White Michael J, Hunter Lori M
Brown University.
Soc Sci Q. 2009 Dec 1;9(4):960-982. doi: 10.1111/j.1540-6237.2009.00672.x. Epub 2009 Oct 15.
Balancing environmental quality with economic growth in less developed settings is clearly a challenge. Still surprisingly little empirical evidence has been brought to bear on the relative priority given environmental and socioeconomic issues among the residents themselves of such settings. This research explores such perceptions. METHODS: We undertake survey research with 2500 residents of coastal Ghana on policy issues, focusing on environmental topics. RESULTS: Our analyses reveal a significant amount of environmental awareness, with education and political engagement consistently predicting higher levels of concern. In addition, environmental issues are deemed important even when considered relative to other socioeconomic issues. CONCLUSION: In the end, we argue that our work sheds light on global environmentalism and the ways in which local populations in less developed settings prioritize social and environmental concerns. This work also has important policy implications since insight on local perceptions may help buttress policy responses designed to cope with global change.
在欠发达地区平衡环境质量与经济增长显然是一项挑战。然而，令人惊讶的是，关于这些地区居民自身对环境和社会经济问题相对优先性的实证证据仍然很少。本研究探讨了此类认知。方法：我们对加纳沿海地区的2500名居民进行了关于政策问题的调查研究，重点关注环境主题。结果：我们的分析揭示了大量的环境意识，教育程度和政治参与度一直预示着更高的关注度。此外，即使相对于其他社会经济问题而言，环境问题也被认为很重要。结论：最后，我们认为我们的工作揭示了全球环保主义以及欠发达地区当地居民对社会和环境问题进行优先排序的方式。这项工作也具有重要的政策意义，因为对当地认知的洞察可能有助于支持旨在应对全球变化的政策回应。
