Reflective self-attention: A more stable predictor of connection to nature than mindful attention.

There is much to be gained from understanding the individual differences that predict our connection to nature, as those that are more connected tend to be more caring towards the environment and benefit from better well-being. Study 1 (n=137) found that reflective self-attention and mindful attention significantly predicted connection to nature, while anxious self-attention had a borderline significant negative association. With the introduction of personality measures, study 2 (n=161) found that reflective self-attention and openness had a stronger relationship to nature connection than mindful attention. Study 3 (n=99) found reflective self-attention, rather than mindful attention, to be associated with an increase in connection to nature. A pre-reflective and intentional self-attention account of nature connectedness is proposed with intentional self-reflection being a stronger factor than mindful attention

The opportunities and challenges to co-designing policy options for tree health with policy makers, researchers and land managers

\ua9 2023. We describe experiences between 2018 and 2021 co-designing tree health policy options linked with the UK\u27s evolving land use policy post EU-Exit within the Future Farming and Countryside Programme. Policy makers, researchers and more than 250 land managers took part in a series of co-design engagements in a three-phase iterative co-design process that culminated in a new Tree Health Pilot. After defining the components of co-design, we describe how relationships between policy makers, researchers and land managers were built, the methods researchers introduced into the process to build capability and support participation, and the outcomes in terms of the key opportunities and challenges for policy co-design. We conclude that it is possible to move policy design beyond user focused research and into co-design. However, this relies on adequate time and resources required to build trust and fully engage all parties in a meaningful way, including the development of tools and techniques that include experimentation, different knowledge types, and moving from research and evidence collection into design. Having policy makers with participatory mindsets in the same space as land managers was important to facilitating active learning between all of those involved in the collective. Researchers played a critical role in the co-design, balancing the views and understandings of the policy community with those of the land manager community, facilitating learning, and selecting tools and techniques to make design options explicit. We conclude that policy co-design in the land-based and environmental sector is a real opportunity at an early stage of realisation, but the effectiveness and range of positive and negative outcomes and impacts will need to be evaluated in the future

Integrating livelihoods and conservation in protected areas: Understanding the role and stakeholder views on prospects for non-timber forest products, a Bangladesh case study

Protected areas (PAs) represent a key global strategy in biodiversity conservation. In tropical developing countries, the management of PAs is a great challenge as many contain resources on which local communities rely. Collection and trading of non-timber forest products (NTFPs) is a well-established forest-based livelihood strategy, which has been promoted as a potential means for enhanced conservation and improved rural livelihoods in recent years, even though the sustainability or ecological implications have rarely been tested. We conducted an exploratory survey to understand the role and stakeholder views on conservation prospects and perceived ecological feasibility of NTFPs and harvesting schemes in a northeastern PA of Bangladesh, namely the Satchari National Park. Households (n = 101) were interviewed from three different forest dependency categories, adopting a stratified random sampling approach and using a semi-structured questionnaire. The study identified 13 locally important NTFPs, with five being critically important to supporting local livelihoods. Our study suggests that collection, processing and trading in NTFPs constitutes the primary occupation for about 18% of local inhabitants and account for an estimated 19% of their cash annual income. The household consensus on issues relating to NTFPs and their prospective role in conservation was surprisingly high, with 48% of respondents believing that promotion of NTFPs in the PA could have positive conservation value. The majority (71%) of households also had some understanding of the ecological implications of NTFP harvesting, sustainability (53%) and possible management and monitoring regimes (100%). With little known about their real application in the field, our study suggests further investigations are required to understand the ecological compatibility of traditional NTFP harvesting patterns and management. © 2010 Taylor & Francis

Efectos del aprendizaje y experimentaci?n participativos en los capitales humanos de productores ganaderos del Pet?n, Guatemala

Ponencia presentada en: VII Congresso Latinoamericano de Sistemas Agroflorestais para a Producao Pecu?ria Sustent?velLa implementaci?n de sistemas agropecuarios ambientalmente sostenibles es necesaria no solo por razones ecol?gicas, sino que la reducci?n en las utilidades provenientes de estrategias de vida agropecuarias conmina la b?squeda de alternativas al manejo convencional. Sin embargo, la mayor?a de las alternativas exploradas hasta el momento, como los sistemas silvopastoriles (SSP), requieren de la comprensi?n de conceptos ecol?gicos complejos, desarrollo de habilidades para la experimentaci?n y el monitoreo permanente del agroecosistema, ya que estos facilitan un manejo adaptativo informado. El prop?sito del presente estudio fue evaluar el aporte de las Escuelas de Campo (ECAS) al fortalecimiento de capacidades de productores ganaderos, espec?ficamente en sus capitales humanos, utilizando la integraci?n del Marco de Medios de Vida Sostenibles (MVS) y el Marco de Capitales de la Comunidad (MCC). Se identificaron cambios en los capitales de los productores influenciados por las ECAS usando m?todos mixtos como entrevistas semi- estructuradas, grupos de discusi?n focal, observaci?n sistem?tica de fincas y hogares. Se compar? el cambio de estado de los capitales de los productores entre los a?os 2003 versus 2008, que corresponden al periodo de vida del proyecto que facilit? las ECAS. Los resultados sugieren que los impactos de las ECAS fueron influenciados por el contexto de vulnerabilidad, principalmente por secuelas de la guerra civil (1960-1996). Adem?s, las ECAS produjeron cambios relacionados a los capitales humano y cultural, que influyeron positivamente en algunos factores materiales. Sin embargo, el impacto en los capitales social y pol?tico fue limitado, siendo recomendable establecer estrategias para que su fortalecimiento facilite la implementaci?n de mejores agroecosistemas y el desarrollo comunitario