Results

The internet research was valuable and much relevant information was obtained. The main findings have already been described in the Context section.

To summarise, the main findings were that global public awareness about environmental issues is increasing but that it is still at low levels in most parts of the world. Past research on barriers to changing lifestyles suggested that lack of education and poor access to ethical and environmentally friendly goods and services were the main difficulties to overcome in getting people to change their lifestyles.

The results from the questionnaire were very useful. The analysis of data for each question is set out in Appendix 10.3. The main findings from the questionnaire can be summarised as:

• The data from Question 1 and 2 shows that shows that about half of the young people responding to the questionnaire were aware of at least three causes or consequences of declining biodiversity.
• In response to Question 3, about half of the respondents could list five endangered species in Kazakhstan.
• About 78% of the respondents thought that declining biodiversity was a problem.
• A significant proportion, over half, of the respondents were able to identify at least three causes and consequences, revealing good levels of awareness.
• 75% of respondents said that not enough was being done to protect biodiversity.
• A surprisingly high proportion of respondents were prepared to take action to improve biodiversity, with significant gender differences. Females are prepared to take more action than males. See Table 1.
• The main barriers to individual action identified by respondents were lack of education, cost and the lack of availability of environmentally friendly goods and services.
• Respondents think that individual citizens should accept responsibility for declining biodiversity alongside other agencies, including governments. See Table 2 below.

Table 1 – Proportion of Males and Females Prepared to Take Action

Table 2 – Public Opinion on Responsibility for Action

Finally the unstructured interviews revealed that young people were more aware of the need to do something than was expected from the results of the questionnaire. All interviewees said that it was important to protect biodiversity and that individuals should take action at a personal level.

One interviewee said, ‘I understand the need to do something to improve the environment and biodiversity. I try to buy ethical clothing that comes from FairTrade sources and organic cotton, but they are hard to get locally and cost more. They can be unfashionable too.’ Similarly, another interviewee suggested that, ‘the best way to take action is to live simply and recycle waste products like glass. But we live in an apartment and practically it is not easy to carry these things to the recycling centre.’

When asked about barriers to action most said it was due to lack of education and help in knowing what to do to make a difference. One person said, ‘we learn about the problem in science but not how to take personal steps to improve the situation.’ Another comment was, ‘we are lucky to be getting information in school; many older people didn’t have the same chance to learn about these things; my parents for example.’

Overall the analysis of the data shows that young people are generally aware of the issue of declining biodiversity and can identify several barriers to personal action.

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