Encouraging pro-environmental behaviours: a review of methods and approaches. ESRI Working Paper No. 645 December 2019

Many urgent environmental problems can be mitigated with more sustainable use of resource. An acknowledgement of which is a growing interest among policy practitioners in encouraging pro-environmental behaviour change initiatives. The effect of anthropic pressure on the environment is long known and the first pro-environmental behaviour studies date back to the middle 1970s. Despite this, the scientific literature has not yet answered several questions: what are the most suitable ways to encourage behavioural changes? What are the barriers to project implementation? What are the long run effects of behavioural change projects? With this in mind, this contribution offers a review of the existing literature on behavioural change case studies and provides a categorisation of treatments and guidelines for successful project implementation. Five different approaches have been considered: education and awareness, social influence, relationship building, incentives and nudges, which have been used in experimental studies. On balance the case studies suggest that all approaches are suitable but their selection should be based on specific objectives and target population. Interestingly, the choice of the behaviour to change is rarely discussed before project implementation. This analysis also highlights that little is known on whether behaviour change projects achieve sustained pro-environmental behavioural change over time

SINFONIA Project Mass Appraisal: Beyond The Value Of Energy Performance In Buildings

Energy retrofit of existing buildings stock is today a major urban challenge and opportunity. Although a market appreciation of green buildings is generally recognized, specificities related to different countries, contexts and sectors still need further investigation. Moreover, the energy retrofit carries with it multiple elements, ranging from monetary savings to personal fulfillment of living greener. The ongoing European smart city project SINFONIA offers the chance to analyze a double international case study, and to estimate expected positive effects on dwellings\u2019 value, due to energy retrofit measures undertaken at the district level. This paper, starting from previous similar experiences, designs an operational approach based on spatial hedonic price method and analytic hierarchy process. Finally, it suggests how to develop a spatialized mass appraisal by linking results with a geographical information system. Such approach will contribute to assess the socio-economic impact of SINFONIA project and to evaluate the effectiveness of further smart city initiatives

RECREATIONAL ANGLING MONTHLY ACTIVITY SURVEY. ESRI SURVEY AND STATISTICAL REPORT SERIES NUMBER 76 September 2019

In 2016, the ESRI Angler Research Panel was established to collect data on recreational angling, including anglers’ activities and views. In the absence of a national register of anglers and thereby the means to easily collect data on angling activity, the Angler Research Panel is a practical alternative for collecting quantitative data on angling topics. The ESRI uses data collected from panel members to inform its research on the socio-economics of inland fisheries within Ireland, with the objective of providing evidence that will support policy decisions regarding the management of fisheries resources and angling within Ireland. The ESRI’s research programme on the socio-economics of inland fisheries is funded by Inland Fisheries Ireland. Since 2016, angler panel members have been invited to participate in surveys examining aspects of trout, pike and salmon angling, including views on conservation measures. Prior publications associated with the research programme on the socio-economics of inland fisheries are listed in Appendix 1

An evaluation of public initiatives to change behaviours that affect water quality. ESRI Working Paper 696 March 2021.

Pollution and environmental depletion are often caused by human behaviours, where if behaviours were modified, environmental pressure could be substantially reduced. Many public programmes aim to influence people to change their unsustainable behaviours but few undertake ex-post evaluations of behavioural change programmes. This paper undertakes an evaluation of a 5-year programme to understand whether community engagement activities lead to more sustainable practices. Using a treatment and control experiment, the research investigates whether programme participants are representative of the wider population, whether participation leads to sustainable practices, whether pro-environmental behaviours are sustained over time and the relative effectiveness of different types of events on individual behaviours. Overall, results suggest that water engagement event participants are more likely to adopt sustainable behaviours, however, attendees only represent a small cohort of the wider population, which possibly hinders a wider adoption of good practices. With respect to individual behaviours, different outcomes were detected for different behaviours, which suggests that not all behaviours were equally amenable to change. When comparing the impact of different events, events that are focused on building community ties were more successful than events with simple provision of information. Finally, new pro-environmental behaviours tend to be abandoned after a period of time, therefore re-engagement at regular time intervals is advised

Moving home and switching heating fuels. ESRI Research Bulletin 202110 April 2021.

This research examines whether families are more likely to upgrade their heating systems when they move home and consequently whether policy initiatives could be designed around changes in dwelling occupancy or tenure

Does moving home affect residential heating decisions? Exploring heating fuel switching in Ireland. ESRI Working Paper 684 November 2020.

