Land-use preferences shaped by beliefs about their environmental impact

Globally, land-use change has been the main driver of terrestrial and freshwater ecosystem degradation since 1970. Widespread land abandonment presents an opportunity for communities to alter this trend through choices about future land use (e.g., choosing to rewild abandoned farmland). Public beliefs about how land use impacts the environment could be a key psychological determinant of support for ecosystem restoration activities. However, support for ecosystem restoration may be weakened if communities also perceive economic or social benefits from land development. Across five countries spanning Western (United States, France, Italy) and East Asian (Japan, Taiwan) cultural contexts (N = 2,462), we found that people recognized environmental benefits of natural areas, harms of built areas, and were neutral about the impacts of farms. These beliefs corresponded with their preferences for future use of abandoned land: Beliefs that natural areas, built areas, and farms benefited the environment were positively associated with preferring abandoned land to be converted into that type of land. Additionally, we experimentally manipulated beliefs about the environmental impact of these land uses through informational videos and demonstrated a causal link between these beliefs and land-use preferences (N = 983, US participants).