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dc.contributor.authorStewart-Knox, Barbara
dc.contributor.authorBunting, B.P.
dc.contributor.authorJin, S.
dc.contributor.authorTindale, S.
dc.contributor.authorVicario-Modroño, V.
dc.contributor.authorMiskolci, S.
dc.contributor.authorOjo, M.
dc.contributor.authorSanchez-Zamora, P.
dc.contributor.authorGallardo-Cobos, R.
dc.contributor.authorNewell-Price, P.
dc.contributor.authorSonnovelt, M.
dc.contributor.authorHunter, E.
dc.contributor.authorFrewer, L.J.
dc.date.accessioned2024-10-14T11:56:51Z
dc.date.available2024-10-14T11:56:51Z
dc.date.issued2024-10
dc.identifier.citationStewart-Knox B, Bunting BP, Jin S et al (2024) Citizen attitudes towards the environment and association with perceived threats to the countryside: Evidence from countries in five European biogeographic zones. PLoS ONE. 19(10): e0311056.en_US
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10454/20054
dc.descriptionYesen_US
dc.description.abstractCitizens play a crucial role in attaining the United Nations 2030 sustainable development goals (SDGs). There is growing awareness of the importance of understanding citizen perspectives on environmental issues, in relation to developing and maintaining sustainable lifestyles, and in addressing perceived threats to protection and restoration of ecosystems and biodiversity. This analysis sought to understand people’s attitudes towards environmental conservation, how they relate to perceived threats to the countryside, and to determine how attitudes and perceived threats vary demographically and between countries. A survey was administered to citizens (quota sampled on age, gender, education, and split between rural and urban residency) across five countries representative of differing biogeographical regions (N = 3,190): Czech Republic (n = 649) (Continental); Spain (Mediterranean) (n = 623); Sweden (Boreal) (n = 645); Switzerland (Alpine) (n = 641); United Kingdom (UK) (Atlantic) (n = 632). Attitudes were measured using the Environmental Attitudes Inventory (EAI-24) on 2 factors (utilization; preservation) and perceived threat to the countryside on 1-factor (15 items). Multigroup regression analysis indicated that preservationist attitudes were associated with greater perceived threat to the countryside in all five countries. Higher perceived threat was associated with activities linked to environmental degradation, socio-economic uncertainty and risks in agri-food supply chains in all countries. The “bad behaviour of visitors” was the greatest perceived threat in the Czech Republic, Switzerland and the UK, while “lack of young farmers taking over farming” was the greatest perceived threat in Spain and Sweden. To promote pro-environmental attitudes and obtain greater public support for policies and interventions targeting environmental conservation, communication about environmental threats is needed, together with threat mitigation measures. Raising peoples’ awareness of threats to the countryside through targeted communications could promote pro-environment attitudes and potentially result in pro-environmental behaviours.en_US
dc.description.sponsorshipThe SUPER-G project (Grant Agreement No.: 774124) has received funding from the European Union Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme.en_US
dc.language.isoenen_US
dc.rights© 2024 Stewart-Knox et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.en_US
dc.subjectCitizen perspectivesen_US
dc.subjectEnvironmental issuesen_US
dc.subjectSustainable development goalsen_US
dc.subjectPerceived threats to the countrysideen_US
dc.titleCitizen attitudes towards the environment and association with perceived threats to the countryside: Evidence from countries in five European biogeographic zonesen_US
dc.status.refereedYesen_US
dc.date.application2024-10-10
dc.typeArticleen_US
dc.type.versionPublished versionen_US
dc.identifier.doihttps://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0311056en_US
dc.rights.licenseCC-BYen_US
refterms.dateFOA2024-10-14T11:56:52Z
dc.openaccess.statusopenAccessen_US
dc.date.accepted2024-09-11


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