FIELD SURVEY AND ANALYSIS OFNATIONWIDE AWARENESS ONCLIMATE CHANGE IN TURKEYEXECUTIVE SUMMARY

ENABLING ACTIVITIES FOR THE PREPERATION OF TURKEY’S SECOND NATIONAL COMMUNICATION TO THE UNITED NATIONS FRAMEWORK CONVENTION ON CLIMATE CHANGE

FIELD SURVEY AND ANALYSIS OF NATIONWIDE AWARENESS ON CLIMATE CHANGE IN TURKEY EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Quantitative Research Report April 09, 2012 | Istanbul

Prepared By: AKADEMETRE Research and Strategic Planning Adres: Büyükdere Cad. Meydan Sok. No: 5/17-18 Maslak, Şişli, İstanbul www.akademetre.com

This executive summary has been prepared within the context of “The Second National Declaration of Turkey on Climate Change” presented to Ministry of Environment and Urban Planning, carried out by United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and supported by Global Environment Fund (GEF).

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

1. SCOPE AND METHOD Research Purpose: With this research; •

Level of awareness of public,

•

Mitigation and adaptation activities carried out by public,

•

The willingness to pay to reduce greenhouse gas emissions have been investigated.

Research Method: The research was conducted according to face-to-face interview technique, which is one of quantitative research methods.

Sampling Frame: The research was conducted in urban and rural areas of Adana, Ankara, Antalya, Artvin, Aydın, Balıkesir, Bursa, Erzurum, Gaziantep, Isparta, Istanbul, Izmir, Konya, Kütahya, Samsun, Sivas and Bitlis. It is taken into consideration that selected settlements in these provinces include NUTS 1 Regions and 26 Water Basins.

Sampling: Within the main field study, 3.072 interviews were aimed. Considering the negative situations, which might be encountered on the field, in total 3.600 interviews were selected from the address list as 2.340 interviews (65%) in urban and 1.260 interviews (35%) in rural areas. As a result of the main field study, 3.166 interviews were realized and thus the targeted sampling has been reached.

Target Audience: Within the research scope, randomly selected individuals between 1569 years old (according to the Kisch selection table) living in households which are in accordance with the interview were interviewed.

2. FINDINGS Demographic Structure of the Research: •

During the research, 24.6% of the interviews are realized in Istanbul, 9.2% in Ankara and 9.0% in Izmir.

•

The first 3 basins with highest samples are Marmara, Ergene and Sakarya.

•

64.3% of the interviews are realized in rural areas, whereas 35.7% in rural areas.

According to the general census of TUIK (Turkish Statistical Institute) in 2000, the proportion of households in Turkey is 68% in urban areas, 32% in rural areas. The proportion of visited households in urban and rural areas approximately shows the proportion in Turkey.

•

48.5% of interviewees are women, 51.5% are men. According to the general census of TUIK (Turkish Statistical Institute) in 2010; the gender distribution in Turkey is even. The gender distribution of the research has almost the same proportion of Turkey’s gender distribution.

•

The average age of interviewees is 40.7. Since people over age 15 are included in the study, the average age of interviewees is higher than the average of TUIK.

Awareness on Climate Change: •

39.5% of interviewees associate climate change with change in seasons. It is respectively followed by drought/waterlessness and disturbances on weather conditions.

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There is a segment of 6.0% who associate climate change with global warming.

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12.9% of interviewees does not have any idea about climate change.

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As the answer distribution of the question “What is climate change?” is evaluated by gender; the rate of people having no idea is higher among women. As rural and urban areas are compared, the rate of people having no idea is higher in rural areas. People living in urban areas associate the climate change mostly with change in seasons, air pollution, global warming and depletion of ozone layer. On the other hand, people living in rural areas associate the climate change mostly with drought / waterlessness, disturbances on weather conditions, degradation of the natural balance.

•

As the answer distribution of the question “What is climate change?” is evaluated by age; as the age increases, the rate of people having no idea increases, too.

The age groups which mostly associate the climate change with change in seasons are 15-19 and 30-39 years. The age group which mostly associates the climate change with drought / waterlessness is 60-69 years. The age group which mostly associates the climate change with distrubances on weather conditions is 50-59 years. The age group of 30-39 years mostly associates the climate change with air pollution. And the age group of 50-59 years mostly associates the climate change with depletion of ozone layer.

