Environmental volunteering

 

Summary

This project focused on practical environmental volunteering to explore what motivates people to become involved in practical volunteering work, what benefits they gain from their involvement and are there any potential barriers to getting or staying involved.

The interest in environmental volunteering is increasing in part due to growing community concern over climate change and other environmental threats and as people realise they can play a positive role through actions such as reducing material gain, recycling, choosing alternative transport options and environmental volunteering.

Research objectives

To provide a better understanding of the motivations for and barriers to, and benefits of volunteering in woodlands and green spaces for those individuals involved:

• Identify the motivations of those who volunteer in the environment.
• Identify the barriers preventing or discouraging people from volunteering in the environment.
• Identify the benefits people perceive they gain from their volunteering activities.

Research approach

A mixture of qualitative and quantitative data were collected. Quantitative data were collected from volunteers through an Emotional State Scale and Personal Well-being Index questionnaire. Qualitative data were collected through interviews with volunteers on site while they undertook their voluntary activities. In depth interviews were undertaken with representatives of organisations that manage and develop volunteers at both a national and local level (table below).

Key findings

Environmental volunteering: motivations, barriers and benefits
Report to the Scottish Forestry Trust and Forestry Commission (July 2008)

 Summary report ^(PDF-570K)

 Full report ^(PDF-2046K)

Organisation representatives

Organisational representatives at both the national and local level raised many issues that from an organisational perspective need to be addressed including:

• The recruitment of volunteers
• Increasing the diversity of volunteers
• Management and development of volunteers and the staff who manage them
• Partnership working
• Providing a coherent image as a sector of environmental volunteering and what it entails.

Volunteers: motivations, benefits and barriers

A conceptual framework has been developed from the research based on the motivations and benefits of environmental volunteering. The benefits outlined in the framework highlight benefits to the individual, to the local community and wider society, the environment and to the organisations that manage and develop volunteers. The benefits people talked about were related to the context in which they volunteered and to their own previous experiences. The volunteers generally talked about the benefits they gained in a holistic way rather than stating that one benefit was more important than another.

Volunteers are not only motivated for environmental reasons but also by the personal benefits they gain from the outdoor opportunities and social nature of environmental activities. Volunteers learn new skills and meet others while improving their health, wellbeing and quality of life. Environmental volunteering offers a range of opportunities to suit people with diverse interests and abilities. The environment provides a common language for all and a shared purpose independent of gender, ethnic background, age, physical ability, mental functioning, socioeconomic status or knowledge of environmental management. The volunteers described gaining physical, social and mental well-being benefits from their voluntary activities.

Some of the barriers to volunteering related to transport to get to sites were volunteer activities were taking place, lacking confidence to be proactive and get involved and not knowing what opportunities were available. Once people had got involved there could be barriers to their continuation such as feeling that they did not fit into the existing group, not getting any feedback on their work and the activities not matching their skills.

Implications and potential ways forward

Potential ways forward were identified for policy, practice and research; a couple of examples are given for each. More details can be found in the main report.

Practice

• Taster sessions are an opportunity to provide those who are not familiar with volunteering a chance to see whether environmental volunteering interests them and what it involves. This is potentially particularly important in reaching a more diverse range of volunteers.
• Work with volunteer centres so that the opportunities for environmental volunteering become more widely known. This is an opportunity for those organisations who want to increase the numbers of volunteers they get.

Policy

• Engage with Local Authorities as they have a national indicator to meet concerning participation in regular volunteering. This indicator reflects national government priorities and performance against each indicator will be reported.
• Link in with specific organisations e.g. there maybe local community groups or mental health groups that would welcome the chance for their group to participate in a day’s volunteering activity. By targeting groups in this way environmental organisations could increase the diversity of their volunteers and people who many not normally have the confidence to volunteer as an individual may get involved because their whole group is participating.

Research

• A better understanding is needed of how people’s motivations for volunteering changes over time. This could enable organisations to help develop volunteers or provide different or varying activities or challenges to keep people interested.
• Explore whether environmental volunteering of different types changes people’s attitudes towards the environment and whether it leads to pro-environmental behaviour.

Funders and partners

This project was funded by the Scottish Forestry Trust and the Forestry Commission with in kind support from Deakin University and Forest Research.

Forest Research and Deakin University (Mardie Townsend and Matthew Ebden) carried out the research.

Contact

Liz O’Brien
Social and Economic Research Group
Forest Research
Farnham
Surrey GU10 4LH

Tel: 01420 526155
Email: liz.obrien@forestry.gsi.gov.uk