Psychology

The world faces significant challenges pertaining to the depletion and degradation of environmental resources. A public that is increasingly aware of resource scarcity, understands ecosystem interdependence, and frames the current situation in comparison to previous conditions has become sensitized to the implications for personal and social justice. This chapter reviews research at the interface of justice and environmental issues. We discuss ways in which the natural environment presents a distinctive domain for justice research, and in particular the need to consider intergenerational justice and reasons for individual differences in justice perceptions. Because perceptions of justice and fairness are important determinants of policy acceptance, we consider some predictors of beliefs about environmental justice, and discuss the role of justice in motivating behavior. We close by identifying promising areas for future research.

Much research has explored the effects of being in natural areas on human health, well-being and environmental concern. However, the combined effects of urbanization, biodiversity loss and the Western way of life reduce the opportunities to experience nature. Landscape management could play a prominent role in providing opportunities and motivation for people to be in nature. It is important, therefore, to understand which kinds of nature people mostly prefer and use. Based on complementary questionnaire surveys obtained from 4639 French adults, we studied the habits of nature uses, in relation to personal previous experiences and nature connectedness. We explored the type and frequency of natural areas people visit most often, the place where they grew up, and the extent to which they feel interdependent with the natural environment. In an innovative process, we assessed the extent to which respondents mentioned a personal place (e.g., my garden), a specific non-personal place (e.g. a particular forest) or remained general (e.g. forests). Among a wide range of cited natural areas, five types predominated, consistently for all samples surveyed. Interestingly, connectedness with nature was negatively related to mentions of place specificity, but positively related to frequency of visits of natural areas. These results clarify the relationship between past and present experiences of nature and sense of connectedness to nature. They can also guide future landscape management processes, in order to better coordinate the provision and the desirability of natural spaces and promote both sustainable landscapes and reconnection of people to nature.

A good deal of research has recently focused on people's commitment to biodiversity conservation by investigating their " willingness-to-pay " (WTP). Because of the public's self-reported preferences for species that are more charismatic or similar to humans, conservation programs are often biased toward these species. Our study aimed to explore the determinants of WTP among 10066 participants in a zoo conservation program. The program aims to raise money to support conservation programs and involves donating a sum of money to " adopt " an animal in the zoo. We explored whether participants were influenced by particular scientific characteristics of the animal (IUCN conservation status and phylogenetic distance from humans) or by more affect-related characteristics, such as the charisma of the animal. We found that participants did not choose an animal to adopt because of the endangered status of the species, and did not donate more to endangered species than to other species. Instead , they were more likely to choose a charismatic species. However, surprisingly, those who chose a less char-ismatic species gave more money on average to the program than those who adopted more charismatic species, suggesting a higher level of commitment among the former. These results therefore suggest that this type of conservation program may not be an effective way of reconnecting people with conservation issues related to endangered species. We therefore advise zoos to communicate more strongly on the level of threat to species and to increase the ratio of endangered over charismatic species in their animal adoption programs.