Emiel de LangeWildlife Conservation Society | WCS
Emiel de Lange
Doctor of Philosophy
About
24
Publications
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325
Citations
Introduction
I am an environmental social scientist with a track record of delivering interdisciplinary and applied research. I work with conservation practitioners to understand conservation problems and develop solutions.
Education
September 2016 - March 2020
October 2015 - September 2016
October 2012 - June 2016
Publications
Publications (24)
Conservationists are increasingly interested in changing human behaviour. One understudied aspect of such interventions is information flow. Different patterns of interpersonal communication and social structures within communities influence the adoption of behavioural changes through social influence and social reinforcement. Understanding the str...
Social science is becoming increasingly important in conservation, with more studies involving methodologies that collect data from and about people. Conservation science is a normative and applied discipline designed to support and inform management and practice. Poor research practice risks harming participants and, researchers, and can leave neg...
Biodiversity conservation supporting a global sustainability transformation must be inclusive, equitable, just, and embrace plural values. The conservation basic income (CBI), an unconditional cash transfer to individuals in important conservation areas, is a potentially powerful mechanism for facilitating this radical shift in conservation. Here,...
Background: Effective communication can play a vital role in societal transformations towards sustainability and biodiversity restoration. However, the complexity and long-term nature of environmental change presents a communication challenge. If not carefully navigated, messages around environmental degradation can lead to audience disengagement a...
Social networks are critical to the success of behavioural interventions in conservation as network processes such as information flows and social influence can enable behaviour change to spread beyond a targeted group. We investigated these mechanisms using social network data and longitudinal behavioural data from a conservation intervention in C...
Poster outlining principles of positive communication, findings from literature review on the role of emotions in communication and tips for crafting effective messages on the biodiversity crisis. Based on 2022 paper published in the Journal of Tropical Conservation Science: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/19400829221134893.
Biodiversity conservation supporting a global sustainability transformation must be inclusive, equitable, just and embrace plural values. The conservation basic income (CBI), a proposed unconditional cash transfer to individuals residing in important conservation areas, is a potentially powerful mechanism for facilitating this radical shift in cons...
Biodiversity conservation work can be challenging but rewarding, with potential consequences for conservationists' mental health. Yet, little is known about patterns of mental health among conservationists and its associated workplace protective and risk factors. A better understanding might help improve working conditions, supporting conservationi...
Workplaces can be sources of both stress and support, affecting employees' mental health and productivity. Yet, little research has investigated variability in workplace risk factors for poor mental health in conservation. We aimed to explore how patterns of psychological distress—a state of emotional disturbance—and associated workplace risk facto...
Cambodia’s protected areas comprise four distinct zones. According to the 2008 protected area law, the community zone is where communities and indigenous peoples with existing activities in the protected area can make use of land for their own purposes, such as for farming and residence. Land use and land titling require the approval of the Ministr...
Biodiversity conservation work can be challenging but rewarding, with potential consequences for conservationists’ mental health. Yet, little is known about patterns of mental health among conservationists and its associated protective and risk factors. A better understanding may help improve working conditions, supporting conservationists’ job sat...
Conservationists can use social network analysis to improve targeting for behaviour-change interventions, selecting individuals to target who will go on to inform or influence others. However, collecting sociometric data is expensive. Using empirical data from a case study in Cambodia and simulations we examine the conditions under which collecting...
In the face of unprecedented biodiversity loss, the belief that conservation goals can be met could play an important role in ensuring they are fulfilled. We asked conservationists how optimistic they felt about key biodiversity outcomes over the next 10 years; 2341 people familiar with conservation in 144 countries responded. Respondents expressed...
Biodiversity conservation work can be challenging but rewarding, with potential consequences for conservationists’ mental health. Yet, little is known about patterns of mental health among conservationists and its associated protective and risk factors. A better understanding can help improve working conditions, supporting conservationists’ job sat...
Goals play important roles in people's lives by focusing attention, mobilizing effort, and sustaining motivation. Understanding conservationists’ satisfaction with goal progress may provide insights into real‐world environmental trends and flag risks to their well‐being and motivation. We asked 2694 conservationists working globally how satisfied t...
