Environment strategy: behaviour changes needed to achieve Scotland's goals for biodiversity

2 Methodology

The research presented here comprises three components: 1) a rapid literature review, 2) a review of current policies, and 3) integration and development of recommendations for policy. The methodological approaches used in each component are set out below. The research methods were proposed by the research team and refined in discussion with analysts and policymakers in the Scottish Government and NatureScot.

2.1 Literature review

A rapid evidence review was undertaken to identify the key behaviour changes by members of the public/householders that can deliver the greatest positive impact on biodiversity. A pragmatic narrative review approach was carried out in two phases:

Phase 1 involved a broad search strategy to identify key behaviours and categorise these into a broad typology (addressing Objective 1).

Phase 2 involved targeted searches on specific behaviours to fill gaps on impacts, COM-B factors influencing behaviours, and interventions (addressing Objective 2).

Narrative reviews are appropriate for exploratory research on broad topics such as those of relevance to this project. Whilst narrative reviews are more vulnerable to bias than more systematic approaches such as rapid evidence assessments and may be less comprehensive and transparent, they benefit from greater flexibility in synthesising across varied areas of research within a short timescale. To address the limitations of the narrative review method as far as possible, some elements of systematic review methodologies (e.g. transparency in search terms, databases searched and key exclusion criteria) were incorporated as appropriate to the scope of the project. The protocol guiding the literature review is set out in Appendix A.

Due to the breadth of the topic and the diversity of potential behaviours to be addressed, existing literature reviews were prioritised for inclusion over empirical research papers. Both academic and grey literature sources were included in the review. Academic sources were identified through searches on Web of Science and Google Scholar. Grey literature was identified through searches of the websites of key organisations (Scotland, UK, or international). The list of key organisations was identified in discussion with the project steering group, and are listed in Appendix A. Further sources were identified through snowball sampling, where additional key texts are identified from references in reviewed materials, or flagged by members of the research team or steering group members based on prior knowledge.

In Phase 1, data from the reviewed sources was extracted and recorded in a matrix, and the range of behaviours identified from the review were assessed to flag those which would not receive further attention, due to falling outside of the scope (e.g. they relate more directly to net zero or circular economy objectives than biodiversity). We then undertook a qualitative synthesis of the evidence to produce a set of key behaviours, categorised into a broad framework/typology. In Phase 2, targeted searches were carried out to fill gaps necessary to provide high-level outlines of the impacts of the behaviours, and for selected behaviours, to identify the COM-B factors known to influence them and give illustrative examples of the key messages on ‘what works’ from the reviewed evidence on interventions.

2.2 Policy review and stakeholder workshop

The second component of the project focused on a review of existing Scottish Government policies. This policy review was undertaken to support the project's objective to assess the extent to which existing policies support the key behaviour changes, identify gaps in current policy, and explore the potential effectiveness and public acceptability of intervention options to address gaps (Objective 3).

Building on the Step 1 rapid literature review (see section 2.1 above) the policy review aimed to assess the extent to which current policies support the identified behaviour changes. A core objective was identifying gaps in existing policy concerning the key behaviours and their underlying drivers.

In discussion with the project steering group, three core policy areas were identified as the focus, in order to preserve a manageable scope for the policy review. These were: 1) biodiversity and natural environment, 2) food and drink and 3) land use and access. While biodiversity related behaviours may have some relevance within other policy areas, these were the policy areas which were identified as of most direct relevance to the key behaviours emerging from the literature review and the most likely to contain specific actions or proposals relating to biodiversity-related behaviour changes. For each of these broad policy areas a catalogue of Scottish policies and policy instruments was compiled, with further input from the steering group. Only national-level Scottish policies were included, and in line with the literature review scope, circular economy and waste policies were excluded. The final list consisted of 51 policies and associated instruments for review.

Documents were searched for mentions of keywords relevant to the eight behaviour categories, with relevant passages qualitatively coded against a coding framework based on the eight behaviour categories identified in the literature review, using NVivo computer-assisted qualitative data analysis software. The synthesis of this information highlighted where key behaviours are less well covered by existing instruments or where policies only target a limited range of behavioural drivers.

An online stakeholder workshop titled “Behavioural Shifts Needed for Scottish Biodiversity” was held on April 24, 2025. The workshop lasted two and a half hours with 15 attendees across 9 organisations. The full list of organisations can be found in Appendix B. The purpose of the workshop was to validate the eight behaviour categories identified from the literature review and inform the understanding of policy gaps and potential solutions. Discussions were recorded with consent. The method of the workshop received prior approval by the James Hutton Institute Research Ethics Committee, and data were processed and managed in accordance with UK GDPR. A brief overview of the workshop discussions is provided in Appendix B, and reflections from stakeholders are woven into the analysis of the policy coverage of each behaviour category in Section 6.