NEW RESEARCH – How do we assist people to love and value nature?
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NEW RESEARCH – How do we assist people to love and value nature?

One way is through interpretive programs in natural areas. At the IUCN World Parks Congress (2014) Marc Stern USA presented findings from his research about the elements that make programs that inspire people with nature. A special issue of the journal of interpretation research 2013 (Vol 18:2) captured several areas of research undertaken by Marc and his colleagues.

“programs that are relevant to the audience, tell holistic stories, provoke the audience to reflect, and move beyond facts into the realm of revelation tend to produce better visitor outcomes than programs that are fact-based and detached from the audiences’ lives”

In particular they evaluated hundreds of national park interpretation programs to see what enhanced the experiences of visitors, shaped attitudes and fostered appreciation of the places being interpreted and influenced how audiences decide to behave. (Ham p.3.)

One of the findings is that “programs that are relevant to the audience, tell holistic stories, provoke the audience to reflect, and move beyond facts into the realm of revelation tend to produce better visitor outcomes than programs that are fact-based and detached from the audiences’ lives” (Stern & Powell 2013 p.38). Full journal article available at http://frec.vt.edu/documents/jir_stern.pdf

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NEW RESEARCH – How can parks improve the potential to connect people to nature?
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NEW RESEARCH – How can parks improve the potential to connect people to nature?

“Many park agencies are focusing a great deal of attention on attracting more visitors to parks and offering a broader range of visitor opportunities in parks as ways of building support for parks and protected areas in the future. However, there is very little empirical evidence to guide park managers and policy makers on what kinds of activities/experiences will best connect people to nature in a way that will increase support for pro-environmental behaviour and conservation initiatives over time.”
The report Building a Culture of Conservation State-of-Knowledge Report on Connecting People to Nature in Parks was presented at the IUCN World Parks Congress. This a state-of-knowledge report to respond to this information gap by reviewing what we know about the linkage between visitor experiences in parks and public support for conservation; by identifying research gaps in the area; and by outlining a research agenda to begin to address these gaps, in order to build more robust evidence to guide park management. The literature relates to  park visitation and nature connectedness  within a North American, and specifically Canadian, context with a focus on natural parks and protected areas.
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