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As the answer distribution of the question “What is climate change?” is evaluated by education level; as education level decreases, the rate of people having no idea increases. Mostly people having university degree associate the climate change with depletion of ozone layer and global warming.

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It is seen that the perception of struggle against climate change is high among the public. However, the economic growth should not be ignored, too.

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74.1% of the interviewees think that lessons about climate change should be given in primary and high schools.

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The expressions of “Struggle against climate change creates new professions and employment”, “Effects of climate change are exaggerated” and “Climate change cannot be prevented even though precautions are taken” are below the agreement average.

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As the answer distribution of the question “Please indicate your level of agreement by looking at the card and replying as “1 Strongly disagree, 5 Strongly agree” on each of the statements about climate change which I am going to read” is evaluated by education level; as education level decreases, the rate of people having no idea increases. The agreement level of people with university degree and above is higher on all expressions, except the expressions of “Effects of climate change are exaggerated” and “Climate change cannot be prevented even though precautions are taken”.

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Men’s agreement level to all expressions is higher, except the expressions of “Effects of climate change are exaggerated” and “Climate change cannot be prevented even though precautions are taken”.

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The agreement level on the expressions of “Lessons about climate change should be given in primary and high schools”, “Climate change can be prevented by taking precautions”, “The people should definitely participate in struggle against climate change” and “Effects of climate change are exaggerated” is higher at the age group of 15-19 years.

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The agreement level on the expressions of “Climate change affects economic growth negatively”, “Climate change creates poverty” and “Struggle against climate change is a duty of the state” is higher at the age group of 40-49 years.

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As the answer distribution of the question “I will show you some expressions related to economic aspects of struggle against climate change. Would you please indicate the expression you strongly agree?” is evaluated by gender; it is observed that men are more sensitive to the struggle against climate change. In addition, people living in urban areas are more sensitive to the struggle against climate change than people living in rural areas.

•

As the answer distribution of the question “I will show you some expressions related to economic aspects of struggle against climate change. Would you please indicate the expression you strongly agree?” is evaluated by gender; it is observed that men are more sensitive to the struggle against climate change. In addition, people living in urban areas are more sensitive to the struggle against climate change than people living in rural areas.

•

The agreement level on the expression of “Struggle against climate change creates new professions and employment” is higher at the age group of 50-59 years.

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The agreement level on the expression of “Climate change cannot be prevented even though precautions are taken” is higher at the age group of 30-39 years.

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It is observed that the most important problem of the world is the spread of epidemic diseases and depletion of food and beverage resources. On the other hand, climate change is considered to be the least important (9th ) one.

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As the answer distribution of the question “Please indicate how important is the problem of ………………… for the world; in other words, would you please indicate its importance level by looking at the card?” is evaluated by gender, the importance level of climate change and global warming is higher among men, while the importance level of drought/waterlessness is higher among women.

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As the answer distribution of the question “Please indicate how important is the problem of ………………… for the world; in other words, would you please indicate its importance level by looking at the card?” is evaluated by age; the importance level of global warming is higher among the age group of 15-19 years; while the importance level of climate change is higher among the age group of 40-49 years.

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As the answer distribution of the question “Please indicate how important is the problem of ………………… for the world; in other words, would you please indicate its importance level by looking at the card?” is evaluated by education level, the importance level of climate change and global warming increases, as education level increases.

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The most important problem in Turkey is poverty. It is followed by unemployment and terror. The climate change is considered to be the least important one.

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As the answer distribution of the question “Please indicate how important is the problem of ………………… for Turkey; in other words, would you please indicate its importance level by looking at the card?” is evaluated by gender, it is observed that men are more sensitive to problems considering Turkey.

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As the answer distribution of the question “Please indicate how important is the problem of ………………… for Turkey; in other words, would you please indicate its importance level by looking at the card?” is evaluated by education level; it is observed that as education level increases, the importance level of climate change increases.

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It is observed that the public has some idea about climate change, however the knowledge is insufficient.

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12.5% has knowledge about causes of climate change; 11.1% has knowledge about adaptation to climate change, 10.7% has knowledge about struggle against climate change and 10.5% has knowledge about impacts of climate change in our lives.

