ERC are supporting the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust with their community engagement project that forms part of the Solent Seascapes (SS) project, in particular how to use behaviour change theory to address key issues in the Solent. The work started in 2023 with ERC running a workshop with key stakeholders to develop their understanding of behaviour change theory and practice and how a behaviour change approach could be applied to the SS Project. The key issues considered were poor water quality, habitat loss and disturbance from access/recreation and coastal squeeze causing habitat loss. ‘Mooring and anchoring in seagrass beds’ has been identified as the key behaviour for the project to address and ERC have developed a research plan in order to find out more about motivations, and attitudes of those carrying out this activity.

This will then help to define the required interventions that can be implemented through the project. In addition we will develop a detailed Monitoring & Evaluation Plan and carry out interim and final evaluations to assess the impact on behaviour change.