Evidence for increasing public support for nature conservation: A 15-year longitudinal analysis of nature conservation attitudes in the Netherlands

Abstract

Transformative change to address the root causes of biodiversity loss critically depends on public support for social, cultural, economic and political change. The general public plays a central role in this process as it influences consumer demand, voting behavior, and stewardship actions. Based on a unique time series of representative quantitative surveys conducted over 15 years (2006–2021; N = 7037), this paper reports on the longitudinal development of attitudes towards nature conservation of the general public in the Netherlands. Analysis shows that public support for nature conservation and for national conservation policies is generally high and rising. Meanwhile, we find an “attitude-priority gap”, where pro-conservation attitudes do not result in prioritizing conservation over other policy issues, such as health care or unemployment. In addition, images of nature change, with increasing support for wilderness-oriented conservation over more managed nature. Cluster analysis identified four distinct groups in society. Groups with strong pro-conservation attitudes show significant more pro-conservation behaviors, including green consumerism, stewardship volunteering and activism. The least supportive group especially criticizes the expansion of natural areas as well as the strict protection of rare and endangered species, because they feel this may limit economic development. While critical voices in society need to be recognized, the generally high public support reported in this paper can also be of benefit to conservationists, policymakers and NGOs in the framing of their ambitions to revers biodiversity loss and taking into account attitudes and perceptions of all relevant stakeholders in society.