Five lessons to guide more effective biodiversity conservation message framing

Because the conservation of biodiversity is a social and political process, conservation policies are more effective if they can create shifts in attitudes and/or behaviours. As such, communication and advocacy approaches that influence attitudes and behaviours are key to addressing conservation problems. It is well established that the way an issue is 'framed' can influence how people view, judge, and respond to an issue. Furthermore, responses to conservation interventions can be influenced by subtle wording changes in statements that may appeal to different values, activate social norms, influence a person's affect or mood, or trigger certain biases, each of which can differently influence the resulting engagement, attitudes and behaviour. We contend that by strategically considering how conservation communications are framed, they can be made more effective with little or no additional cost. In this article, we provide an overview of key framing considerations as five 'lessons' to help communicators think strategically about how to frame their messages for greater effect. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.