Washington, June 30 (Inditop.com) Peer pressure does help when it comes to conservation programmes. People are more likely to enrol in one if their neighbours do – a tendency that should be exploited to protect the environment, according to a new study.
The research is the first to focus on the phenomenon of social norms in the context of China’s conservation efforts, said Jianguo “Jack” Liu, a student at Michigan State University (MSU).
The study focussed on a mammoth government initiative called ‘Grain-to-Green’ that pays
Chinese farmers to convert cropland back to forest.
“Much of the marginal cropland in rural communities has been converted from agriculture to forests through the Grain-to-Green Programme, one of the largest ‘payment for ecosystem services’ programmes in the world,” said Alan Tessier, programme director at the National Science Foundation (NSF).
While money is a key factor in whether people sign up for the voluntary program, peer
pressure also plays a surprisingly large role, Liu said.
“That’s the power of social norms,” he said. “It’s like recycling. If you see your neighbours doing it, you’re more likely to do it,” he said, according to an MSU release.
These findings are slated for publication in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (Inditop.com)
