For years there have been reports in the popular press of the impact of the Harry Potter phenomenon in the UK on the demand for owls as pets. This narrative became so popular that it led even JK Rowling to issue several statements on this issue asking fans to not keep owls as pets. But … [Read more…]
The Earth is home to millions of species, but you wouldn’t know it from the media’s obsession with only a few dozen animals like tigers and gorillas. This narrow focus makes the most of popular fascination with large and cute creatures. Conservationists take advantage of these nonhuman celebrities to raise awareness about important issues and … [Read more…]
Just out in Biological Conservation! Check it out here Conservationists often complain that their study species are ignored by donors. However, marketing theory could help understand and increase the profile and fundraising potential of these neglected species. We used linear regression with multimodel inference to analyse data on online behaviour from the websites of the … [Read more…]
Back in 2014, I co-led a storytelling project that aimed to take the best stories of field biologists to a broader audience. After all, it’s those episodes that make work so unique and rewarding. The result was the book BIOgrafias: Vidas de Quem Estuda a Vida, which brings together 18 biologists and more than 35 stories. … [Read more…]
Recently Emma Mckinley and I wrote a correspondence piece for the journal Oryx, celebrating the formation of the SCB Conservation Marketing Working Group and highlighting the potential of this new field to contribute to biodiversity conservation. We were no doubt excited when we were told that we had received a reply, where the case against … [Read more…]
A great collaborative project involving more than a dozen conservation social scientists from more than dozen social science fields! Find the Open Acess Paper here! And the abstract below! Despite broad recognition of the value of social sciences and increasingly vocal calls for better engagement with the human element of conservation, the conservation social sciences … [Read more…]
Just out in PLOS One, a paper (get it HERE!) I co-authored with colleagues at the University of Kent on the preferences of wild meat consumers in Vietnam. The country is a significant consumer of wildlife, particularly wild meat, in urban restaurant settings. To meet this demand, poaching of wildlife is widespread, threatening regional and … [Read more…]
The latest issue of the journal Oryx contains a short note Emma McKinley and I wrote on the recent creation, activities and progress of the SCB ConsMark. See here! I am also happy to announce that the ConsMark has now been approved for official status within the SCB by the Board of Governors. It is … [Read more…]
The latest issue of the journal Conservation Letters includes a Viewpoint article co-authored by the 2013 and 2014 cohorts of Smith Fellows, the latter of which I am lucky enough to be part of. In this piece (read it here) we argue that the recent debate around what is conservation (and by consequence what is … [Read more…]
Fresh off the press is the latest paper on conservation marketing: Competitive outreach in the 21st century: Why we need conservation marketing. This is an output from the last International Marine Conservation Congress (IMCC), which took place in Glasgow, Scotland. This was also where the Conservation Marketing Working Group of the Society for Conservation Biology … [Read more…]