Paper 1: The Impact of Information on Attitudes toward Sustainable Wildlife Utilization and Management: A Survey of the Chinese Public
Citation: Song, Zhifan, Qiang Wang, Zhen Miao, Kirsten Conrad, Wei Zhang, Xuehong Zhou, and Douglas C. MacMillan. 2021. The Impact of Information on Attitudes toward Sustainable Wildlife Utilization and Management: A Survey of the Chinese Public. Animals. 11 (9): 2640.
In the context of China, this paper examines societal attitudes toward wildlife conservation and utilization, as well as how these attitudes are prone to change as a result of public information disseminated through new and traditional media. People’s attitudes on any issue, whether it’s wildlife conservation, climate change, city planning, or even pandemic management, are always shaped by their limited understanding or personal experiences. Today, new media, particularly social media and media influencers, have proven to be an effective medium for disseminating information about wildlife conservation and utilization. However, as appealing as this seems, misunderstanding about the context might lead to a conflict between stakeholders/the public and wildlife managers/conservators over wildlife management strategies being proposed and implemented. As a result, public opinion may undermine the management decisions. With increased public participation in wildlife management decision-making processes, wildlife conservationists should optimize the information distribution environment in order to communicate the complicated scientific nature of conservation issues. The information being communicated publicly must be authenticated or scientifically verified. Thus, as the author describes in the paper “In the era of “we-media” and “all-media”, it is important to develop new synergies of information and knowledge that acknowledge and promote new understandings about the role of animal welfare and rights in contemporary science led conservation practice and policy.” Conservation scientists should use new media platforms to disseminate their findings in a way that is both accessible and appealing to the public, in order to cultivate a scientific conservation attitude among the general public. However, the question remains as to how to proceed. How might such a new media platform be built for accurate information dissemination? What role does a designer have in the development of such platforms?
Paper 2: Urban wildlife management – it’s as much about people!
Citation: Davies, R. G., L. M. Webber, and G. S. Barnes. 2004. Urban wildlife management: it’s as much about people! 38-43.
The findings of the report “Urban Wildlife Renewal – Growing Conservation in Urban Communities” are discussed in this article to discover approaches to involve the community in wildlife enhancement in urban areas. The daily decisions of its citizens have an impact on wildlife management. People’s attitudes about wildlife and views on natural heritage conservation are shaped by their daily interactions with their local natural environment. The community standards of urban wildlife management are shaped by these experiences. According to the information presented in the study, people are either for or against wildlife conservation in urban areas, and those with moderate viewpoints should be the focus group of wildlife managers. The desirability (perceived ability to coexist with people; desirable, desired but inappropriate, unwanted) of a species in an urban context affects people’s attitudes toward wildlife. The globe has been divided into four types of spaces by humans: urban space, urban naturalness, accessible bush, and natural environment. Making a contrast between areas that are “appropriate for humans” and those that are “right for native animals” diminishes any sense of urban wildlife conservation amongst people. This divided perspective of the world, which separates the natural environment from urban areas, fosters the wrong idea that humans are separate from the natural world. As a result, the study offers and details a variety of initiatives aimed at improving people’s ability to manage their encounters with wildlife, fostering the idea of coexistence with wildlife, and developing skills to predict and manage animal behaviour in an urban context. Such programmes can impact community attitudes toward urban wildlife to be more positive rather than negative, and so create a strong basis for changing the nature of urban wildlife management in the long run. However, the question of what modes and mediums may be employed to create a platform for such programmes to take place? What are the methods and techniques for reshaping public perceptions of urban wildlife conservation? Remains unanswered.
Paper 3: Urban wildlife management: an emerging discipline
Citation: Lunney, Daniel, and Shelley Burgin. 2004. Urban wildlife management: an emerging discipline. 1-7.
This paper investigates and defines the term “Urban Wildlife,” rejecting the notion that nature conservation takes place only outside the city. This study is contextualized in an Australian landscape. Urban wildlife is defined as natural creatures living in habitats found in urban areas. But at the same time, the term appears to be contradictory, as cities are not known for their wild creatures or natural ecosystems. “We, creatures of the city, are so removed from the wilderness that we have no idea of animal behaviour, let alone animal physiognomy,” said journalist C. K. Meena in the online edition of The Hindu, India’s national newspaper, on April 18, 2002. Thus, urban wildlife serves as an important link to the natural world for both present and future urban generations, and there is a growing interest in this area around the world. But which animals should be taken into account when it comes to urban wildlife? How can urban wildlife be identified and managed? How to distinguish the species and understand their habitat requirements? Are the unanswered questions. We also need to reconsider our attitudes toward wildlife in the city, as we are constantly trying to destroy venomous snakes and attract parrots. Such behavioural changes resulting from public education about what comprises urban wildlife can have a big impact on animal conservation measures in a city. Urban wildlife, according to the authors, should be considered an intrinsic part of urban renewal efforts. Urban wildlife ecologists should be part of integrated planning processes. When it comes to planning the natural habitat of the city, native species of flora can be planted, but when it comes to restoring wildlife, habitat of flora suitable for target animal species must be planted. Thus, planning cities by including both fauna and flora, thereby rendering it wild, makes sense and can allow us to live in cities in an environmentally co-existential manner.
Crafted Blueprints 