Factors influencing private and public environmental protection behaviors: results from a survey of residents in Shaanxi, China

Currently one of the largest and most rapidly developing countries, China also has some of the world's most severe environmental problems. China will most likely need to use all of the potential major strategies currently available to solve the country's huge environmental challenges, including promoting individual conservation behavior through educational campaigns and encouraging public environmental advocacy. This paper summarized the findings of a survey of 347 residents of Shaanxi province on environmental attitudes and behaviors. The survey found generally high levels of environmental knowledge and high recognition of the seriousness of environmental issues, moderate levels of individual actions supporting environmental resource conservation and low levels of public environmental behaviors, particularly for organized public advocacy. Further analysis indicated that the perceived importance of environmental protection is the most important factor influencing individual environmental resource conservation, but not public advocacy behaviors. Implications for environmental campaigns are discussed.     

Informing common pool resource problems: a survey of preference for catchment management strategies amongst farmers and the general public in the Ythan river catchment

In principle the protection of environmental resources is in every ones interest, yet it is evident that this is not what often occurs. In some cases there is an identifiable person or corporation, whose environmental impact can be tractably regulated either politically or via market forces. In other cases there is cumulative impact on a commonly held or "common pool" resource, from a variety of users, making establishing rights and responsibilities for resource management more difficult. The water of the Ythan catchment is one such 'Common Pool Resource' (CPR). An intensively farmed catchment also sustaining a sizable population, the consequent nitrate inputs to the water are believed to be the cause of algal matting at the estuary mouth, an internationally designated wildlife reserve. This led to its designation as Scotland's first Nitrate Vulnerable Zone (NVZ). Supported by the EU Life Environment fund, the Ythan Project attempted to foster co-operation between farmers and the wider community of the Ythan catchment to protect and restore the river environment. Throughout the project surveys were undertaken concerning the popularity of the Ythan Project's voluntary approach compared with more individualist or state-organised approaches. Taking CPR theory as a framework, key findings from those surveys are presented and discussed as to their implications for organisational intervention in CPR problems.