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Enjoying Our Backyard Buddies – Social Research Informing the Practice of Mainstream Community Education for the Conservation of Urban Wildlife

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 June 2015

Richard Davies  and
Lynn Webber
Richard Davies
Affiliation:
Department of Environment and Conservation (NSW)
Lynn Webber*
Affiliation:
Department of Environment and Conservation (NSW)
*
†Manager Education and Community Involvement, Parks & Wildlife Division, Department of Environment and Conservation (NSW). Email: Lynn.Webber@environment.nsw.gov.au
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Abstract

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Supporting urban communities to make changes that contribute to sustainable living is a challenge that many environment and conservation organisations embrace. However, many community education and involvement initiatives to date have tended to appeal mostly to those with knowledge and enthusiasm for protection and conservation of the environment, leaving the majority of the community relatively unengaged. In a NSW Environmental Trust supported initiative seeking to enhance the protection and conservation of wildlife in urban environments, a major social research project was undertaken to investigate community understandings of wildlife conservation, for application to urban community education programs. The research incorporated both qualitative and quantitative methodologies to gain insights that practitioners can use to develop, monitor and evaluate urban environment and conservation initiatives that engage and involve the WIder community. This paper presents some key findings of the research and provides case examples of environmental education initiatives bringing this research into practice. The research indicates that community understandings of conservation are broad ranging. The research reveals that prominent conservation language and concepts, well understood by keen and knowledgable environmental educators, have little relevance to mainstream audiences. Other findings identify how conservation can have high relevance and meaning for the broader community as an integral part of their everyday life.

Type
Research Article
Information
Australian Journal of Environmental Education , Volume 20 , Issue 1 , 2004 , pp. 77 - 87
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2004

References

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