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Relationship between water-conservation behavior and water education in Guangzhou, China

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Abstract

Water conservation is critical under the current state of climate change and population growth; however, water-conservation programs and research in China have generally focused on technological rather than behavioral innovations. This paper focuses on the state of water-conservation behavior and water education in China to assess how education, particularly the 9-year compulsory education program, affects water-conservation behavior. A survey (237 participants) was conducted in Guangzhou, the third largest city in China, to determine the attitudes of citizens towards conserving water. Overall, the following observations were made: (1) although 95 % of the participants were aware of water conservation, only 42 % recognized that it is urgently needed; (2) water-conservation actions lag behind water-conservation awareness, and only 19 % of the participants were willing to perform more than five actions, including daily water reuse and conservation, whereas 48 % of the participants performed less than two actions; (3) additional education will result in improved water-conservation behavior; (4) more than half of the participants who had graduated from primary and secondary schools showed poor water-conservation behavior; and (5) water-conservation education in the 9-year compulsory education program was extremely rare (representing 0.2–1.4 % of the curriculum) and only included in four compulsory courses. From these observations, it was concluded that water education seriously lags behind the economic development of Guangzhou. Water and environmental education should be emphasized in the 9-year compulsory education curriculum because this program has a relatively large number of students in China.

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Acknowledgments

This study was jointly supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 41201433) and the Specialized Research Fund for the Doctoral Program of Higher Education of China (No. 20110171120001).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Water Resource and Environments, School of Geography and Planning, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China

    Yu Jiu Xiong, Chen Liao & Zhuo Nan Zeng

  2. Key Laboratory of Water Cycle and Water Security in Southern China of Guangdong High Education Institute, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China

    Yu Jiu Xiong

  3. School of Earth Science and Geological Engineering, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China

    Xin Rong Hao

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  1. Yu Jiu Xiong
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Correspondence to Yu Jiu Xiong.

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Xiong, Y.J., Hao, X.R., Liao, C. et al. Relationship between water-conservation behavior and water education in Guangzhou, China. Environ Earth Sci 75, 1 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-015-4873-x

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