Social Capital in Biodiversity Conservation and Management

Abstract:  The knowledge and values of local communities are now being acknowledged as valuable for biodiversity conservation. Relationships of trust, reciprocity and exchange, common rules, norms and sanctions, and connectedness in groups are what make up social capital, which is a necessary resource for shaping individual action to achieve positive biodiversity outcomes. Agricultural and rural conservation programs address biodiversity at three levels: agrobiodiversity on farms, nearby nature in landscapes, and protected areas. Recent initiatives that have sought to build social capital have shown that rural people can improve their understanding of biodiversity and agroecological relationships at the same time as they develop new social rules, norms, and institutions. This process of social learning helps new ideas to spread and can lead to positive biodiversity outcomes over large areas. New ideas spread more rapidly where there is high social capital. There remain many practical and policy difficulties, however, not least regarding the need to invest in social capital formation and the many unresolved questions of how the state views communities empowered to make their own decisions. Nonetheless, attention to the value of social relations, in the form of trust, reciprocal arrangements, locally developed rules, norms and sanctions, and emergent institutions, has clearly been shown to deliver a biodiversity dividend in many contexts. This suggests a need to blend both the biological and social elements of conservation.     

Managing invasive plants in a rural-amenity landscape: the role of social capital and Landcare

Rural-amenity migration is changing the social and ecological compositions of landscapes globally. The in-migration of new landholders is contributing to significant biophysical changes to rural landscapes, as well as the weakening of collective awareness, knowledge and skills needed to manage natural resources. This is leading to the proliferation of environmental harm. This paper focuses on invasive plants as one such harm, detailing how collective action is developed and challenged in a rural landscape undergoing increasing property turnover and diversifying management priorities. Focusing on the role of a Landcare group, located in southern New South Wales, Australia, I explore how social capital – with a particular focus on trust and social norms – is mobilised to recruit newly arrived residents and maintain commitment among landholders to manage invasive plants. This research provides insights into how policy can better steer management interventions, particularly how to develop and maintain collective action in diversifying rural landscapes.     

The path(s) to employee trust in direct supervisor in nascent and established relationships: A fuzzy set analysis

While many of the propositions advanced by Mayer, Davis, and Schoorman's (1995) integrative model of interpersonal trust have been supported empirically, we still know little about how time impacts the relative importance of the model's elements. In addition, there may be situations in which trust can develop with lesser degrees of any of the trustworthiness facets or propensity to trust. Hence, we apply a configurational set‐theoretic perspective to examine what combinations will be sufficient to produce the presence of trust in a direct supervisor across nascent and established relationships. We find three distinct configurations associated with trust in supervisor, which allows us to elaborate theory and provide novel insights to trust research. In particular, we find that in both nascent and established relationships, perceptions of high supervisor ability, benevolence, and integrity constitute a sufficient configuration for high trust in supervisor. In established relationships, however, there were two paths to high trust in supervisor: (i) perceptions of high supervisor ability and integrity, or (ii) perceptions of high supervisor ability and benevolence, accompanied by high propensity to trust. As such, in established relationships, perceptions of high supervisor benevolence and high propensity to trust may be substitutable with perceptions of high supervisor integrity. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

重庆市土地储备制度的融资选择

城市土地储备制度的运行必须以连续的资金流为保汪，但是传统的融资渠道，如财政拨款和银行贷款已不能满足当前城市土地整理及开发中巨大的资金需求。以重庆市为例，从分析重庆市城市土地利用状况和土地市场特点出发，运用PPP模式和ABS模式，提出土地信托和土地债券的概念，得出一条创新的城市土地储备制度融资渠道，以加强城市抵御各方面风险的能力。     

临时团队快速信任形成机制及在危机救援团队中的应用

危机救援团队是一种典型的临时团队,成员间的快速信任问题是研究的焦点。采用量表施测和情景模拟实验的方法,借助"公物两难"的研究范式,探讨责任感和风险感知阈两个变量对临时团队快速信任的影响。研究发现:责任感因素主效应显著,体会到较高责任感的个体更倾向于表现出合作行为和快速信任;风险感知阈因素主效应显著,对风险不敏感的个体倾向于表现出合作行为和快速信任;风险感知阈与责任感因素交互作用不显著。根据研究结论,具体提出危机救援团队建立快速信任的几点建议。     

Perceived Collective Efficacy and Trust in Government Influence Public Engagement with Climate Change-Related Water Conservation Policies

Water insecurity, induced or intensified due to climate change, has emerged as a key policy challenge in poor and developing countries such as India. Drawing on social cognitive theory, this paper examines the role of perceived collective efficacy—people's shared beliefs about their group's capabilities to accomplish collective tasks—and trust in government as factors influencing Indians' engagement with government water conservation policies. Using a national survey of Indians (N = 4031), we found that individuals with high levels of perceived collective efficacy and trust in government are more likely to support government water conservation policies. Moreover, for individuals with low trust in government, higher collective efficacy is associated with greater policy support. Perceived collective efficacy is also associated with activist behaviours, while distrust is not. Increasing collective efficacy beliefs, for example through mass media channels and targeted campaigns, could help increase citizens' engagement with climate change adaptation policies.     

