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Clark M, Hamad HM, Andrews J, Hillis V, Mulder MB. Effects of perceptions of forest change and intergroup competition on community-based conservation behaviors. CONSERVATION BIOLOGY : THE JOURNAL OF THE SOCIETY FOR CONSERVATION BIOLOGY 2024; 38:e14259. [PMID: 38571448 DOI: 10.1111/cobi.14259] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/02/2023] [Revised: 12/14/2023] [Accepted: 01/29/2024] [Indexed: 04/05/2024]
Abstract
Approximately one quarter of the earth's population directly harvests natural resources to meet their daily needs. These individuals are disproportionately required to alter their behaviors in response to increasing climatic variability and global biodiversity loss. Much of the ever-ambitious global conservation agenda relies on the voluntary uptake of conservation behaviors in such populations. Thus, it is critical to understand how such individuals perceive environmental change and use conservation practices as a tool to protect their well-being. We developed a participatory mapping activity to elicit spatially explicit perceptions of forest change and its drivers across 43 mangrove-dependent communities in Pemba, Tanzania. We administered this activity along with a questionnaire regarding conservation preferences and behaviors to 423 individuals across those 43 communities. We analyzed these data with a set of Bayesian hierarchical statistical models. Perceived cover loss in 50% of a community's mangrove area drove individuals to decrease proposed limits on fuelwood bundles from 2.74 (forest perceived as intact) to 2.37 if participants believed resultant gains in mangrove cover would not be stolen by outsiders. Conversely, individuals who believed their community mangrove forests were at high risk of theft loosened their proposed harvest limits from 1.26 to 2.75 bundles of fuelwood in response to the same perceived forest decline. High rates of intergroup competition and mangrove loss were thus driving a self-reinforcing increase in unsustainable harvesting preferences in community forests in this system. This finding demonstrates a mechanism by which increasing environmental decline may cause communities to forgo conservation practices, rather than adopt them, as is often assumed in much community-based conservation planning. However, we also found that when effective boundaries were present, individuals were willing to limit their own harvests to stem such perceived decline.
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Affiliation(s)
- Matt Clark
- Human-Environment Systems, Boise State University, Boise, Idaho, USA
- Centre for Environmental Policy, Imperial College London, London, UK
- Department of Human Behavior, Ecology and Culture, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Haji Masoud Hamad
- Department of Forestry, Revolutionary Government of Zanzibar, Wete, Tanzania
| | - Jeffrey Andrews
- Department of Human Behavior, Ecology and Culture, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Vicken Hillis
- Human-Environment Systems, Boise State University, Boise, Idaho, USA
| | - Monique Borgerhoff Mulder
- Department of Human Behavior, Ecology and Culture, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
- Santa Fe Institute, Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA
- Department of Anthropology, Evolutionary Wing, University of California, Davis, Davis, California, USA
- Department of Anthropology and Archaeology, University of bristol, Bristol, UK
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Rezaei A, Karimi H, Ataei P. Behavior toward on-farm food safety: Commercial and exporter pistachio growers. Heliyon 2023; 9:e15249. [PMID: 37095965 PMCID: PMC10122025 DOI: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e15249] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/27/2022] [Revised: 03/05/2023] [Accepted: 03/30/2023] [Indexed: 04/26/2023] Open
Abstract
Consumers' demand for high-degree food safety obliges the producers to respect health principles and enhance their product quality in the manufacturing process. Food safety refers to the conditions and practices that preserve food quality in order to prevent contamination and foodborne illnesses. This study aimed to investigate farmers' behavior toward on-farm food safety in Iran. So a survey study was conducted on the research population composed of commercial and exporter pistachio growers in Iran of whom 120 were selected. This paper reports the results of this exploratory study to conceptualize the measurement of pistachio growers' farm food safety using the theory of planned behavior. Structural equation modeling (partial least squares) was used to draw the research models and the relationships between latent variables and indicators. The findings revealed a statistically significant relationship between intention and self-efficacy. The intention is one of the most important variables in determining the planned behavior that has the greatest impact on behavior. Future research on this topic is recommended to use more variables that affect farmers' decision-making processes to form a strong opinion in predicting their behavior. It is crucial to consider some effective interventions such as providing large-scale training and community awareness programs for pistachio growers, particularly with the help of mass media, adopting suitable policy-making for on-farm food safety, and specifically supporting pistachio growers for the implementation of GAP-related practices.
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Affiliation(s)
- Amirreza Rezaei
- Department of Agricultural Extension and Education, College of Agriculture & Natural Resources, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran
| | - Hamid Karimi
- Department of Agricultural Extension and Education, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Zabol, Zabol, Iran
- Corresponding author.
| | - Pouria Ataei
- Department of Agricultural Extension and Education, Faculty of Agriculture, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran
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