Explaining Civic Activism for Biodiversity Conservation with the Mechanism of Social Dialogue

Based on the definition provided by the European Biodiversity Information System, biodiversity includes richness of life and diversity of patterns on 3 levels: 1) ecosystems and habitats; 2) species; and 3) genetic resources. According to this definition, comprehensive understanding of the concept of biodiversity involves recognition of threats, such as climate change, invasive species, fragmentation and land use change, pollution, and overuse of effective resources. On the other hand, the loss of biodiversity with all its unfortunate consequences is a global phenomenon that is still under threat despite the efforts made to protect it. This lack of success is largely due to underestimating people’s power in this process. The study of developing countries shows that local people’s short-term economic benefits from the exploitation of nature and their lack of awareness of its long-term effects are important obstacles to the protection of nature. Considering the extent of damage to the environment and ineffectiveness of governance, the most available option to reduce destruction is increasing people's awareness and encouraging their participations. At the same time, changing people's behaviors is a challenging issue. People’ desire to actively and committedly participate in the protection of nature is influenced by several factors. Behavioral change, conscious act, and voluntary participation in environmental activities can be influenced by internal factors (self-worth and individual motivation) (Molinario, et al., 2020) and external factors (economic interest and social and civic values and norms) (Li, Zhao, Ma, Shao, & Zhang, 2019).The social and civil factors affecting pro-environmental behaviors in developing countries, including Iran, have been given less attention, while the civilizing process can provide an important framework for predicting committed activities to protect biodiversity (Baynham-Herd, Amano, Sutherland, & Donald, 2018; Kashwan, 2017). In the current situation of Iran, it is very important to educate people and encourage them to participate in the process of biodiversity preservation by taking voluntary and committed actions. However, the evidence shows that there is a kind of passivity and indifference to environmental contributions. Thus, the following question is raised: What are the factors and components that explain cooperative behaviors of biodiversity and how important and effective are they? The innovation of this article was combination of the theoretical model of "planned behavior" and the theory of new civil actions. According to the current conditions of the Iranian society, the studied students' civic actions for protecting the environment were affected by their interactions and levels of network relationships. Their memberships and amounts of co-presence in virtual social networks by increasing their opportunities to talk could enhance their knowledge of biodiversity and augment civic activism. Therefore, the chain of knowledge-value-action showed itself more where it was possible to discuss the issue. Accordingly, an extended model was presented in this article, which put more emphasis on the variables of social and institutional structures of the society and thereby placed individual actions in its cultural, social, and institutional contexts. In this model, the development of a virtual public space and the possibility of discussing issues and problems as a determining variable in strengthening the knowledge of biodiversity and evoking environmental values were added to the variables related to the previous theories. A collective discussion about the topic could play an important role in the construction and evolution of the society (Inglehart, 1990).

Material & Methods :

A survey of attitudes towards biodiversity was conducted among Shahid Beheshti University students in 2019. Using the stratified sample size method, the statistical population of 20,000 students was divided based on the 4 fields of humanities and social sciences, technical sciences and engineering, natural sciences, and architecture and art. To obtain the sample volume, Cochran's formula was applied. Since the method of collecting information was designed through a structured internet questionnaire on the Google Doc platform, the number of samples increased to about 500 people. Then, the questionnaire was sent to the sample students and 420 questionnaires were returned. Finally, after reviewing and refining the questionnaires and discarding the defective and incomplete items, 393 questionnaires remained. Also, a structured questionnaire and a 5-point Likert scale were employed to measure the research variables. In the extended model, the variable of dialogue feasibility (D) referred to the possibility and extent of discussion about environmental issues and the issue of biodiversity through dialogue networking. The problematic variable of biodiversity (R) referred to the knowledge of biodiversity and awareness of the risks and consequences of its destruction. To measure the environmental values based on Schwartz’s method (2012) with the help of factor analysis, two types of value biases towards the issue of biodiversity were identified: Instrumental Value (IV) and Egocentric Value (EV). Although two types of moral and legal obligations might be created depending on the value bias, this set of norms was considered as Biodiversity Norms (BN) in this research since no significant distinction between the two was empirically recognized. Also, environmental activism was measured based on the two main types of civil action (CPA) and individual action (PBA).

The purpose of the current research was to expand the model of "planned behavior" (Ajzen, 1985; Schwartz, 1992; Stern, Dietz, Abel, Guagnano, & Kalof, 1999) and explain "pro-biodiversity" behaviors among the students based on the possibility of forming dialogue circles. While it was expected that environmental civic activism be more common among university-educated people, the scope of such a behavior was limited according to the results of this research. Only 15% of the studied population expressed that they had civic environmental activities. This finding confirmed the results of Shafiei & Malek Saeidi (2020) and Veisi et al. (2019), who showed that environmental civil actions in the Iranian society had a low range and no significant difference in civil activism could be seen between the male and female students and the students of various degrees. Yet, the results of this research showed that environmental civic activities among the students were different based on the study field type and the students’ presence in nature (Shafiei & Maleksaeidi, 2020; Veisi, Lacy, Mafakheri, & Razaghi, 2019).In addition, as Reis, Lindenmeier, and Schild suggested, the effects of institutional and legal conditions on environmental civic activism were of importance (Lindenmeier, 2008; Reis, 2020; Schild, 2018). The results of this study revealed that civic activism could be enhanced when the law, formal norms, and regulations were perceived ineffective in supporting biodiversity in the eye of the public. The belief in the ineffectiveness of the existing laws and regulations in preserving nature in Iran and the belief in individual effectiveness drove the concerned activists towards voluntary activities in order to offset the weakness and inefficiency of public organization and government. Also, the active memberships in the environmental civic associations could lead to the promotion of group-based pro-environmental behaviors and moral responsibility towards the environment and biodiversity (Schmitt, Mackay, Droogendyk, & Payne, 2019; Liobikienė & Poškus, 2019) According to the findings of this research, the most important conditions for the development of civic activism at both institutional and cultural levels were creating a dialogue-oriented public atmosphere and a universal value system. This meant that civic activism required the development of a culture of dialogue in the public sphere. Public sphere means a place where it is possible to create a free conversation without threats, which can include both the real and cyber public realms. The results showed that in the current conditions of the Iranian society, the cyber public space could make it possible to increase the knowledge of biodiversity by creating a context for interactions and dialogue. In other words, as Leventon and his colleagues found (Leventon, Duşe, & Horcea-Milcu, 2021), although expanding public space did not provide a sufficient condition, it was a necessary condition for environmental civic activities. As long as collectivist and universal value biases were able to appear in social networks, they could form self-reinforcing circles that both strengthened the universal value system and facilitated pro-biodiversity civic activism.