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Strengthening local sea turtle conservation, globally.
 

 Team Beach Workshop

AZA Annual Conference 2023

 

Team BEACH leader Rachel Smith explains how social science can be applied to wildlife conservation.

 

The Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) held their annual conference in September of 2023 in Colombus, Ohio where Team BEACH was invited to present on the role of behavior change in sea turtle conservations and methods for designing effective behavior change campaigns.

The Team BEACH workshop was presented by expert social scientists and conservationists Rachel Smith, Kelley Anderson, Lily Maynard, and David Johnston.

 
 

Team Beach Workshop

41st International Sea Turtle Symposium 2023

Since its creation in 2020, Team BEACH (BE A CHangemaker) has built a network of projects from around the world that have worked together, shared ideas and resources, and hosted several educational webinars. While many sea turtle conservation organizations implement outreach programs in their communities, not all of them are designed with tangible behavior change goals and evaluation plans. The goal of the Team BEACH workshop at the 41st International Sea Turtle Symposium was to unite sea turtle conservationists and behavior change experts to share best practices and instructional materials and guide attendees through designing an applicable behavior change action plan.

 
 
 
 

Prior to the workshop at ISTS, we requested real-world community-based conservation issues faced by members of the Team BEACH network that could be addressed through a targeted behavior change campaign. After an introductory presentation in which Team BEACH social scientists Rachel Smith and Kelley Anderson explained how to create a successful outreach campaign with associated evaluation, the ~80 workshop participants formed small groups and brainstormed effective behavior change programs for each of the five case studies. Participants then presented their solutions back to the larger group and held open discussions about each solution with the workshop participants.

By the end of the workshop, attendees had an arsenal of tools from behavior change specialists and learned how to apply those tools to real-life scenarios that sea turtle conservation professionals are facing. Attendees learned new behavior change techniques that they could apply to issues in their communities and they created applicable behavior change campaigns that were returned to the projects that submitted the case studies.

You can download all of the materials presented in this workshop below.

 

Tools and Resources

Powerpoint Presentation

Contains information on useful behavior change theories, do’s and don’ts when designing behavior change campaigns, and examples of successful campaigns.

Participant worksheet

Step by step process for designing a behavior change campaign

Participant Toolkit

Helpful social science resources and tools to facilitate designing a behavior change campaign

Case Studies and Final Behavior Change Action Plans

Case Study #1:

Reducing olive ridley bycatch and increasing adherence to no-take zone in French Guiana (WWF France)

Case study #2:

Mitigating light pollution from short-term rentals in Florida (Coastal Impact Coalition (CLICk))

Case Study #3:

Turtle excluder device adoption in Sabah, Malaysia (Marine Research Foundation)

Case Study #4:

Discouraging pet hatchlings in Maldives, Naifaru, Lhaviyani Atoll (Atoll Marine Centre)

Case Study #5:

Direct take of nesting leatherbacks & olive ridleys in Ghana

 

 Team BEACH Webinar Series

The Team BEACH webinar series aims to bring sea turtle conservationists together to learn from behavior change specialists and to discuss their own successes and challenges in developing and implementing behavior change methods in their own projects. Each webinar focuses on a different topic relating to behavior change and features a keynote presentation given by a specialist in the field, case studies from the community, and an open discussion. To receive announcements about upcoming webinars and events, subscribe to the Team BEACH listserv.

Recordings to all webinars can be found below.

Webinar # 5 (June 2022): Speaking truth to plastics: A tipping point from awareness to action

Full time activist and founder of The Last Plastic Straw movement, Jackie Nuñez discusses solutions to plastic pollution and her efforts in teaching people of all ages how to be an agent for change in their communities.

Webinar #4 (April 2022): Discovering Diverse Pathways to Change Behaviors for Conservation

Dr. Lily Maynard, director of global conservation at the Cincinnati Zoo led us through behavior change tools for motivating conservation in this engaging, interactive webinar.

Webinar #3 (March 2022): Behavior Change in Fisheries

Dr. Nicolas Pilcher from the Marine Research Foundation gave a keynote presentation about his work convincing fishers in Malaysia and beyond to implement Turtle Excluder Devices (TEDs) and Michel (Tony) Nalovic from CRPM Guyane spoke about how his long-time efforts with TEDs in French Guyana.

Webinar #2 (August 2021): Developing and Assessing Short Duration Conservation Outreach Programs.

This session included a keynote presentation by Dr. Joe E. Heimlich from Center of Science and Industry (COSI) and case studies by Kendra Cope from Coastal Connections, Inc, and Bruno Giffoni from Fundação Projeto Tamar.

Webinar #1 (May 2021): Introduction to Team beach

The Team BEACH coordination team introduced the goals and vision for the Team BEACH network and asked participants for input on future directions and needs for the initiative. We also heard case study presentations from network members Rachel Smith from Disney Conservation, Renee Bumpus from Houston Zoo, and Irene Kelly from NOAA fisheries.

 
 

Resources for Designing Effective Behavior Change Campaigns

 

Team BEACH Created Resources:

Presentation Slides: Designing Behavior Change Campaigns for Sea Turtle Conservation

These slides were presented at the Team BEACH workshop given at the International Sea Turtle Symposium in 2023 and contain social science methods, theories, and helpful tips meant to aid in designing behavior change campaigns.

Worksheet: Behavior Change Action Plan

This worksheet was designed by social scientists to walk someone step by step through the information they need to create a behavior change campaign tailored to their specific situation. The worksheet encourages someone to think about helpful social science theories and necessary information about their audience and target behavior to create a more thoughtful and effective behavior change campaign.

Workshop Reference Guide and Tool Kit

These curated tools, tips, and resources are helpful to have on hand when designing a behavior change campaign.

Third-Party Resources:

Reducing Plastic Pollution: Campaigns That Work

This report was created specifically for campaigns aimed at reducing plastics use, but it contains fantastic guidelines, best practices, and common pitfalls when designing behavior change campaigns aimed at any behavior related to sea turtle conservation.

 

Team BEACH Workshops

 

Team BEACH workshops are meant to teach sea turtle practitioners useful methods and theories for developing behavior change campaigns that further sea turtle conservation. Workshops consist of an instructional presentation by social science experts followed by a breakout session during which participants apply these concepts to developing behavior change campaigns for real-life case studies.

Workshop attendees learn the importance of behavior change in reducing threats to sea turtles, gain useful tools and knowledge for creating an effective behavior change campaign, and create an actionable outreach campaign for real-life issues. The goal is that all participants return to their projects with the ability to design an outreach campaign that results in measurable improvement to sea turtle conservation.

Resources from each of our workshops, including presentations, worksheets, case studies, and final behavior change action plans can be found below.

ISTS 41 - Colombia

Workshop held at the International Sea Turtle Symposium in Cartagena, Colombia in March, 2023

 

AZA Annual Conference

Workshop held at the Association of Zoos and Aquariums Annual Conference in September, 2023