Conservationists can use social network analysis to improve targeting for behaviour-change interventions, selecting individuals to target who will go on to inform or influence others. However, collecting sociometric data is expensive. Using empirical data from a case study in Cambodia and simulations we examine the conditions under which collecting...
Interventions to conserve biodiversity often aim to change human behaviour. Social relations and interactions, or social networks, have a strong influence on the information people receive and on their behaviour. Thus, the interactions between social networks and behaviour have been the subject of intense research effort in countless domains, and p...
In northern Cambodia, threatened wildlife, livestock and people are being poisoned by pesticides deposited in seasonal waterholes. Addressing this critical conservation threat requires understanding the drivers of poisoning behaviours and the social contexts in which they occur. This study across 10 communities in two protected areas aimed to provi...
នៅភាគខាងជើងនៃប្រទេសកម្ពុជា សត្វព្រៃដែលទទួលការគំរាមកំហែង សត្វពាហនះ និងមនុស្ស កំពុងត្រូវបានបំពុលដោយថ្នាំសម្លាប់សត្វល្អិត ដែលបានដាក់ក្នុងត្រពាំងនៅតាមរដូវកាលនីមួយៗ។ ការដោះស្រាយដើម្បីឆ្លើយតបទៅនឹងការគំរាមកំហែងការអភិរក្សដ៏សំខាន់នេះ ទាមទារឱ្យមានការយល់ដឹងអំពីកត្តាជំរុញអាកប្បកិរិយានៃការបំពុលនិងបរិបទសង្គម។ការសិក្សានេះត្រូវបានធ្វើឡើងក្នុងសហគមន៍ចំនួន10 ក្នុងតំប...
For many researchers, particularly in academia, publishing in peer-reviewed journals is a necessity, with major implications for their career progression. Yet, it is increasingly recognised that the current scientific publishing model is not fair and equitable, which can have severe consequences for the way science is accessed and used in nature co...
Conservation takes place within social–ecological systems, and many conservation interventions aim to influence human behaviour in order to push these systems towards sustainability. Predictive models of human behaviour are potentially powerful tools to support these interventions. This is particularly true if the models can link the attributes and...
Conservationists are increasingly seeing the importance of carrying out social impact evaluation to ensure accountability and to learn what works for both biodiversity and human wellbeing. A single toolkit or blueprint method cannot fit the diversity of intervention types and evaluation questions, and conservationists are faced with an array of dec...
Conservationists are increasingly seeing the importance of carrying out social impact evaluation to ensure accountability and to learn what works for both biodiversity and human wellbeing. A single toolkit or blueprint method cannot fit the diversity of intervention types and evaluation questions, and conservationists are faced with an array of dec...
Protected areas are a key strategy in conserving biodiversity, and there is a pressing need to evaluate their social impacts. Though the social impacts of development interventions are widely assessed, the conservation literature is limited and methodological guidance is lacking. Using a systematic literature search, which found 95 relevant studies...
Questions
Question (1)
Dear colleagues,
As you know, conservationists are increasingly interested in conducting social research, but there are significant gaps in the social science skills, knowledge, and resources available to them. One way to address this is through provision of online learning materials. We are compiling a database of existing resources to help conservation practitioners access and learn about social science methods and tools.
Are you aware of any good quality resources that you or colleagues may have found useful? If so, please share these with us!
We are looking for resources of any type including simple & clear journal articles, manuals and guidebooks, web courses, YouTube videos, anything. They can cover any social science topic: from broad topics such as ‘qualitative data analysis’, to specific tools and methods. We would prefer to get resources that are free or open access, so that they can be accessed by everyone and we are particularly keen to learn of resources published in languages other than English.
We will include the resources you share in the database, which is being compiled on behalf of the Conservation Social Science Partnership (a consortium of conservation NGOs, https://www.consosci.org/). The database will be publicly available, so any contributions will help advance the social sciences within the wider conservation community.
Many thanks,
Emiel,
