| Mesoamerica is a global biodiversity hotspot. However, socio-economic development processes have led to fragmentation and degradation of natural areas, becoming a major threat to Mesoamerican biodiversity. The Mesoamerican Biological Corridor Project (MBCP) promoted biological corridors between protected areas to reduce the effects of fragmentation. The project used several diffusion channels advocating the concepts of protected areas, biological corridors, sustainable development and biodiversity-friendly land use practices. Based on the theory of diffusion of innovations, I analyzed how different communication channels affected the diffusion of MBCP concepts among the general public and relevant stakeholders. I conducted face-to-face surveys of a random sample of 600 residents of Trifinio, an area of conservation priority within Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala. I compared results to a similar survey conducted five years earlier. Local awareness of MBCP decreased from 8% in 2001 to 2% by 2006 (X2=21, p<0.01). Mean public knowledge of MBCP concepts was low but increased 4% between 2001 and 2006 (t test=5.6, p<0.01). In 2006, knowledge increased 20% between respondents who had heard about MBCP and those who had not (Mann-Whitney U=1422, p<0.01). The most frequently cited sources of MBCP information were television (28%) and posters (47%) in 2001, and television (43%) and workshops (29%) (Fisher's p<0.01). I also conducted a qualitative analysis of 98 semi-structured interviews with journalists, politicians and land users, selected from a non-random sample among stakeholder groups of San Salvador, Tegucigalpa, Guatemala City and Trifinio communities. Respondents exposed to interpersonal and mass media channels showed more knowledge of MBCP concepts than those exposed to one type of channel only, but most preferred interpersonal channels as a source of project information. Leaders of national groups had more knowledge and more of them reported behaviors favoring MBCP implementation, but more local leaders engaged in land-use practices directly favoring biological connectivity. A bottom-up project-design approach, intensifying the use of interpersonal channels at the local level, could have engaged more people in land-use practice behaviors advancing the implementation of biological corridors in the field. These could have served as demonstrative examples to advance the diffusion of MBCP concepts among the public and relevant stakeholders. |
