Community-led vertebrate pest management in urban areas: barriers and motivations

Residential green spaces in cities can make a significant contribution to urban conservation. To engage urban residents in conservation, we need to understand what influences participation. We interviewed leaders of community conservation groups and surveyed members of the public in Auckland, New Zealand using an anonymous questionnaire. We investigated whether environmental attitudes differ between those who do and do not participate in conservation actions (volunteering in a community conservation group and/or controlling pest mammals), and the motivations and barriers to participating in conservation actions. We found that conservation leaders often founded their conservation groups with a biodiversity motivation, whereas many of their group members subsequently joined and continued to participate for social reasons. Conservation group members were more likely to be in favor of pest control and had more positive environmental attitudes than non-participants. They found group work more motivating and productive than working alone. For people already participating in conservation (controlling pests, leading a group, or volunteering), the most common barrier to increasing participation was opportunity, most notably a lack of time. We found that people tended to control pest mammals for self-interested reasons, such as preventing damage to their homes (67%; n = 358), whilst biodiversity motivations (protecting native species) were secondary (53%; n = 283). For people not participating in pest control, the primary barrier was a lack of interest in participating (26%; n = 109). Although people were supportive of conservation, biodiversity motivations alone are unlikely to be a sufficient motivator for participation. Given the range of different motivations and barriers, targeted messaging (e.g., promoting social connections) could increase participation in urban conservation.

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