Better designed documents for biodiversity stewardship schemes.
Abstract
This research looks at the way biodiversity monitoring documents are designed and how they might be designed differently to increase engagement with voluntary stewardship programs. Poorly resourced government institutions needing to communicate and engage private landholders for the purpose of biodiversity stewardship is one example where documents play an important role. In such a context, documents are often used by different people for different purposes, for example: by scientists for monitoring wildlife, by lawyers to validate contracts for stewardship agreements, by businesses to improve relationships with customers, and by landholders who want to learn about their land. Often documents in such contexts feature bodged together features aimed to appeal to different audiences in the absence of a coherent overall design. This article outlines some directions for research where these alternatives might be investigated more rigorously.