Are we missing the mark on biodiversity? 90% of countries ignore key behaviour changes

The study finds that 90% of countries with biodiversity conservation policies fail to specify the actions needed from individuals or groups to change their behaviour. Researchers suggest this gap may explain the lack of progress on global conservation targets. 

As leaders gather at this year's United Nations Biodiversity Conference in Cali, Colombia, a study published in Environmental Science & Policy has found that only 11% of national biodiversity policies explicitly address the critical role of individual behaviour change to meaningfully deliver biodiversity conservation. Even fewer – just 3% – offer specific guidance on designing interventions, particularly those that address motivational factors like reflective or automatic motivation.    

To boost the effectiveness of biodiversity policies, researchers suggest policies should clearly specify key elements of behaviour change. This includes identifying the behaviours that need to change, the groups responsible for those actions, and the factors that influence their choices. Established tools and techniques exist to deliver the necessary changes in behaviour but are not being systematically deployed in this key element of sustainability. 

 Surrey's researchers analysed 1,306 policies from the National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans (NBSAPs) of ten countries. The team then evaluated how these policies addressed individual behaviour change by using the Behaviour Change Wheel model to assess target behaviours, target groups, intervention types, and policy options mentioned in each policy action to conserve biodiversity.  

The research defines "individual actors" as people in roles such as: 

The Convention on Biological Diversity defines biodiversity as: "The variability among living organisms from all sources including, inter alia, terrestrial, marine and other aquatic ecosystems and the ecological complexes of which they are part; this includes diversity within species, between species and of ecosystems." 

Project partners for this study include: Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research, Germany; University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Rouen-Normandy University, France; Ecoscope, Israel; University College London's Centre for Behaviour Change, England.