Modelling categorical data to identify factors influencing concern for the natural environment in Iran
Highlights
Environmental concern data were collected from 9062 respondents throughout Iran. Loglinear techniques were used to study the interactions underlying collected data. A GIS showed spatial variations in education levels and concern for the environment. The 15–24 age group with 10–12 years education had more concern for the environment. Nearly 66% of respondents, with low education, had less environmental concern.
Introduction
While positive and progressive measures to improve environmental governance and to promote sustainable development are being advocated environmental problems, nevertheless, continue to escalate, especially in many countries of the developing world. With the claim that “the prospects for effective governance leading to sustainability are, on the balance, quite bleak” (Rosenau, 2003, p. 11), it becomes necessary for researchers and policy makers to gain further insights on strategies that will be most effective for implementation in specific countries in order to minimize environmental problems. In this respect, this research decided to analyze and model empirical categorical environmental data in order to identify which factors must be targeted to raise the concerns and willingness of citizens to participate in environmental protection and sustainability issues.
The categorical environmental concern data modelled in this paper were collected from the Islamic Republic of Iran. The premise was that Iran should be at the forefront of effective environmental governance because, as an Islamic Republic, the Government incorporated aspects of Islamic environmentalism within its constitutional framework (Amuli, 2007). This required environmental protection to be a public duty in order to safeguard the quality of life for both the present and future generations. Each Muslim has a duty to be a good steward of the environment (Nasr, 1998, Khalid, 2002). Despite the strong environmental traditions of Islam which emphasize conservation and protection of the natural environment (Kula, 2001, Foltz, 2003), the Islamic Republic of Iran is, nevertheless, confronted with numerous environmental problems. These problems include air pollution, deforestation, desertification, eutrophication, water pollution, excessive industrial and agricultural wastes, degradation of aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems, biodiversity losses, soil erosion, and a broad spectrum of other environmental stresses which have detrimental impacts on the natural environment (Parizanganeh et al., 2009). Tehran is considered to be one of the most polluted cities in the world, ranking with Mexico City, Beijing, Cairo, Saõ Paolo, Shanghai, Jakarta, and Bangkok (U.S. Energy Information Administration, 2002). The widespread environmental problems in Iran prompt the question, “Why is Iran experiencing persistent and escalating environmental problems despite Constitutional policies and legislation requiring care and concern for the natural environment?” To obtain insights on why environmental problems are pervasive this research focused on investigating the level of personal concern, and the factors influencing the concern of Iranians for the natural environment and sustainability issues. This study considered environmental concern as “the degree to which people are aware of problems regarding the environment and support efforts to solve them and/or indicate the willingness to contribute personally their solution” (Dunlap and Jones, 2002, p. 485).
Section snippets
Literature on factors influencing personal concern for the environment
Researchers in various locations have reported that a broad range of factors influence personal concern for the environment, among them socioeconomic characteristics, residence, education, age, and gender. The early study by Buttel (1975) found that concern for the environment is influenced by economic conditions, and that during times of economic hardship those who are more economically disadvantaged will disproportionately shift their concerns for environmental quality to economic wellbeing.
Objectives of research
The primary objective of the research was to utilize loglinear techniques to model the interrelationships and interactions underlying categorical environmental survey data in order to isolate the most significant factors influencing personal concern for the natural environment of Iran. By modelling the multidimensional data, this research assessed the statistical significance of the various factors which influence personal concern for the environment. The identification of the most significant
Questionnaire design
The research methodology was premised on the fact that a multitude of factors influence personal concern for the environment (Dunlap and Jones, 2002, Lakhan and LaValle, 2002, McFarlane and Boxall, 2003). With this understanding a questionnaire was formulated, field tested, and administered. Each respondent answered fifteen questions to provide information pertaining to age, gender, religious background, education, residential location, knowledge of sustainability, environmental problems, and
General observations
The acquired data were tabulated and then graphed to understand the general characteristics of the data that were collected. Examination of the tabulated data (see Table 1) revealed that the sample size was fairly representative of the overall age distribution of Iran’s population. Approximately 52.35% of the sampled population were less than 25 years of age, while 2.58% of the respondents were older than 55 years. The percentage of the respondents progressively decreased with increases in age.
Discussion and appraisal
The aforementioned loglinear model that was selected highlighted that personal concern for the natural environment in Iran was associated with four-way effects and interactions for the factors educational attainment, age, gender, and residential location. Close interactions were also evident with gender and age, and gender and location. To illustrate the complexities of the various interactions graphical plots were produced from the loglinear results. For example, it could be demonstrated that
Conclusion
Modelling categorical environmental data with loglinear techniques proved to be successful in highlighting a combination of interacting factors, namely educational attainment, age, gender, and residential location as being responsible for influencing personal concern for the natural environment in Iran. Of the various factors, the loglinear modelling results highlighted that educational attainment had the strongest interaction with personal concern for the environment. This finding facilitated
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