Planning education to care for the earth - IUCN Knowledge Network

Effects of education on seabird conservationDiscussionThe education programme promoted thoughtful, informed, positivebehaviour (legal hunting, bird study) rather than focusing on stoppingnegative behaviour (poaching). The programme did not try to introduceactivities that would be strangely new to the local culture (raising chickens,for example), recognizing that there were good reasons why previousattempts had not taken hold. Rather than attempting to convince people thatit was wrong to kill birds, the programme acknowledged the basic culturalnorm: it is acceptable to harvest birds for an occasional meal, especially ifthey are needed as food. (The need had in fact begun to decline with theintroduction of freezers for food storage in the late 1960s, but it took theeducational programme to make evident this change.)Other factors helped to pass on the conservation message. Communityleaders influenced their peers, the children, and residents of othercommunities. The relative isolation of small communities meant that therewas little competition for the good things a conservation programme offered.Children, for example, were anxious to take part in the St Mary’s Islandprogramme. People responded more to the norms of the group to which theybelonged than to regulations, and spreading the message among peer groupswas more effective than posting signs or addressing large audiences.Although harvesting birds was the custom, the culture neverthelesssupported the conservation principle that seabird populations be restored tosustainable levels. Working with, rather than against, socio-cultural factorswas important so that the goals of both biological and cultural conservationcould be attained.Although the increase in enforcement contributed to the control of illegalharvest, as sociologists would point out, the introduction of extrinsicmotivation without regard to other factors would have predictably failed toproduce durable, long-term behaviour change (Katzev and Pardini 1987-1988). Furthermore, heavy-handed enforcement alone likely would havetriggered reactance, which induces behaviour in the opposite direction(Brehm 1966, Brehm and Brehm 1981). Evidence of this behaviour duringthe years immediately before the project began took the form of occasionalnight raids to the seabird colonies for eggs (Blanchard and Monroe 1990).Sociologists agree that durable behaviour change requires the use oftechniques such as social commitment, intrinsic behaviour, and supportingattitudes (Heberlein 1981, DeYoung 1985-1986, DeYoung and Kaplan 1985-1986, Katvez and Johnson 1987).The conceptual framework for an education programme that targets aconservation problem in rural, less developed regions consists of four basicphases: research, planning, implementation and evaluation. This progressionallows for feedback, constructive decisions and modifications to future work.Research provides information on the socio-cultural context that is necessaryto develop education strategies. It assesses root causes of the problem,identifies audiences and opinion leaders, and leads to the development ofshared programme goals. In the planning phase, educational goals are45