In a recent editorial, Awoyemi (2008) highlighted the positive impact of Christianity on HIV/AIDS intervention in Africa and called on conservation scientists to promote wildlife conservation through religious media. Prior to this, Nadkarni (2004) proposed that conservation knowledge is more effectively communicated to public audiences when scientists and nonscientists collaborate. To date, however, examples of scientists working with spiritual leaders to raise public awareness through religious channels are scarce, and their effectiveness is hardly ever quantified. Here we present preliminary results from the first known entry–exit survey that assessed levels of concern and awareness of turtle conservation among mosque goers exposed to an Islamic sermon infused with relevant environmental messages.
In 1999 a turtle sanctuary was established in the coastal town of Ma’ Daerah in the Malaysian state of Terengganu to protect important turtle nesting grounds. Since 2003 an environmental non governmental organization (World Wide Fund for Nature Malaysia [WWF- Malaysia]) initiated various turtle conservation awareness programs in Ma’ Daerah and helped establish Malaysia’s first community-based organization to champion turtle conservation (MEKAR). In Islam the teachings of Qur’an and Hadiths contain numerous texts encouraging Muslims to protect the nonhuman world. For example, the Prophet said, “A good deed done to a beast is as good as doing good to a human being.”
Nevertheless, instances (see Dickinson 2005 for additional information) in which religious leaders have harnessed this medium to spread awareness of conservation issues are relatively uncommon. Recognizing that Islamic teachings could potentially effect turtle-friendly behavioral changes among Muslim coastal communities, both organizations facilitated Malaysia’s inaugural workshop for Islamic leaders to infuse turtle conservation messages into a sermon that was simultaneously read out across 482 mosques statewide on 21 November 2008. The scale of this unprecedented event received substantial local and international publicity (Brouwer 2008), but can Islamic sermons function as effective conduits to raise conservation awareness?
To test this, we designed a questionnaire modeled after Balmford et al. (2004), who demonstrated that Hollywood movies can potentially raise public concern on climate change issues. Four questions were posed to different groups of people entering (n = 34) and exiting (n = 35) 4 of the 482 mosques in Terengganu. Remunerators first asked two questions to compare entry–exit levels of concern: how much out of a hypothetical RM1000 would they allocate for turtle conservation, community development, and disaster relief, and would they participate in turtle conservation activities? The other two questions ascertained whether knowledge was gained from the sermon text: whether the Leatherback turtle (Dermochelys coriacea) is endangered, and which of four known threats to turtles (egg consumption, incidental bycatch, coastal development, and pollution) were perceived as threats.
Results from the survey indicated the sermon raised some levels of concern. The proportion (Pr) of people who prioritized funding for turtle conservation in the exit group was significantly higher than that of the entry group (Pr = 0.57 vs. 0.35, binomial test, p < 0.01), with the former allocating a mean of RM438.47 (SE 52.18) versus the latter’s RM377.94 (SE 53.16). For the other three questions, levels of concern and knowledge among people entering the mosques were already high, and there were no significant differences in entry–exit answers regarding willingness to participate in turtle conservation initiatives (Pr = 0.94 vs. 1.00, binomial test, not significant); knowledge that the Leatherback turtle is endangered (Pr = 0.91 vs. 0.80, binomial test, not significant); and correct score (out of four) for knowledge of threats to turtles (3.62 [SE 0.13] vs. 3.51 [SE 0.11], Mann– Whitney U = 523.5, n = 69, not significant).
From these preliminary results, it appears that regular outreach activities over the last 5 years in Ma’ Daerah have largely familiarized coastal communities with turtle conservation issues. Although the sample size and questionnaire length were constrained by the need to respect prayer rituals, our findings suggest that Islamic sermons can elevate public concern on conservation issues. Because it is mandatory for male Muslims to attend Friday prayers (Qur’an. Sura Jumu’ah 62:9), it appears worthwhile to replicate this endeavor and further quantify its effectiveness in other predominantly Muslim areas with different conservation contexts (e.g., human–wildlife conflict and poaching hotspots). Nevertheless, further studies are needed to ascertain whether local communities can eventually translate heightened concern and knowledge into tangible conservation actions.
(Reuben Clements, River Foo, Syahaneem Othman, Umi Rahman, Sharifah Ruqaiyah Syed Mustafa, and Rahayu Zulkifli
Reuben Clements is the Species Conservation Manager for WWF-Malaysia, where he manages the Malayan tiger and Sumatran rhinoceros projects in Peninsular Malaysia. His team implements activities involving large mammal monitoring, identification of ecological linkages, human-wildlife conflict mitigation, anti-poaching and community outreach).
Clements, R., Foo, R., Othman, S., Rahman, U., Syed Mustafa, S. R., and Zulkifli, R. 2009. Islam, turtle conservation and coastal communities. CONSERVATION BIOLOGY 23: 516-517.