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As the answer distribution of the question “Please indicate your level of knowledge as “1-Very poor, 5-Very good” about the issues I am going to read.” is evaluated; it is observed that men have more information about climate change.

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As the answer distribution of the question “Please indicate your level of knowledge as “1-Very poor, 5-Very good” about the issues I am going to read.” is evaluated by age; it is observed that the level of knowledge about climate change is higher among young people.

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As the answer distribution of the question “Please indicate your level of knowledge as “1-Very poor, 5-Very good” about the issues I am going to read.” is evaluated by education level; it is observed that as education level increases, the level of knowledge increases.

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It is observed that the public does not know the main reasons of climate change.

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It is believed that the most important cause of climate change is air pollution.

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Air pollution is followed by deforestation and industrialization.

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14.2% of the interviewees do not have any idea about the causes of climate change.

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As the answer distribution of the question “What are the causes of climate change?” is evaluated by gender; it is observed that men have more ideas about causes of climate change.

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As the answer distribution of the question “What are the causes of climate change?” is evaluated; the rate of people having no idea is higher among the age groups of 15-19 and 30-39 years.

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As the answer distribution of the question “What are the causes of climate change?” is evaluated by education level; it is observed that as education level increases, the level of knowledge about causes of climate change increases.

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Most important indicators of climate change are increase in temperatures and drought.

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The least observed impact of climate change is the sea level rise.

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As the answer distribution of the question “Please indicate the impact level of climate change on these natural phenomena by looking at the card and evaluating between 1 and 5 points.” is evaluated by gender; it is observed that men have more idea about impacts of climate change on various natural phenomena.

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As the answer distribution of the question “Please indicate the impact level of climate change on these natural phenomena by looking at the card and evaluating between 1 and 5 points.” is evaluated by age; it is observed that the age group of 40-49 years have more idea about impacts of climate change on various natural phenomena.

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As the answer distribution of the question “Please indicate the impact level of climate change on these natural phenomena by looking at the card and evaluating between 1 and 5 points.” is evaluated by education level; it is observed that as education level increases, the level of knowledge about impacts of climate change on various natural phenomena increases, too.

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The most frequently used channel to get information about climate and environmental issues is television.

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The most frequently used channel to get information about climate and environmental issues is television programs and television news. This is followed by family members and immediate surroundings.

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13.2% of the interviewees indicated that they do not have any idea about climate and environmental issues.

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As the answer distribution of the question “Now, I am going to show you the sources of information related to climate and environmental issues on a card.

Please indicate the first 3 effective sources of information from which you get information about climate change.” is evaluated; it is observed that people living in rural areas get information from teachers, chaplains and village headmen more frequently. On the other hand, people living in urban areas get information from internet and non-governmental organizations more frequently. Men mostly get information from universities and scientists, Ministry of Environment and Urban Planning, teachers and chaplains; on the other hand, women mostly get information from advertisements.

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As the answer distribution of the question “Now, I am going to show you the sources of information related to climate and environmental issues on a card.

Please indicate the first 3 effective sources of information from which you get information about climate change.” is evaluated by age; it is observed that the age group of 15-19 years have the highest rate of getting information from universities and scientists, internet, teachers, non-governmental organizations and United Nations. On the other hand, the age group of 60-69 years have the highest rate of getting information from immediate surroundings and village headmen.

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As the answer distribution of the question “Now, I am going to show you the sources of information related to climate and environmental issues on a card.

Please indicate the first 3 effective sources of information from which you get information about climate change.” is evaluated by education level; it is observed that people with university degree and above have the highest rate of getting information from newspaper reports, universities and scientists, Ministry of Environment and Urban Planning, advertisements, internet news and webpages,

non-governmental organizations and United Nations. On the other hand, they have the lowest rate of getting information from village headmen, immediate surroundings, teachers and chaplains. People with primary education have the highest rate of getting information from village headmen, teachers and chaplains.

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Mostly magazines, United Nations and family members are considered to be reliable among the sources of information about climate and environmental issues.

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29.2% thinks that climate change impacts in Turkey are less than other countries, 24.6% believes that climate change impacts in Turkey are the same with other countries and 19.4% thinks that climate change impacts in Turkey are more than other countries.

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26.8% of interviewees do not have any idea about the impact level of climate change.

