As part of our work for theme one of the RENEW project, the Renewing Biodiversity Longitudinal Survey, or ReBLS for short, has been launched.  

The aim of the longitudinal panel survey is to understand how biodiversity renewal impacts people’s attitudes towards nature and renewal efforts, nature-related behaviours, health, and well-being, and how this may change over time. The survey is funded by NERC and Natural England.

Most studies exploring interactions with nature and attitudes towards nature have been cross-sectional, providing a snapshot of people’s perspectives. They have also typically focused on attitudes and behaviours towards the environment in general, rather than focusing on those specifically about nature and biodiversity.

Here, we are asking approximately 18,000 people across England the same questions every year for three years. People’s responses will be linked to spatial information allowing us to explore the influence of their local environments and exposure to known biodiversity renewal activities. This will be one of the first attempts to track changes in nature attitudes and behaviours over time within individuals on a national scale. 

Included in the survey are questions about health and well-being, opinions about nature and biodiversity renewal, outdoor visit behaviours and perceptions of nearby nature. We also include a range of demographic questions asking about individual characteristics such as age and gender.

This survey has undergone an extensive 18-month development process, led by Dr Ben Phillips. We have collaborated with Natural England throughout, with the survey designed to support their strategic goals.  ReBLS is administered by YouGov.

We expect data quarterly and aim to start some analyses with the first year’s worth of information.  

We hope that ReBLS will make a unique contribution to understanding the dynamic interplay between people and nature.  For more information contact: Becca, Jo or Lewis