7.9. Fischer
Keynote Presentations from the 3rd ALTER-Net Summer School, Peyresq 2 - 14 September 2008
Speaker: Anke Fischer
a.fischer -at- macaulay.ac.uk
Macaulay Land Use Research Institute, Craigiebuckler, Aberdeen AB15 8QH, UK
Title of the talk: Public views on biodiversity - the construction of attitudes towards biodiversity management (pdf: 3MB)
Summary of the talk by Marina García-Llorente and Peter Lee: Students´ summary (pdf)
Abstract
Public views on biodiversity – the construction of attitudes towards biodiversity managementWhat does biodiversity actually mean to people – including ourselves? How is biodiversity understood, and how do people relate it to other concepts such as ‘nature’? What do people value about biological diversity, and does this inform their views on biodiversity management?
This talk aims to give insights into social scientific research into public views on biodiversity, plant and animal species and the natural environment. The examples from empirical research that I will present are not intended to provide an exhaustive answer to the questions raised above; rather, I would like to illustrate how we can approach these questions with a range of psychological and sociological methods.
I will start with findings from a qualitative study into the concepts of biodiversity used by different groups within the general public in Scotland, Germany and the Netherlands, to show that such concepts can be seen as built from people’s values and beliefs. I will then pick up on some the values that we found in this first study, such as nativeness, balance and naturalness, and illustrate how we can investigate the relationship between such values and attitudes towards biodiversity management. Examples will include a study on public attitudes towards the management of a non-native plant on a small island in Scotland, as well as a survey of public views on animal and plant populations in eight European countries.
Many findings that I will present are based on joint work with colleagues from ALTER-Net.
Recommended background literature on this presentation:
- Fischer A, Young YC (2007) Understanding mental constructs of biodiversity: Implications for biodiversity management and conservation. Biological Conservation 136:271-282, doi:10.1016/j.biocon.2006.11.024.
- Fischer A, van der Wal R (2007) Invasive plant suppresses charismatic seabird – the construction of attitudes towards biodiversity management options. Biological Conservation 135:256-267, doi:10.1016/j.biocon.2006.10.026.