Previous research finds that moving home can serve as a starting point for more sustainable living practices, specifically lower energy consumption. This research examines whether changes in occupancy or tenure at residential properties is also associated with decisions on overhauling a property’s heating system. Properties are almost twice as likely to switch to gas as the primary heating fuel when occupancy changes. The likelihood almost quadruples when there is also a change in tenure. Beyond occupancy and tenure, family size is the most notable occupant characteristic associated with a higher likelihood of switching to gas. In properties with six or more family members, and where occupancy changes, the likelihood of switching to gas is 7 percentage points higher than properties with 1–2 family members. The research extends the understanding of energy-related decisions associated with moving home and that property owners are more likely to invest in energy retrofits during this transitional period. This creates the opportunity for certain policy supports to be designed

Using angling logbook data to inform fishery management decisions. ESRI WP600, September 2018

With the sustainability of fish resources threatened across many locations globally, decisions on fishery management are often based on inadequate information. This paper presents a methodology that uses fishery data collected for the purpose of administering and monitoring harvest quotas in a recreational fishery to give additional insights into effectiveness of various fishing methods, and expected catch rates associated with different licence types. The empirical application is based on the Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) recreational fishery in Ireland but the statistical analysis is easy to replicate and the models are flexible enough to allow different specifications applicable to other fisheries. The output of the analysis facilitates a better understanding of the factors associated with recreational catches, which in turn provides supplementary information to inform the regulation and management of recreational fisheries

Salmon and Sea Trout Angling: Anglers’ Conservation preferences. ESRI Research Bulletin 2019/17

The year 2019 is designated ‘International year of the salmon’ by the North Atlantic Salmon Conservation Organization (NASCO), to stimulate research and encourage the general public to support salmon conservation. This research, which has been funded by Inland Fisheries Ireland, responds to the wider international call for establishing the conditions for resilience of salmon stocks in a changing world. Salmon and sea trout stocks have declined dramatically over the last few decades due to excessive fishing, habitat decline and the impacts of climate change. The research considers anglers’ preferences for salmon and trout conservation from two perspectives: their attitudes to fishing catch and release (which limits the loss of spawning potential) and their preferences for conservation-oriented options for fishery management

Modelling anglers' fish release choices using logbook data. ESRI WP623, June 2019

In this paper we model recreational anglers' decisions to voluntarily release their catch to improve fish stock conservation. Using a random utility framework, we compare anglers' utility of retaining and consuming fish versus increased stock conservation achieved by fish releases. The analysis is based on a dataset of fish landings from anglers fishing for salmon and sea trout in Ireland during the seasons 2010--2016. Results indicate that there is a statistically significant inverse association between the weight of a fish and the probability of release, with larger fish more likely to be retained for consumption. On average, anglers were willing to sacrifice around 2.5 kg of fish to improve conservation of salmon and sea trout stocks, with a median value of 1.48. Results also indicate that the release probability varies based on fishing methods, with the use of spinners, flyfishing and shrimps as bait to be more likely to be used for catch and release and live bait (i.e. worms) to retain the fish. Licence types and anglers' nationality are also important variables explaining release probability

Including Value Orientations in Choice Models to Estimate Benefits of Wildlife Management Policies

Value orientations towards wildlife affect the way people perceive nature and their connection with animals. In particular, the social psychological literature within the environmental field suggests that there are two main orientations of people towards wildlife: mutualism and domination. This body of literature has shown how wildlife value orientations can serve as predictors of attitudes and behaviours toward wildlife and form the foundation of human-wildlife conflicts. A common approach in the non-market valuation literature is to include information on attitudes and values in the deterministic part of the utility function, leading to problems of endogeneity bias. To avoid this, analysts have recently shifted their attention to approaches based on latent variables. This paper presents an application of a latent variable and latent class model, to understand how latent orientations influence choices, in a case study in the Italian Alps. The intuition is that different underlying individual value orientation affects preferences and the level of willingness to pay and should be therefore considered in choice models. The latent variable is used to explain class membership of respondents. Results indicate that the latent variable has a significant effect in class allocation and that the hybrid model performs better than a simple two class model. Results provide guidance on the social acceptability of management interventions and can support public decision-makers in the modulation of wildlife management policies for balancing the needs of conservation and outdoor recreation, explicitly considering existing human-wildlife conflicts