社会信任、合作能力与农户参与小农水供给行为——基于黄河灌区五省数据的验证

在政府主管的小农水供给模式无法完全满足农业分户经营的需要的现实背景下,农户参与供给是实现小农水供需平衡的有效方式。本文利用黄河灌区宁夏、内蒙古、陕西、河南和山东五个省份1558户微观农户数据,引入农户社会信任和合作能力因子,考虑农户农业收入水平和所处省份差异,采用多群组结构方程模型,探究农户参与小农水供给的行为。首先,运用信度和效度检验对农户参与小农水供给行为量表进行了分析。在此基础上,运用多群组结构方程模型,以农户农业收入水平和所处省份为调节变量,分析农户社会信任和合作能力对其参与小农水供给行为的影响。研究结果表明:农户的社会信任和合作能力显著正向影响农户参与小农水供给的意愿,其中农户的合作能力影响程度较大,农户的社会信任影响程度次之;农户的社会信任、合作能力和参与供给意愿对其参与小农水供给行为有显著正向影响,且影响程度最大的是农户的参与供给意愿,其次是农户的合作能力,最后为农户的社会信任;农户的社会信任对其合作能力有显著正向影响。多群组分析表明,农户的农业收入水平及其所处省份显著调节农户参与小农水的供给行为。其中,农业收入作为调节变量结果显示,农业收入高的农户参与小农水供给的意愿更强烈,参与供给行为水平更高;产生参与供给意愿后,农业收入中等偏上和中等偏下的农户更容易将意愿转化为行为。省份作为调节变量的结果显示,陕西、河南和山东农户的社会信任和合作能力对其参与小农水供给意愿的影响较大,河南和山东农户更容易将参与供给意愿转化为行为;宁夏和内蒙古农户的合作能力对其参与供给行为影响程度较大。根据以上结果,政府应根据不同地区农户的收入水平、社会信任和合作能力等实际情况,充分调动本地的社会资源,引导农户认识到参与小农水供给的重要性和迫切性,提高农户参与小农水供给的意愿和行为水平,促进小农水供需平衡的实现。     

More than money: how multiple factors influence householder participation in at-source stormwater management

Urban stormwater run-off is a threat to stream ecosystems. New approaches to stormwater management aim to protect urban streams from such impacts, by retaining, treating and using stormwater at its source. As up to ～50% of runoff from urban surfaces comes from private property, fostering stormwater retention requires effective householder engagement. We evaluated householder participation in the Little Stringybark Creek project, a stormwater retrofit programme aimed at waterway protection, using qualitative enquiry through formal and informal interviews to identify factors that influenced participation. Participation was governed by multiple factors, with financial incentives and personal co-benefits of tanks primary motivators, while process complexity and distrust were primary barriers. Results suggest an approach combining education to encourage review of subjective norms and attitudes, with incentives to mitigate behavioural controls can transform public behaviour towards sustainable stormwater management.     

Knowledge,agency and collective action as barriers to energy-saving behaviour

Energy saving is becoming a rising priority as a response to climate change and fossil fuel depletion in recent years. However, despite energy-related behaviour change being an important part of many environmental education initiatives, “energy literacy” among citizens remains patchy in both the USA and the UK, with evidence of strong positive attitudes but less consistent knowledge. Whilst it is clear that increasing knowledge does not automatically produce behaviour changes, potential questions must be asked about the logic of focusing solely on behaviour without simultaneously exploring and enhancing understanding of energy issues. This research, undertaken at a higher education institution with a strong focus on sustainability, illustrates the potential risks of targeting behaviour change and individual action at the expense of increasing knowledge, or encouraging collaborative and democratic endeavours. Results from an online survey indicate widespread misconceptions about energy which may reduce the effectiveness of energy-saving behaviours, alongside variable levels of motivation and engagement with energy issues. Respondents report a strong belief in the efficacy of personal changes, yet uncertainty about their capacity to influence business and government alongside a persistent faith in science to provide solutions to energy issues. The paper concludes by reflecting on the challenges arising from these findings for understanding agency and effectiveness in energy relationships.