Local Nature Matters : A Story of How Empowerment from Tourism Contributes to Local Nature Stewardship in Rural Communities

Abstract: This Master thesis examines the role of resident empowerment in rural nature tourism in shaping the relations between how residents engage with local places and local nature stewardship in Plouguerneau, France. Through a conceptual framework that includes the concepts of empowerment, place attachment, care for nature, and nature stewardship, the study models the effect of place attachment and care for nature on resident stewardship attitudes and how resident empowerment in tourism mediates this relationship. The theoretical underpinnings of social exchange theory (SET) and nature’s contributions to people (NCP) theory are employed to provide a comprehensive understanding of these relationships. The study employs a mixed-method approach, including online and door-to-door surveying. To analyze the results, partial least square structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) was used. The findings suggest that place attachment is not a significant predictor of empowerment through tourism or nature stewardship as only place identity was predicting political empowerment and environmental citizenship. This finding challenges the assumption that strong place attachment necessarily leads to empowerment from tourism and nature stewardship. Therefore, it highlights the need for a more nuanced understanding of the factors that motivate residents to engage in environmentally responsible behaviors. The results also show that care for nature is significantly predicting both empowerment from tourism and nature stewardship. Furthermore, the study reveals that tourism can be a powerful tool for empowering local communities and enhancing their sense of responsibility towards the environment. Specifically, the findings suggest that involving residents in tourism decision-making processes can promote their engagement in environmental citizenship. Overall, this thesis contributes to our understanding of how tourism can contribute to local nature stewardship in rural communities by empowering residents to take an active role in caring for their natural environment.