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The protection of nature and biodiversity has been gaining importance in public opinion. Nevertheless, the implementation of conservation policies has experienced some public resistance, along with low levels of public involvement. This lack of public interest in and support to conservation may be related to citizens' images of nature. In this article, we examine the commonsensical image of nature and its conservation according to two dimensions: cognitive beliefs and normative ethics. This image of nature was examined through a series of focus-group discussions with members of the general public in the Lisbon Metropolitan Area - Portugal and reflects the commonsensical perceptions of what nature conservation is. The results suggest that, although the participants were not familiar with scientific terminology, they hold rich, mental and social representations about nature and biodiversity. We present a conceptual framework that reflects participants' overall image of nature as the basis of human life and, above all, as a source of multiple goods that ensure human beings' survival, which characterizes the common-sense view of nature as largely anthropocentric. Our work provides policy-makers, planners and managers with a framework that reflects lay people's perceptions of nature and biodiversity conservation that are instrumental in identifying conservation priorities, appropriate goals and suitable measures while ensuring communication between science and society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The conservation of biodiversity depends on the implementation of policy with limited financial resources. Due to this shortage of resources, conservation activities must be prioritized so that scarce funds are used rationally to prevent long-term biodiversity loss. To assure funding continuity, since it is the public that pays a significant part of conservation costs, it is imperative that managers and policymakers apply limited conservation funds in a way that makes people feel that their concerns about biodiversity loss are addressed. Here we argue for public preferences to be incorporated in species conservation decision making through criteria weighting. Public preferences were analyzed in two different contexts (abstract vs. concrete) to understand how stable public preferences are across different elicitation procedures. Our results show some resilience in criteria ranking, with functional importance being considered as the top criterion across different ways of questioning. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Implementation of new conservation measures without consistent consultation with key stakeholders has resulted in multiple failures that have been replicated elsewhere. In this study, we propose and test an improved method to identify: (i) the role of conservation actors (including local people), in major threats to conservation in a particular Protected Area (PA); (ii) the underlying drivers for the involvement of local people in conservation-threatening practices; and, (iii) appropriate policies to address those drivers. The method was developed and tested in the context of the Niassa National Reserve (NNR), the third major PA for the conservation of Miombo woodlands, savannah keystones and umbrella species in Africa. Experts' answers were grouped according to opinions related to threats for conservation and current and proposed compensation schemes to improve conservation in the NNR. The results show a high degree of consensus among experts in relation to the current practices that threaten conservation in the reserve (poaching, illegal logging and mining). Local people were held responsible for activities that they carry out to meet their daily needs. While, outsiders carrying out illegal activities, were also responsible for practices that represent the top threats to conservation. The proposed new incentives, such as assisting local people with conservation agriculture, providing alternative sources of animal protein and providing scholarships for their children, may greatly improve the support of local people for biodiversity conservation in the reserve. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]