstract 73 Introduction 73 Methods 78 4 Results 83 Discussion 87 References 93 CHAPTER 4: Achieving positive social outcomes through participatory urban wildlife conservation projects 102 Preface 102 Abstract 104 Introduction 104 Methods 109 Results 113 Discussion 122 References 127 CHAPTER 5: The effects of householder behaviour on urban hedgehog habitat use 131 Preface 131 Abstract 133 Introduction 134 Methods 137 Results 139 Discussion 142 References 146 5 CHAPTER 6: DISCUSSION 151 Summary of thesis aims and results 151 Participation in environmental activities 154 Gardening for wildlife 156 Flagship species 158 Transformative effects and maintaining participation 159 UK participatory policy and community engagement 160 Limitations of the study 161 Conclusions 162 References 164 APPENDICES A-1 APPENDIX 1: Current recording scheme participant questionnaire A-2 APPENDIX 2: Environment Pollution Publication A-6 APPENDIX 3: Garden wildlife recording scheme postcard design A-15 APPENDIX 4: Hull residents follow-up questionnaire A-18 APPENDIX 5: Fact sheets posted to questionnaire respondents A-24 APPENDIX 6: The Engagement Scale A-29 APPENDIX 7: Environmental activities advertisements A-31 6 LIST OF TABLES CHAPTER 1 Table 1. Summary of community engagement initiative types. 13 CHAPTER 2 Table 2. Expertise and commitment levels used in the internet-based review of UK- based nature recording schemes. 42 Table 3. Questions included in the current scheme participant questionnaire. 44 Table 4. UK-based recording schemes found during the internet search. 46 Table 5. Summary of recording schemes that interviews were based upon. 48 Table 6. Proportions of questionnaire responses for both recording schemes. 55 Table 7. Resampled statistics for both LGPS and GBW schemes based on IMD scores obtained from participant postcodes. 59 CHAPTER 3 Table 8. Themes and motivations listed in ranking exercise in the postal questionnaire. 82 Table 9. Ranking of motivations for taking part in the study. 85 CHAPTER 4 Table 10. Common approaches of conservation organisations and projects with the aim of increasing participants’ engagement with nature. 107 Table 11. Summary of volunteer responses to advertisements. 120 CHAPTER 5 Table 12. Hedgehog ranging distances and home range sizes. 139 Table 13. Summary of compositional analysis result for active data fixes. 140 Table 14. Summary of door-to-door questionnaire results. 141 7 LIST OF FIGURES CHAPTER 2 Figure 1. Proportions of membership of other environmental organisations/ groups/ societies for both recording schemes. 59 Figure 2. Mean IMD scores for LGPS and BTO recording schemes in comparison with local and national resampled data. 60 CHAPTER 4 Figure 3. Relationship between previous participation in recording activities and request for further information. 87 Figure 4. Changes in responses of participants illustrating changes in their engagement with nature over time. 117 8 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Thank you to the Big Lottery for funding this PhD as part of the Open Air Laboratories (OPAL) project. I have been proud to be part of the wider OPAL team, and thank regional team colleagues for their input and support - Sarah, Mike, Piran, Caz, Steve and Erik. I would like to thank my supervisor, Piran White for his ongoing patience and support throughout my PhD, for being available, for all his advice, and in particular his valuable comments on my thesis. Thanks too to my Thesis Advisory Committee, Mike Ashmore and Carolyn Snell for their support with my thesis. The representatives of organisations and groups running wildlife recording schemes were extremely helpful in giving up their time to contribute to the interviews. I would therefore like to thank Jeremy Biggs, Richard Fox, Mike Toms, Marina Pacheco, Nayna Tarver, Gemma Butlin, Mike Russell, Kerry Fieldhouse, David Orchard and Don Pritchett, and thanks also to their organisations for allowing their time and input into this research. Thank you also to the participants of the BTO Garden BirdWatch and Leeds Garden Pond Survey who completed and returned their questionnaires, many of whom also sent good wishes for the success of the research. All of the fieldwork conducted in this PhD would not have been possible without the contributions made by volunteers, and I am very appreciative of their input and support with the work. These included other research students from the Universities of York and Hull, Hull City Council, and individuals and families that came along and helped. As well as support in designing and producing the postcards for Slime & Spine 2009, for which I thank Erik Willis, postcards were delivered and data collected by the following stalwart team, to which I am extremely grateful: Sarah West, Kevin Rich, Piran White, Lena Jeha, Maija Marsh, Kate Drye, Inga Brereton, Chris West, Simon Croft and Jen Hunt. I would also like to thank Marfleet and Alderman Cogan primary schools, and members of Marfleet and Greatfield public meetings for their support. For promotion of the hedgehog tracking study, I thank the children of the Freedom Centre nursery for their beautiful ‘hand hog’ which helped to promote the project, as well as Anna Hawksley and Esme Woods who helped on promotional stands in Hull. 9 Hull City Council were extremely helpful, and thanks go to Nikki Hewitt for enabling night time access to cemeteries, and Jen Hunt, who amongst many other contributions gave access to parks both for hedgehog hunting and promotion of the project. Particular thanks go to the hedgehog volunteers who gave up considerable amounts of their time and sleep to contribute to the radio tracking study. These were, in no particular order: Liam Russell, Diane Hunter, Maaike De Jong, Sharon Degnan, Heather Crombie, Tom Smith,