LESI: A quantitative indicator to measure local environmental stewardship.

Area of Science:

• Environmental Science
• Conservation Biology
• Human Ecology

Background:

• Environmental stewardship actions are crucial for conservation.
• Quantifying stewardship behavior is challenging.
• Existing methods often focus on attitudes rather than actions.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a quantitative indicator for local environmental stewardship.
• To enable comparisons of stewardship across individuals and locations.
• To provide a tool for evidence-based stewardship improvement strategies.

Main Methods:

• Development of the Local Environmental Stewardship Indicator (LESI).
• Utilizing a brief interview to assess past and current stewardship activities.
• Scoring activities on a frequency scale across seven categories.
• Combining scores using the LESI equation.

Main Results:

• LESI quantifies reported stewardship behavior as a single numerical value.
• The indicator allows for direct comparisons of stewardship levels.
• Facilitates the development of predictive models for stewardship behavior.

Conclusions:

• LESI offers a standardized method to measure environmental stewardship.
• The indicator can inform targeted interventions to enhance stewardship.
• Provides a foundation for future research on stewardship drivers.