The Renewing Biodiversity Longitudinal Survey (ReBLS): Protocol for a panel study

Abstract

Abstract Biodiversity renewal activities are causing major changes to landscapes and ecological assemblages in some areas. Initiatives are inherently intertwined with local people and communities, who can be drivers, inhibitors and beneficiaries of renewal efforts. It is therefore critical to understand how biodiversity renewal impacts people's pro‐nature attitudes and behaviours, health and well‐being. Research to date has established that exposure to nature is linked to health and well‐being, as well as to pro‐environmental behaviours. However, most studies have been cross‐sectional, hindering causal inference, or have focused on attitudes and behaviours relating to the environment in general, rather than on the impacts of biodiversity or environmental improvement efforts. Relatively little is known about how people's interactions with nature vary, or which components contribute to pro‐nature attitudes and behaviours, health, or well‐being over time. Here we introduce the Renewing Biodiversity Longitudinal Survey (ReBLS), a pioneering new longitudinal panel study exploring people's pro‐nature attitudes and behaviours, health and well‐being and whether these are affected by processes of environmental change and the renewal of biodiversity (both actual and perceived). This will be one of the first attempts to track changes in environmental responses, attitudes and behaviours over time within individuals. The survey will involve a national sample of approximately 18,000 adults from across England. The panel will be invited to complete the survey once a year for 3 years initially. We will link the longitudinal survey data with highly localised spatial information about the environment where participants live, including land cover, habitats and species distributions. We will measure participants' exposure to biodiversity renewal using several approaches, including self‐reported awareness of and direct and indirect involvement in biodiversity renewal activities, as well as a spatial assessment based on an audit of renewal activities within England. The ReBLS survey will advance understanding of whether, and how, biodiversity renewal affects pro‐nature attitudes and behaviours, health and well‐being. More generally, it will produce data with broad applications for both academics working on topics relating to people and nature and for practitioners making strategic decisions around biodiversity renewal, land management and public health. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.

Keywords

• attitudes
• greenspace
• health
• nature restoration
• outdoor recreation
• personalised ecology