Citizen science and nature volunteering in the Netherlands: Threats and opportunities in a changing field.

Kaptein, Leon (2020) Citizen science and nature volunteering in the Netherlands: Threats and opportunities in a changing field. Master's Thesis / Essay, Ecology and Evolution.

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Abstract

Citizen science and nature volunteering in the Netherlands has a huge social and economic value. It supports nature conservation policies, saves governmental institution money, can be used as an educational tool and has been reported to increase mental and physical well-being among volunteers. However, due to social and cultural changes, the nature of volunteering is changing. The motives to start volunteering increasingly stem from personal interest and the type of activities offered rather then a sense of service ethic and responsibility towards a community. To adapt to these changes, it is important for organizations to know individual motivations and the time volunteers have available in their volunteer work. Two of the most common motivations include “contributing to nature conservation” and “learning more about nature”. A clear communication is needed when citizen science results in policy change and scientist can use the drive of volunteers to learn to abide by increasing requirements of scientific outreach and education. Moreover, it becomes increasingly important to match the needs of volunteer to the tasks available by scientist and organizations to keep current volunteers on board and to attract new young volunteers. To achieve this, cooperation and communication between organizations regarding their activities becomes ever more important. A sense of shared responsibility towards the collective pool of volunteers and seeing it as a resource that should be managed p

Item Type:	Thesis (Master's Thesis / Essay)
Supervisor name:	Piersma, T.
Degree programme:	Ecology and Evolution
Thesis type:	Master's Thesis / Essay
Language:	English
Date Deposited:	10 May 2021 16:10
Last Modified:	10 May 2021 16:10
URI:	https://fse.studenttheses.ub.rug.nl/id/eprint/24378

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