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Abstract |
“Onbekend maakt onbemind” [Unfamiliar makes unloved], is a typical Dutch saying that refers to unfamiliarity with a place, with food or some-thing else, leading to a lack of emotional connec-tion, support and/or care. With this in mind, nine nature organisations in the Netherlands want to increase awareness on the special nature values of World Heritage Site the Wadden Sea area among a broad public, with the overall aim to enlarge support for nature and bird protection. Their campaign is part of a larger multi-faceted project called “Wij & Wadvogels” [“We and Wadden birds”], which is running from 2019 to 2026. The project is unique as it does not only focus on physical measurements to improve the natural habitat of birds (restoration and expan-sion of resting, foraging and breeding places for birds); it also includes the social valuation of na-ture, with the focus on birds. The project aims to offer new sustainable forms of bird recreation which should result in increasing support for na-ture and birds (Vogelbescherming, 2018). This aim underlines the importance of gaining more insight into which aspects contribute to a higher support for nature and bird protection most. In this paper, we investigate indicators which predict support for bird protection among visitors to the Wadden Sea area. These indicators will be part of a monitoring system which moni-tors the effectiveness of activities of the project from 2021 to 2026. Due to the corona crisis, the actual monitoring could not start yet, as the type of visitors was expected to differ significantly from a normal year. Especially the relatively high number of first time visitors was notable. On the other hand, this gave us more opportunities to investigate differences between visitors. |
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