Promoting responsible camping: research

5 Conclusions

5.1 Behaviour change strategy

This research has focused primarily on how communications can be designed to encourage responsible behaviour. Communications, however, are just one of many tools available to encourage behaviour change. It was clear from the literature review and speaking to stakeholders that other interventions also have an important impact on behaviour, pointing to a multi-pronged behaviour change strategy.

Figure 6. Diagram showing a multi-pronged behaviour change strategy

• Visible staff presence
• Infrastructure
• Communication
• Outreach

• Infrastructure: Additional infrastructure, particularly toilets and bins, will make it easier for campers to do the right thing. Additional infrastructure will also lessen the amount of effort needed to educate campers about responsible and correct rubbish disposal and toileting practices; such practices require preparation, knowledge and effort. Additional infrastructure will lessen the environmental impact of inappropriate toileting and littering.
• Outreach in schools: It is easier to prevent irresponsible behaviours than change them once established. If ways can be found to incorporate the pro-environmental rationale for responsible wild camping behaviour into lessons and activities among schools and youth groups, there is a better chance of a behavioural shift, similar to the decline in adolescent smoking, among future cohorts of campers. This approach could be taken forward through NatureScot’s current engagement with schools to promote the SOAC and aligned with the outreach work that some other stakeholders are already carrying out.
• Visible staff presence: At present, perceived impunity is an enabler of consciously irresponsible behaviours, such as littering. Messages based on legal penalties are unlikely to be effective unless there is a perceived risk of being caught, which emphasises that communications campaigns need to be accompanied by a staff presence on the ground in areas where problems occur.

5.2 Recommendations for public facing communications

A recurrent theme in this research was the lack of knowledge and awareness of the SOAC and other guidelines. Carefully developed communications will be an important tool for filling this knowledge gap, whilst also changing the social context by making it socially unacceptable to engage in irresponsible camping behaviours.

5.2.1 Be precise about what action you want campers to take

Whilst the range and nuance of camping behaviours make it difficult to develop simple messages, as far as possible guidance should be unambiguous and give campers precise instructions for what they should or should not be doing, without assuming any prioir knowledge. There could be value in consolidating existing guidance to provide this in full in a single, well-signposted place, for stakeholders to use as a reference tool. This would help keep communications consistent and credible whilst still giving stakeholders the flexibility of tailoring their messages to the local context.

Working with NatureScot, the National Access Forum is planning to review national messaging about the cumulative impacts of camping. The review provides an opportunity to develop suitable guidance that supports clear and consistent messaging across Scotland.

Behavioural messages should be tested with members of the general public to check that terminology is easily understood and interpreted correctly, including those without any outdoor experience or prior knowledge of the SOAC.

5.2.2 Provide the rationale behind these actions

Even when shown guidance on how to behave, participants were not necessarily convinced of the rationale as to why certain behaviours could be considered irresponsible (for example toileting away from water sources). Messaging should therefore convey why a particular action should be followed (or avoided) in a compelling and credible way. This approach could involve identifying a victim that is on the receiving end of an irresponsible behaviour, such as fellow outdoor visitors getting sick from drinking polluted stream water, or the importance of deadwood as a habitat for insects.

5.2.3 Emphasise the cumulative impact of irresponsible behaviour

Messaging should show the cumulative effect of otherwise minor irresponsible behaviours, such as camping for too many nights in one place or in crowded locations, that convince campers of the need for everyone to take individual responsibility. The aim is to make all irresponsible behaviours as unacceptable as littering; communicating that the impact of the sum of everyone’s actions, together, do leave a trace.

5.2.4 Keep messages positive, rather than admonitory

People are keen to know what is the right thing to do and not be classed in any way as ‘irresponsible wild campers’, so advice should be framed in positive terms. Even those who had engaged in the most extreme irresponsible behaviours (such as abandoning tents) still expressed appreciation for the natural environment and should be encouraged to play their part to look after it.

It is possible to communicate what campers should not be doing whilst keeping the tone positive, by showing practical ways to do the right thing which enhance users’ experience and do not involve too much effort.

5.2.5 Be strategic about which behaviours to target with communications

Although ‘party campers’ may have caused some of the most notorious damage in recent years, they do not represent all those behaving irresponsibly. Moreover, guidance around littering has higher awareness and higher acceptance, making it a more difficult behaviour to change (as those who are engaging in this type of irresponsible behaviour are doing so consciously). It will likely be easier to educate campers about low awareness and low acceptance behaviours, such as inappropriate campfires and collecting deadwood. Greater gain could also arise from this approach given that these irresponsible behaviours were more common in our sample, exhibited by several different types of camper.

5.2.6 Take a cascading approach to changing behaviour

The literature review highlighted that behaviour change interventions should target the ‘low hanging fruit’. Those behaviours more receptive to change can lead to what Kolodko and Read see as “a tipping point..., at which a social change spreads on its own”.[47]

Inexperienced campers in our sample tend to turn to more experienced friends and family for tips about where to go camping and how to behave while there. Targeting more experienced and keen campers who are receptive to behavioural messages will help to strengthen positive social norms so that good practice spreads by a ripple effect. It will be important for interventions aimed at more experienced campers to combat any curse of knowledge bias and emphasise that these are learned behaviours that need to be spelled out and taught, rather than worked out through common sense.

5.2.7 Use multiple sources, channels and messages

No single campaign will reach the disparate audiences of campers who do not have a collective identity and do not conduct a significant amount of research before their trip.

The greatest impact will therefore be achieved through traditional offline media in areas that are popular wild camping destinations, such as flyers at local retailers and service stations, or noticeboards in car parks or laybys. Given the lack of detailed pre-departure research, search engine optimisation should be used to direct people towards guidance when they conduct broader online searches, such as about where to camp or how to get there. Traditional social media campaigns may prove less fruitful at reaching this audience.

Nevertheless, social media and partnerships with influencers could play a role in trying to change the broader context that promotes a survivalist image of wild camping. This could, in turn, help to tackle common misconceptions, for example around campfires and collecting live or dead wood.