Authors: Dorward, Leejiah; Agustin, Ika;Dwiyahreni, Asri;Kaduma, Joseph;Kohi, Edward;Mawenya, Rose;Mchomvu, Jesca;Prayitno, Karlina;Sabiladiyni, Humairah;Sankeni, Stephen;

Understanding human beliefs in relation to the environment can help predict support for conservation interventions and assess, a priori, the likely success of policies. Protected areas are one of the most widespread conservation interventions globally. However, they are not always supported or received positively by people living in their proximity. Here we present preliminary results from two large-scale studies which used, for the first time, the New Ecological Paradigm to measure the pro-ecological orientation of people living around protected areas within two study landscapes, one in Indonesia and another in Tanzania. Preliminary results revealed very modest pro-environmental beliefs at both sites, with marginally higher pro-environmental beliefs in Indonesia compared with Tanzania. Additionally, we found links between pro-environmental beliefs and the perceived morality of illegally extracting resources from protected areas; those with stronger pro-environmental beliefs viewed rule breaking as somewhat more immoral than those with opposing beliefs. Whilst, due to the many and varied barriers and opportunities influencing behaviour in specific situations, we caution against expecting a strong NEP-behaviour relationship, our findings suggest that the New Ecological Paradigm can be used to predict support for conservation regulations.