By Angela J Dean, Konrad Uebel, Tracy Schultz, Kelly S Fielding, Emily Saeck, Helen Ross, and Victoria Martin.

Read the full paper here.

Community members can make important contributions to protecting rivers and coasts (blue spaces). These community actions are often called ‘stewardship.’ There are many types of stewardship actions, that protect blue spaces, such as contributing to groups that plant trees and restore habitats, picking up litter, reducing the use of garden chemicals, signing a petition asking for stronger protection of rivers and coasts, and encouraging others to care for marine life.

Understanding what factors may motivate or limit people taking action is a key element of fostering greater participation. We wanted to explore whether people who regularly visit blue spaces for recreation are more likely to get involved in stewardship actions. In particular, we wanted to know how recreation experiences influence stewardship. For example, do regular visitors have a better understanding of environmental problems in the area? Are they more motivated to protect an area they are connected to? Or is it just easier for regular visitors to get involved?

To answer these questions, we worked with Healthy Land and Water, a natural resource management NGO in South East Queensland (Australia). As part of their annual Environmental Health Monitoring Program, we surveyed 3,271 residents about their experience of recreation in blue spaces, willingness to engage in different types of stewardship actions, and perceptions of these different actions.

We found that many types of recreation were associated with stewardship intentions. In addition to nature appreciation activities, social activities, fishing and boating, and exercise were all associated with certain types of stewardship action.  We then looked at pathways between recreation and stewardship. Most types of recreation did not influence perceptions of current environmental problems. Rather, the relationship between recreation and stewardship was mostly driven by greater satisfaction with the place, feeling that future threats might undermine the use of the place, and feeling more able to act and make a difference. This suggests that feeling able to protect a valued place from future threats is the most important impact of recreation on stewardship, rather than awareness of current threats.