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As the answer distribution of the question “Now, I am going to read You some expressions about the level of climate change impact on the world and Turkey.

Please indicate the expression you strongly agree.” is evaluated; the agreement on the expression of “Climate change impacts in Turkey are more than other countries” is higher among men and among people living in urban areas.

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As the answer distribution of the question “Now, I am going to read You some expressions about the level of climate change impact on the world and Turkey.

Please indicate the expression you strongly agree.” is evaluated; the agreement level to the expression of “Climate change impacts in Turkey are more than other countries” is higher among the age group of 40-49 years and among the people living in rural areas.

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As the answer distribution of the question “Now, I am going to read You some expressions about the level of climate change impact on the world and Turkey.

Please indicate the expression you strongly agree.” is evaluated by education level; the agreement level on the expression of “Climate change impacts in Turkey are more than other countries” is higher among people with university degree and above.

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66.0% of the interviewees are quite concerned about climate change issue.

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As the answer distribution of the question “Please indicate your level of concern about climate change problem in Turkey by looking at the card and evaluating between 1 and 5 points.” is evaluated, it is observed that the rate of people who are quite concerned about climate change are more among men and among people living in urban areas.

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As the answer distribution of the question “Please indicate your level of concern about climate change problem in Turkey by looking at the card and evaluating

between 1 and 5 points.” is evaluated by age; it is observed that the rate of people who are very unconcerned is highest among the age group of 60-69 years.

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As the answer distribution of the question “Please indicate your level of concern about climate change problem in Turkey by looking at the card and evaluating between 1 and 5 points.” is evaluated by education level; it is observed that as education level increases, the rate of people who are concerned increases.

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34.6% of interviewees think that climate change is a serious problem and immediate action must be taken. 34.3% of interviewees believe that there is enough evidence to prove climate change and to take some precautions would be beneficial.

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As the answer distribution of the question “Now, I am going to read you some expressions about the level of seriousness of climate change. Please indicate the one you strongly agree.” is evaluated; it is observed that the climate change problem is more serious for men and for people living in urban areas.

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As the answer distribution of the question “Now, I am going to read you some expressions about the level of seriousness of climate change. Please indicate the one you strongly agree.” is evaluated by age; it is observed that the climate change problem is not a serious problem at all among the age group of 60-69 years.

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As the answer distribution of the question “Now, I am going to read you some expressions about the level of seriousness of climate change. Please indicate the one you strongly agree.” is evaluated by education level; the climate change problem is not serious at all among people with primary education.

Mitigation and Adaptation Practices on Climate Change: •

Energy saving are considered to be the most efficient practices. On the other hand, practices related to transportation are below the average, except the practice of “To use public transport more”.

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Although 66.0% is very concerned about the climate change, only 32.0% pays attention to environment-friendly labels while buying products.

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That is to say, although the interest in climate change is high, the level of realized actions is low.

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30.8% of public does not pay any attention whether there is a label emphasizing that the product you are about to buy is produced through less harmful and environment-friendly methods.

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As a practice to mitigate the climate change impacts, mostly energy saving is realized. This is respectively followed by water saving and to keep the environment clean. 38.2% of interviewees do not make any practice.

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It is observed that the public accepts the climate change problem, and will tend to change their way of living in the future.

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34.1% of interviewees think that will have to change our way of living, in order to mitigate the impacts of climate change; 22.9% believes that new technologies will emerge, in order to mitigate the impacts of climate change

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Television is considered to be the most effective channel of communication for climate and environmental issues.

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To indicate names of trusted institutions in a campaign on television would increase the effectiveness of the campaign.

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Television is followed by schools and newspaper.

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It is seen that the most important duty of public to struggle against climate change is not to pollute the environment. This is followed by to make electricity and water savings and to create awareness/ to be conscious. 39.6% of the interviewees indicated that they do not know anything about the subject; and 3.6% indicated that the public does not have any duty about this subject.

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It is seen that the most important duty of public / governmental organizations is to raise the public awareness. This is followed by planting a tree and teaching at schools. 47.6% of the interviewees indicated that they do not know anything about

the

subject;

and

2.4%

indicated

that

the

public

/

governmental

organizations do not have any duty about this subject.

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It is seen that the most important duty of private sector establishments is to filter the waste. This is followed by to make filtering and not to pollute the environment. 70.9% of the interviewees indicated that they do not know anything about the subject; and 4.0% indicated that the private sector establishments do not have any duty about this subject.

