Survey gauges ‘Jordanians’ knowledge, attitudes, behaviour’ on climate change

AMMAN — A recent opinion survey, aiming “to gauge Jordanians’ knowledge, attitudes and behaviour in relation to the causes and effects of climate change on Jordan” showed that 88 per cent of respondents feel a change in the pattern of the weather, while 46 per cent of them have never heard of “climate change”.

The survey, which covered a sample of 1,827 respondents from Jordan’s 12 governorates, was conducted by the Polling Centre Sawti of the NAMA Strategic Intelligence Solutions, a research, polling and consultancy firm based in Amman. 

Hala Murad, head of the Dibeen Association for Environmental Development, commented on the survey’s results, noting that the fact that 46 per cent of respondents have never heard of climate change is “worrying”.

This calls for more efforts directed towards raising public awareness, the responsibility of which falls on the Ministry of Environment, municipalities, local and governorate councils as well as environmental associations and even activists, Murad told The Jordan Times.

According to its results, out of the 957 respondents who have heard of climate change, 54 per cent know about weather or seasonal changes, 20 per cent know about global warming, 10 per cent know about desertification and 7 per cent know about the ozone layer depletion.

The opinion poll also revealed that the plurality of the 46 per cent of respondents who have heard of climate change hold the view that air pollution is its main contributor and 19 per cent of this subgroup believe it is deforestation, while 8 per cent believe it is consumerism and 7 per believe it is traffic.

Additionally, 37 per cent of respondents who have heard of climate change believe that governments “should have the main responsibility for tackling [it]”, while 23 per cent held it should be environmental organisations and 17 per cent attributed that responsibility to international organisations.

The poll also showed that only 6 per cent held that individuals should carry the main responsibility and in answer to the question: “Have you ever taken, or do you regularly take, any action out of concern for climate change?”, only 53 respondents said yes, 41 per cent of which noted that they recycle, 35 per cent said they plant trees and 18 per cent said that they use alternative energy.

Of 337 respondents who believe that it is possible to tackle climate change, 28 per cent said that it can be done through reforestation and 22 per cent suggested increasing regulations on factories, while 21 per cent said that it can be tackled by using environmentally friendly products and 11 per cent suggested raising awareness, according to the survey’s results.

“The Ministry of Environment has a responsibility to enhance its research role and further look into the findings of this study,” Murad said.

She added that the ministry needs to investigate the cause of this lack of public awareness of climate change and how to counter it.

Murad also stressed the importance of “individuals’ sense of responsibility” towards climate change, as their communal efforts have the power to affect the policies of governments and decision makers who carry the most responsibility to take action against this issue.