Presenters for ICCB symposium on conservation behavior prioritization

[Matthew Selinske]

Dear LACA Section Members,

We are proposing a symposium for the International Congress for Conservation Biology taking place in December of this year (likely online but potentially Kigali, Rwanda) and looking for additional participants to present on research related to the prioritization of conservation behaviors. 

Presentation topics may include methods to measure a behavioral intervention's technical potential,  i.e., a behavior’s potential, if changed, to improve the state of the biodiversity conservation objective, or assess behavioral plasticity i.e. the degree to which a target behaviour can be changed by a specified intervention. Other topics could be related to additional behavioral prioritization factors, such as implementation feasibility of interventions, intervention cost effectiveness, or behavioral persistence.

Presenters include Kristian Steensen Nielsen, Agathe Colléony and Matthew Selinske. Please find the abstract below.

If you are interested in presenting your work please get in touch. The deadline for ICCB proposal submission is March 2nd.

Thanks!

Matthew

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Prioritizing conservation behaviors to establish a behavior change research agenda

Human behavior drives biodiversity loss. Conservation scientists and practitioners are increasingly focused on changing human behaviors to benefit biodiversity. However, current efforts to change behavior have often been implemented without consideration of critical questions such as 1) what behaviors are the most impactful on biodiversity in the context of interest; 2) whose behavior needs to change (e.g., consumers, farmers, investors); and 3) what intervention(s) is the most effective in delivering the desired behavior change among the target group. This calls for a more structured approach to conservation behavior change. One such approach for prioritizing behavioral changes in conservation research and practice involves the consideration of, at least, two factors: technical potential, i.e., a behavior’s potential, if changed, to improve the state of the biodiversity conservation objective, and behavioral plasticity, i.e., the degree to which a target behaviour can be changed by a specified intervention. These two factors together determine the actual impact on biodiversity of any behavior change intervention.  Behavioral prioritization may, however, also consider a number of other factors, such as implementation feasibility of interventions , cost effectiveness, behavioral persistence, behavioral prevalence, or the likelihood of behavioral spillover.
 
We will use this symposium to initiate and develop an interdisciplinary research agenda around behavioral prioritization with the aim of mainstreaming behavior change research in conservation science and maximize its contribution to improving biodiversity locally and globally.  We examine diverse examples and methods of behavioral prioritization in conservation and explore how similar endeavors in other disciplines may inform the development of this research agenda. Our group of talks showcases initial efforts to prioritise behaviors and to implement and evaluate behavior change interventions in conservation. The talks examine prioritizations at various scales, actors, and contexts. This symposium thus seeks to: 1) understand how behavioral prioritizations can benefit conservation science and practice; 2) examine case studies of behavioral prioritisation and behavior change interventions; and 3) use prioritizations to promote  a conservation-specific evidence base for behavior change interventions and their potential to improve biodiversity.