Landowner Perceptions of Heronry Conservation in Human-Dominated Wetlands of Bangladesh

Heronries-tree-nesting colonies of waterbirds-are globally threatened by wetland loss, yet their conservation remains poorly understood. In Bangladesh, heronries occur in shared wetland-agricultural landscapes, making landowner tolerance a proximate determinant of colony persistence. However, socially informed research on heronry conservation is entirely absent in Bangladesh and rare globally. We conducted focus group discussions at 235 heronry sites across northern Bangladesh, engaging 2555 participants. Drawing on Social-Ecological Systems theory, we examined the human-heronry interface: landowner motivations for tolerance, threats, problems experienced, and preferred conservation interventions. We quantified threat perceptions and identified structural patterns in motivations, problems, and conservation preferences. Habitat loss and poisoning emerged as the most severe threats, with poisoning exceeding 60% weighted severity in all areas. Landowner tolerance was high and primarily driven by ethical concern, environmental benefits, and social recognition. Pattern analysis revealed significant clustering of motivations, problems, and conservation preferences, indicating non-random and interpretable socio-ecological structure. Strong stench from guano fouling was the most widespread problem, while habitat protection, awareness programmes, and signage were the most co-preferred conservation interventions. Financial compensation was supported at 211 of 235 sites, with annual demands averaging USD 348.0 ± 311.6 per site-figures that reflect perceived costs of hosting colonies. Heronry conservation is a structured socio-ecological challenge amenable to targeted, multi-pronged interventions. Our findings demonstrate that least concern species require locally tailored social strategies for persistence in shared landscapes. Three transferable principles emerge for heronry conservation in human-dominated wetlands: (i) landowner tolerance is multifactorial and fragile-currently high but vulnerable to erosion where problems go unaddressed-and must be engaged through simultaneous ethical, environmental, social, and economic pathways; (ii) threat severity is spatially heterogeneous, requiring site-specific adaptive management in the absence of effective enforcement even within formally recognised conservation areas; and (iii) pattern-based diagnostics of community survey data offer a scalable and accessible tool for identifying conservation leverage points in data-limited systems.