From William James to twenty-first century landowners: perspectives on private land conservation

Gooden, J

Abstract:: Recent years have witnessed increased global policy interest in private land conservation as a complement to state-owned protected areas. At present, the scale of private land conservation remains unknown, but it appears to be increasing in terms of both spatial extent and number of individuals involved. It is relatively prevalent in regions where high biodiversity value and strong private property rights regimes overlap, including North America, parts of Latin America, Australia, western ...
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APA Style

Gooden, J. (2018). From William James to twenty-first century landowners: perspectives on private land conservation [PhD thesis]. University of Oxford.

MLA Style

Gooden, J. From William James to Twenty-First Century Landowners: Perspectives on Private Land Conservation. 2018. University of Oxford, PhD thesis.

Chicago Style

Gooden, J. 2018. “From William James to Twenty-First Century Landowners: Perspectives on Private Land Conservation.” PhD thesis, University of Oxford.
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Files:: Gooden Thesis dissemination.pdf

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Authors

+ Gooden, J More by this author

Division:: SSD
Department:: SOGE
Role:: Author

Contributors

+ Clark, G

Role:: Supervisor

+ Grenyer, R

Role:: Supervisor

+ McElroy, C

Role:: Examiner

+ Knox-Hayes, J

Role:: Examiner

+ Earthmind More from this funder

DOI:: 10.5287/ora-e99mrammv
Type of award:: DPhil
Level of award:: Doctoral
Awarding institution:: University of Oxford

Language:: English
Keywords:: sustainable agriculture

identity

extended self

political ecology

privately protected area

personal project

easement

private land conservation

sustainable ranching

American pragmatism

motivation

conservation psychology
Subjects:: Biodiversity conservation

Psychology

Geography
UUID:: uuid:7c3a6281-5545-44b3-90df-3fb3f8cc7989
Deposit date:: 2019-05-22
ARK identifier:: ark:/29072/ora_7c3a6281554544b390df3fb3f8cc7989

Related item:: The psychological appeal of owning private land for conservation
Description:: Continued threats to global biodiversity have stimulated interest in the private purchase of land for conservation. Though not a new phenomenon, private land conservation appears to be on the rise, and its ambiguous position between philanthropy and financial investment leads to questions about the nature of landowner motives. To examine these motives, we used grounded theory techniques to analyze transcripts of narrative interviews with the owners of privately conserved areas (PCAs) and assessed what landowners had in common across a variety of cultural and policy contexts. The result was a model of PCA engagement in which landowners became personally invested in the management of PCAs and in the nature they protected. We found that PCAs can be conceptualized not merely as philanthropic endeavors or investments, but also as meaningful projects in which their owners engage. We integrated our findings with literature indicating that fundamental psychological drives for autonomy, efficacy, and social connection facilitate the engagement process, regardless of whether conservation motivation is intrinsic or extrinsic. Our findings suggest that land conservation programs might benefit from allowing landowner autonomy to the maximum extent possible, developing best practice standards against which landowners can assess their efficacy, and facilitating the development of landowner networks.
Related item:: Cultivating identity through private land conservation
Description:: 1. Private land conservation is driven by a variety of influences. As a voluntary action undertaken by landowners, it is influenced not only by external factors such as financial incentives, but also by personal and psychological factors. 2. Using William James’s concept of the ‘extended self’, this study investigates how protected land becomes a part of landowners’ identity. The study is based on narrative interviews with 27 landowners who had purchased or created a privately conserved area in one of 13 countries. 3. The analysis highlights three facets of these nature reserves that enable incorporation into a landowner’s sense of self: place, possession and project. Drawing on Breakwell’s identity theory, Belk’s analysis of possessions, and Little’s project analytic theory, findings illustrate the various functions land serves in the expression and development of identity. The present research draws attention to aspects of land as possession and land as project, which have received little attention in conservation research. 4. This study points to new directions for inquiry into the relationship between land, nature, identity and self and to practical applications for program design, including implications for knowledge sharing, toolkits, networks and communication.

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Copyright holder:: Gooden, J

Licence:: CC Attribution-NonCommercial (CC BY-NC)

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From William James to twenty-first century landowners: perspectives on private land conservation

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From William James to twenty-first century landowners: perspectives on private land conservation

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