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It is seen that the most important duty of non-governmental organizations is to visit households to raise public awareness. This is followed by organizing seminars and trainings. 78.3% of the interviewees indicated that they do not know anything about the subject; and 4.4% indicated that the non-governmental organizations do not have any duty about this subject.

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Ministries are considered to be the most effective institutions in mitigation of climate change impacts.

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Only 10.8% of the interviewees know about the practices carried on by the government.

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Ministries are considered to be the most effective institution in mitigation of climate change impacts.

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Practices carried on by the government to struggle against climate change are not known by the majority of public.

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The most known practice to struggle against climate change is recycling waste and garbage.

This is followed by using less water at agricultural production by

improving agricultural irrigation systems and encouraging practices providing energy efficiency like thermal insulation of buildings.

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The practice which is found most effective to struggle against climate change is recycling waste and garbage.

This is followed by arranging workshops and

campaigns to increase consumer knowledge and change their habits and encouraging investments which will create less environmental pollution.

Willingness to Pay for Reducing the Impacts of Climate Change: •

33.2% of the interviewees indicated that they would pay more, if they know that this product is produced with less harmful and environment-friendly methods.

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The average value for people who want to pay added value is for a product worth 100 TL is 12.1 TL. On the other hand, the average value given by the whole target audience is 4.0 TL.

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22.0% of interviewees would pay higher electricity bills if the revenues are used for mitigation of climate change impacts.

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The average value for people who want to pay added value for electricity bill is 8.8 TL. The total average value of the whole target audience is 1.9 TL.

3. RESULTS •

It is observed that although the interest level of public is high, the knowledge level is low. The public has some idea about climate change, however the knowledge level is insufficient.

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The causes of climate change, the precautions to be taken are not known enough.

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The most important problems of climate change impacts in the world are; the spread of epidemic diseases, depletion of food and beverage resources, waterlessness/drought. However this issues are the impacts of climate change. If the communication activities can associate the concerns of public with climate change; some improvements would be realized in terms of struggle.

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The public mostly tends to do practices related to energy saving. To emphasize practices related to savings would be more effective in communication.

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In general climate change is perceived as change in seasons. Another important perception, the increase in drought and waterlessness is more emphasized by rural residents.

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Although the climate change is considered to be a problem for the world and Turkey, it is less important compared to other social, economical and political issues. Although climate change is perceived as a problem both for the world and

Turkey, it is less important than other problems like social, economical and political issues. It is also important that the problems of depletion of food and beverage resources and the spread of epidemic diseases are perceived as the most important problems. As climate change impacts on these issues are shared with public opinion, the perceived importance of climate change will rise.

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Furthermore, the perceived importance of climate change is lower in rural areas compared to urban areas. Since the perception of increase in drought and waterlessness is associated with climate change mostly in rural areas, in the communication with rural residents climate change should be associated with drought and waterlessness, so that rural residents give more importance to climate change.

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In addition, the most important impact of climate change is perceived as increase in temperatures and drought. Although these impacts might be perceived very negatively, their impacts to our life should be emphasized. In other words, the impacts of increase in temperature or drought and negative social and economic impacts should be emphasized concretely.

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In this sense, the communication with the public opinion should not be restricted with the aim of raising the given importance to climate change through the impacts of climate change. The public is aware that both public and government have duties in struggle against climate change. However, the support given to participation of public is higher than the expectations from government.

Therefore, concrete precautions should be suggested to public opinion, and understandable, clear projects should be made with government.

•

At

this

point,

another

element

corresponding

to

suggestion

of

concrete

precautions and behaviors is that, the public does not think itself knowledgeable about climate change causes, ways to struggle and impacts on our lives.

Especially the age group of over 30 years, which usually decide on household consumption, have lower levels of knowledge. Therefore, in the communication the priority should be given to the age group of over 30 years instead of addressing young people through educational institutions.

•

It is observed that the most effective channel in communication is television programs and news. Also village headmen are an important channel in rural areas. By raising awareness of village headmen, the rural part of communicational activities might be carried on. Even though magazines and United Nations are perceived as the most reliable sources of information, to reach to those sources regularly would be very difficult for a big part of the public.