The UN has declared 2005 to 2014 the Decade of Education for Sustainable Development.
However, education is often viewed as an unalloyed good and consequently,
there have been few empirical studies on the costs and benefits of different forms of education
within the fields of environmental conservation and sustainable development.
Likewise, studies quantifying success of conservation and sustainable development
projects are also limited. Without quantitative data on either of these aspects it is difficult
to translate research into action, which is vital if conservation and sustainable
development strategies are to succeed.
This study explores educational policies at global and local scales based on conservation
interventions funded by the DEFRA Darwin Initiative. At the global scale, I carry
out an analysis of the role of educational activities in projects funded by the Darwin
Initiative since its inception. At the local scale, I carry out an in-depth case study of the
success of a Darwin-funded project for the conservation of the saiga antelope (Saiga
tartarica) conservation in Kalmykia, Russia. The geographically small area studied
meant that cultural and demographic influences could be controlled, allowing for an
in-depth exploration of a media-based public awareness campaign in comparison with
other conservation interventions. Fieldwork was carried out over three months, using
willingness-to-pay (WTP) as an indicator of behavioural intention. Analysis involved
generalised linear modelling techniques. To expand the study from a case-by-case
scenario to a global comparative analysis, a database was developed of Darwin Initiative project reports, as the scheme has been promoting biodiversity conservation and
sustainable resource use worldwide for many years and emphasises the importance of
education within its remit. It therefore offers a range of education initiatives both in
terms of scale and strategy providing the variance required for such a meta-analysis.
The study involved a combination of quantitative statistical and cost-benefit analyses
alongside qualitative in-depth interviews with project leaders.
This may be one of the few studies on environmental conservation and sustainable
development success in which intervention effectiveness has been properly quantified
and robustly examined. WTP, as an indicator of behavioural intention, was established
as a practical measure of conservation success at field-level. At the larger scale, consistent
measures of success can be developed that can be used to analyse large datasets
in a quantitative manner. These measures have been used successfully to establish education
as a useful tool for environmental conservation and sustainable development
and to demonstrate important distinctions in cost-effectiveness of different educational
strategies. It is hoped that this comprehensive and quantitative comparative assessment
of the effectiveness and success of different conservation interventions will be used in
future implementation of conservation, and in particular environmental education policies,
to ensure that sustainable development and environmental conservation strategies
are both cost-effective and successful.