Knowledge, Attitude and Risk Perceptions of People towards Climate Change: Predicting Pro-Environmental Behaviours for Mitigation and Adaptation
Keywords:
Pro-environmental behaviours, Risk perception, Personal willingness, Holistic affect, climate change, extreme weather eventsAbstract
This study was carried out to find the predictors of pro-environmental behaviours (PEBs) to mitigate Climate change (CC) and to assess its association with knowledge about CC, attitude (beliefs and intentions) towards CC, personal experience with extreme weather events, holistic effect of CC, risk perception and individual willingness to reduce CC. The study used a correlational research design and a convenient sampling strategy to recruit 200 (N=200) young adults from Lahore. The results revealed that risk perception was a mediator between positive beliefs about climate change and negative affective evaluation of CC and PEBs. People with positive beliefs and negative feelings towards climate change had higher risk perceptions, leading them to act pro-environmentally. Moreover, personal willingness was also a significant positive predictor of PEBs. The findings illustrated that education positively correlated with PEBs, and women were likelier to engage in PEBs than men. The study has significant implications as it highlighted the crucial role beliefs, feelings, risk perception, and personal willingness can play in mitigating CC. Interventions should be designed to educate people about CC, strengthen their beliefs, stimulate negative affect towards CC, and increase risk perception and willingness. It can also help Pakistan's policymakers to improve the public's engagement with PEBs.