Toward Human-Carnivore Coexistence: Understanding Tolerance for Tigers in Bangladesh

Fostering local community tolerance for endangered carnivores, such as tigers (Panthera tigris), is a core component of many conservation strategies. Identification of antecedents of tolerance will facilitate the development of effective tolerance-building conservation action and secure local community support for, and involvement in, conservation initiatives. We use a stated preference approach for measuring tolerance, based on the ‘Wildlife Stakeholder Acceptance Capacity’ concept, to explore villagers’ tolerance levels for tigers in the Bangladesh Sundarbans, an area where, at the time of the research, human-tiger conflict was severe. We apply structural equation modeling to test an a priori defined theoretical model of tolerance and identify the experiential and psychological basis of tolerance in this community. Our results indicate that beliefs about tigers and about the perceived current tiger population trend are predictors of tolerance for tigers. Positive beliefs about tigers and a belief that the tiger population is not currently increasing are both associated with greater stated tolerance for the species. Contrary to commonly-held notions, negative experiences with tigers do not directly affect tolerance levels; instead, their effect is mediated by villagers’ beliefs about tigers and risk perceptions concerning human-tiger conflict incidents. These findings highlight a need to explore and understand the socio-psychological factors that encourage tolerance towards endangered species. Our research also demonstrates the applicability of this approach to tolerance research to a wide range of socio-economic and cultural contexts and reveals its capacity to enhance carnivore conservation efforts worldwide

Introduction to the Conceptualisation of Environmental Citizenship for Twenty-First-Century Education

The EU’s growth strategy (Europe 2020) and the European vision for green, circular and low-carbon economy in line with the EU 2050 (EU-roadmap 2050) give par- ticular attention to citizens’ participation and engagement and therefore to Environmental Citizenship. Environmental Citizenship has been an influential con- cept in many different arenas such as economy, policy, philosophy, corporation management and marketing, which could also be better exploited and established in the field of education. Environmental Citizenship is recognized as an important aspect in addressing global environmental problems such as climate change (Stern 2011; Ockwell et al. 2009) whilst providing support to pro-environmental organisa- tions and individuals, contributing also to public pressure for political action (sign- ing petitions, writing to politicians and newspapers). Many varied definitions of Environmental Citizenship can be found within the literature. Some of them are quite similar, and important overlaps can be observed; however, others can be quite different with contradictions in their philosophy and approach. According to Dobson (2010), Environmental Citizenship refers to pro-environmental behaviour, in public and in private, driven by a belief in fairness of the distribution of environmental goods, in participation and in the co-creation of sustainability policy. It is about the active participation of citizens in moving towards sustainability. Education and especially environmental discourses in science education have a lot to contribute in adopting and promoting Environmental Citizenship. However, the conceptualisation of Environmental Citizenship in educational context remains an imperative need. The under-explored (until now) potential for pro-environmental behaviour change through Environmental Citizenship should be further emphasised (Dobson 2010) and can contribute greatly to a more sustainable world.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Children's place encounters : place-based participatory research to design a child-friendly and sustainable urban development

Studies over the years on human-environment relationships have revealed a strong assertion that humans learn through engagement with their local places. But due to the increasing degradation of urban environments, there has been a progressive dehumanization of urban space, a dehumanization that has impacted particularly on children and young people who have seen their place-based encounters significantly limited. This chapter reports on the Dapto Dreaming project, a place-based participatory research project in Australia, funded by Stockland urban developers. The project supported young people to take on the role of environmental change agents in order to support a sustainability project in their local area. Using participatory research methods, children and young people from the Horsley community, a small neighborhood in a suburb south of Sydney, documented themselves walking and knowing the land, learning the history and geography of their place, and engaging with the materiality of the environment through their bodies. They used cameras, drawings, and mental maps and shared stories of their encounters with the human and nonhuman world. Drawing loosely on theories of place, the study focused on children’s environmental encounters, place accessibility, and the affordances within places. Rather than impose an adult-centered theoretical deconstruction of the data, children collated, shared, and analyzed their own data. Through this process, children recognized how place could be responsive and specific to their encounters, and when planning a friendly and sustainable neighborhood, they sought to ensure it would be afforded those same qualities. More broadly, this case study reveals that children who are provided real-life place-based projects can adopt significant roles as environmental change agents