A recent study, to be published in the journal “Proceedings of the National Academy of Science (PNAS)” this week , suggests that people are more likely to enroll in conservation programs if their neighbors do.
The research, to be published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) this week, is the first to focus on the phenomenon of social norms in the context of China’s conservation efforts, said scientist Jianguo “Jack” Liu of Michigan State University (MSU).
The study focused on a mammoth government initiative called Grain-to-Green that pays Chinese farmers to convert cropland back to forest.
“Much of the marginal cropland in rural communities has been converted from agriculture to forests through the Grain-to-Green Program, one of the largest ‘payment for ecosystem services’ programs in the world,” said Alan Tessier, program director in the National Science Foundation (NSF)’s Division of Environmental Biology.
“Results of this study show that a community’s social norms have substantial impacts on the sustainability of these conservation investments.” source
Further proof that if you care about a conservation issue, let everyone you know hear about it. Then, when it becomes cool, you can tell everyone that you cared about it back in the day…
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