This study had two primary aims: (1) to understand how students prioritize species to be protected, and (2) to determine what values drive students' priorities for conservation. This study also investigated how conservation priorities and related values might differ in four different social and geographical environments (i.e. rural and urban contexts in two culturally similar but environmentally-diverse countries). The study was based on the understanding that knowing what shapes people's attitudes and behaviors towards nature is essential to developing effective conservation strategies.
Students from seven elementary schools in Portugal (four in rural and three in urban environments) and nine in Brazil (three rural, six urban) participated in the study. Participating schools – some public and some private -- all used the same Brazilian Education laws and curriculum. The environmental content presented to the students would thus be the same. Over 450 students from the participating schools completed a written questionnaire focusing on their priorities and related values for conservation. Questionnaires also provided personal information about the students, including their age, gender, socio-economic background, and prior contact with nature and online news-associated environmental information. Some items on the questionnaire asked specifically how health, economic and touristic values might constrain the student's pro-conservation attitudes.
Students from urban areas and from Portugal tended to be less conservation oriented than rural students and students from Brazil. This could be due to rural students having more frequent contact with nature and to Brazil being more biodiverse than Portugal. Species prioritized for conservation were ones commonly mentioned in the online news, primarily mammals and plants. Health (i.e. self-preservation) and economic (i.e. financial subsistence) interests and values tended to hold greater value for the students than conservation interests and values. This was evidenced by students placing greater value in using nature to cure or treat diseases than in protecting species or their habitat. It was only in reference to tourism that students valued conservation over economic-related benefits.
These findings reveal a general pattern regarding how students in Portugal and Brazil prioritize species conservation. This pattern included students prioritizing species with which they might be familiar, and rural students giving more value to conservation than urban students. Additionally, online news about animals seems to influence students' priorities. These findings suggest that providing more opportunities for contact with nature and planning conservation efforts around people's preferences for conservation may enhance the effectiveness of nature conservation programs and thus improve the public's environmental awareness and literacy.
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