A typology of different forms of extinction of experience, based on three characteristics: the breadth of the definition of nature, the timing of the loss of experience, and whether the focus is on nature interactions or experience.

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Extinction of experience, the progressive loss of nature interactions that is thought to characterise much of the world’s human population, may be a key environmental concept.  Not only does such a trend result in more people losing the benefits of human-nature interactions, it may also have profound implications for their willingness to support policies to conserve and grow wildlife populations and natural environments. To help improve understanding, encourage a more consistent approach and highlight research gaps, this paper considers some of the key features of the concept of extinction of experience, contentions that these have caused, and proposes some solutions. In particular, we differentiate between narrow and broad definitions of what constitutes nature, between childhood and lifelong losses of nature experiences, and between nature interactions and nature experiences. This leads to a typology of eight different forms of extinction of experience, which may be helpful in considering how to reduce this phenomenon and to minimise its negative consequences.