What Motivates Conservation Volunteering? A Case Study of Community Conservation on Herald Island, New Zealand

Abstract

Along with the increasing awareness of human’s impacts on the natural environment, a focus on understanding factors influencing pro-environmental behaviour to mitigate this has increased in recent literature. This case study aims to apply social science methods to an issue in the natural sciences, of how to motivate pest control behaviours in individuals. Predator Free New Zealand 2050 aims to eradicate mammalian predators from New Zealand. Therefore, understanding how to motivate these behaviours is crucial to the success of the project and ultimately for protecting our native species. This case study focused on the inhabited Herald Island in Auckland, New Zealand. The island’s environmental group hosts volunteer activities to increase the island’s biodiversity and recently started a new project called ‘Bring Back the Birds’, with the ambitious goal to be the first inhabited island to eradicate mammalian predators. This case study investigated three key questions; 1. What factors motivate residents to be leaders for Bring Back the Birds?; 2. What factors motivate residents to undertake rat trapping?; and 3. What factors motivate general involvement with the Environmental Group?. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 15leaders, which included questions about their immediate motivations for involvement, significant life experiences, life on the island and experiences with the project. A survey was sent to all island residents to examine attitudes towards pest control, environmental value orientations, connectedness to nature and place attachment. Conservation leaders were generally motivated by spending time alone in nature during childhood, by social influences in childhood and adult experiences that strengthened and reinforced their interest in nature. The leaders were more immediately motivated by environmental, social, community and personal motivations, with social and community motivations likely the most important motivators. Civic place attachment also predicted conservation leadership. For the rest of the island, rat trapping was predicted by owning a house, by living on the island for longer, and by a concern for others. Civic and natural place attachment predicted different levels of involvement with the environmental group. Suggestions for future research are given, as well as specific recommendations for the Herald Island Environmental Group and for the Bring Back the Birds Project.