EXPLORING MOTIVATIONS FOR VOLUNTEERS IN NATURE CONSERVATION TO INFORM LOCAL POLICIES AND PLANS

smarango@lincoln.ac.uk

RESEARCH APPROACH MODEL

Sustainable development concept

Neo-endogenous development theory

Community-led voluntary nature conservation groups

Policy practitioners

Local plans and policies

FINDINGS STAMFORD COMMUNITY ORCHARD GROUP (SCOG)

Apple day, apple display

Cider tasting

Wassailing

Stamford community orchard

Apple pressing demonstration

FRIENDS OF BOURNE WOOD

Bourne community orchard Winter bird walk

Bourne Woods Bunny hunt

GREEN SYNERGY

Street gardening at Canon street

Tower community garden

Well, l know people that live on the same street as me that l met here. So yaah!! l would have never have met them (Vol, 3)It gets me out, making friends, of different ages and inabilities (Vol, 5)

MOTIVATION FOR PARTICIPATING IN VOLUNTARY NATURE CONSERVATION ACTIVITIES

COMMENTS FROM THE POLICY PRACTITIONER AND KEY STAKEHOLDERS

“If a policy makers understood people’s motivations and if local plans are more local, they would incorporate local knowledge and they will be more accepted by the people, if they take part in developing them. The policy makers could also target their consultations better, they always struggle to get responses that are meaningful, so would be able to make meaningful and informed decisions if they knew the motivations of the local people.” (Stakeholder 1, GLNP)

“With regards to local planning, ecology is so important to our setting, to our environment and you need someone who understands it and is prepared to help with environment assessment and writing reports and looking at things from a structural view. We are very lucky that we have the NWT to do environmental assessment and produce an ecology report and this is essential in informing the process” ( Parish Councillor, Nettleham village)

SUMMARY OF KEY FINDINGS

It appears that local communities have multiple motivations for participating in nature conservations and these motivations are not recognised in nature conservation policy documents and local planning policies, yet they can be utilised to shape the policies, resulting in value-oriented policies.

In light of sustainable development and neo-endogenous development theory, local communities have a pivotal role to play in determining the future of their communities, as such understanding their motivations is key, as the choices made about the future will emanate from people’s motivations.

Therefore local communities should be actively involved in making local policies. This will result in effective policies that can translate into local action, as the plans are highly likely to be more accepted by the people, if they have taken part in developing them.

IMPLICATIONS OF THE STUDY

The study contributes to the Big Society ideology, which encourages volunteering and involvement in social action to empower the local communities to take responsibility of their local areas.

The Localism bill that was passed in 2011 to encourage neighbourhood planning, gives the nature groups an opportunity to reveal their motivations for nature conservation and have their views and values acknowledged in making local policies

Therefore planning officers need to facilitate information exchange through effective dialogue between the policy practitioners and the voluntary nature groups, so that a common motivational ground can be reached, hence see the motivations of the locals, as well as their local knowledge being incorporated in policy making.

IMPLICATIONS OF THE STUDY (CONT…)

This would see policies and programs being tailored in line with the motivations of volunteers, resulting in more positive results from implemented policies, as the locals would have contributed to making the policies and therefore have a sense of ownership for the policy outcomes

It is key to note that; motivations of voluntary participants in nature conservation change over time, further research is required to make observations over a long period of time and shade more light on how and why these motivations change and what impact would this have on the value-oriented approach to policy making.

smarango@lincoln.ac.uk