1

An Investigation of Chinese An Investigation of Chinese Attitudes toward the Attitudes toward the Environment: Case Study Environment: Case Study Using the Grain for Green Using the Grain for Green ProjectProject

December 10, 2009 (Thursday)

Speaker: Min-Hao Yuan (袁明豪 )

Graduate Institute of Environmental Engineering, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan

Shixiong Cao, Li Chen and Zhande Liu

AMBIO: A Journal of the Human EnvironmentFebruary 2009, Vol. 38, Issue 1, pp. 55-64

NATIONAL TAIWAN UNIVERSITYNATIONAL TAIWAN UNIVERSITY

2

AMBIO was founded by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in 1972.

Ranking of Impact Factor (2008):

Engineering, Environmental 8/38 Environmental Sciences 50/161

3

Secretary General of UNMaurices Strong

Conference President Ingemund Bengtsson

The Stockholm Conference on 16 June 1972http://www.mauricestrong.net/

The MThe Milestones of ilestones of GGlobal lobal EEnvironmental nvironmental CConservationonservation

United Nations (UN) Conference on the Human Environment

June 1972Stockholm, Sweden

UN Environment Programme (UNEP)December 1972

“Our Common Future”World Commission on Environment and Development

1987

Paperback cover http://www.amazon.com

Sustainable Development

Development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.

UN Conference on Environment and Development (Earth Summit)

June 1992Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity Commission on Sustainable Development UN Framework Convention on Climate Change Agenda 21

http://www.mtholyoke.edu/~danov20d/images/rio_conference.jpg

4

5

The Grain for Green Program (GGP)

From 1999 to 2010, the government plans to spend USD40 billion to convert 147 million ha of farmland into forest and grassland and 173 million ha of wasteland (including abandoned farmland) into forest in 25 provinces in western China.

Given China’s tremendous size and population, the attitudes and behavior of its citizens and how these attitudes affect their responses to the GGP will play a key role in the protection and sustainability of the global environment.

6

Objectives

To identify the factors required to achieve support for the use of strategic environmental management.

To study the attitudes of citizens as revealed by their responses to general questions related to a specific government initiative - China’s GGP.

To clarify the attitudes toward both the environmental policy and how these attitudes affected self-reported willingness to invest in environmental conservation.

7

Questionnaire Is the Chinese environment badly degraded? Would you donate money for environmental

conservation? If so, how much (USD)? Is the environment or the economy more important? Does environmental degradation affect your health? Is it worthwhile to invest more than 300 billion RMB

in the Grain For Green Project (GGP)?

8

Results and Discussion

NATIONAL TAIWAN UNIVERSITYNATIONAL TAIWAN UNIVERSITY

9

NATIONAL TAIWAN UNIVERSITYNATIONAL TAIWAN UNIVERSITY

10

Age NATIONAL TAIWAN UNIVERSITYNATIONAL TAIWAN UNIVERSITY

11

Net Income NATIONAL TAIWAN UNIVERSITYNATIONAL TAIWAN UNIVERSITY

12

Education Level NATIONAL TAIWAN UNIVERSITYNATIONAL TAIWAN UNIVERSITY

13

NATIONAL TAIWAN UNIVERSITYNATIONAL TAIWAN UNIVERSITYEmployment

14

NATIONAL TAIWAN UNIVERSITYNATIONAL TAIWAN UNIVERSITYLocation

15

NATIONAL TAIWAN UNIVERSITYNATIONAL TAIWAN UNIVERSITYProvince

16

NATIONAL TAIWAN UNIVERSITYNATIONAL TAIWAN UNIVERSITYGender

17

NATIONAL TAIWAN UNIVERSITYNATIONAL TAIWAN UNIVERSITYConclusions

Education is a significant predictor of a person’s perception of the natural environment and perceived risk factors and that this increased perception can alter their environmental behavior.

To provide better support for this finding, it will be necessary in a future study to test whether improving a person’s education about the issues changes their opinion of those issues and thus motivates changes in their environment-related behavior.

18

NATIONAL TAIWAN UNIVERSITYNATIONAL TAIWAN UNIVERSITYConclusions

Most Chinese citizens supported China’s environmental policy and the goal of environmental restoration (GGP).

Younger citizens with higher levels of education and higher net incomes, male respondents, as well as residents in urban areas and remote western areas with a vulnerable environment and ‘‘knowledge workers’’ or other skilled jobs generally exhibited a greater recognition of the importance of the environment and of restoration programs.

19

Graduate Institute of Environmental EngineeringNational Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan

Thank you for your attention.