Consciousness of Nature 2017

Since 2009, the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety has conducted a representative population survey on the attitude of the German population towards nature and biodiversity every two years. The survey determines the population´s understanding of nature, how nature is perceived and experienced, what willingness there is to commit to nature conservation and how current issues of nature conservation policy are assessed.
In 2017, Ipsos GmbH was responsible for conducting the face-to-face study in cooperation with SINUS Markt- und Sozialforschung GmbH.<br>1. Marine nature: Associations with the topic of marine nature; agreement with statements about marine nature reserves (fishing should not take place in marine nature reserves, voluntary arrangements with fishermen in marine nature reserves are better than government regulations, oil and gas pipelines have no place in marine nature reserves, more marine nature reserves should be established to preserve nature in the sea, no wind turbines should be located in marine nature reserves); State of knowledge about the establishment of six large nature reserves in the German North Sea and Baltic Sea; importance of such nature reserves in the North Sea and Baltic Sea; assessment of the problematic nature of various aspects for the sea (plastic waste in the sea, pollution by oil, overfishing, underwater noise, e.g. from ships or drilling in the sea, radioactive waste, fertilisers and sewage, rising sea levels, loss of animal and plant species in the sea, bycatch, fishing methods that are harmful to nature such as trawl nets, extraction of mineral resources such as sand, gravel and minerals, loss of coral reefs and other habitats in the sea); frequency of consumption of fish; interest in information about the origin and catch conditions of fish for consumption that is compatible with nature and the environment; agreement with statements on the subject of fishing (I eat little fish in order to make a personal contribution to the conservation and protection of fish stocks, I consider the labelling of fish products from nature-friendly fishing to be very important, I would like to be able to rely on the trade not offering fish products from endangered species, in order for fisheries to do more for marine nature conservation, the state should support them more financially, even if this costs tax money, in order for fisheries to do more for marine nature conservation, stricter rules and laws are needed, even if this would increase fish prices, when I eat sea fish, I make sure that it is not from endangered species); knowledge of the MSC label for sustainable fisheries; correct description of the meaning of the MSC label.

2. Biological diversity: awareness of the term biological diversity; meaning of the term biological diversity (open); convinced that biological diversity on earth is decreasing; conservation of biological diversity as a priority social task; willingness to do various things to protect biological diversity (change the brand of cosmetics or drugstore articles if their production endangers biological diversity, donate to the maintenance and conservation of a nature reserve, actively participate in a nature conservation association, use a guidebook when shopping that e.g. informs about endangered fish species, make friends and acquaintances aware of the protection of biological diversity, inform about current developments in the field of biological diversity); attitude towards biologicial diversity (Scale: personally felt responsibility for the conservation of biological diversity, demand for a reduction in the use of land for settlements, industry and transport routes, promotes well-being and quality of life, financial support for the efforts of poorer countries to conserve biological diversity by richer countries, personally felt impairment by declining biological diversity).

3. Nature and nature conservation: attitude towards nature and nature conservation in general (it makes me happy to be in nature, I don´t feel good in nature, I am annoyed by the careless way many people treat nature, nature conservation as a human duty, nature must not stand in the way of economic development, we must only use nature in such a way that this is also possible to the same extent for future generations, in times of economic crisis nature conservation must also manage with less money, contact with nature is important for children´s development).

4. Genetic engineering: importance of banning genetically modified organisms in agriculture; attitude towards genetic engineering in agriculture (scale: humans have no right to deliberately genetically modify plants and animals, demand for labelling of genetically modified food, possible effects on nature should always be investigated when plants are deliberately genetically modified, have no problems with eating genetically modified food, genetic engineering as an important component in combating world hunger).

5. Energy transition: Advocacy of the energy transition.

6. Psychological foundation of the human-nature relationship: nature conservation identity on a regional and global level. The sample was randomly divided into two groups (split-half). Half of the subjects each answered the questions of questionnaire version I (global identity) and questionnaire version II (regional identity).

7. Experiment Collective vs. personal contribution to nature conservation: The sample is randomly divided into three groups, one third each answer the questions of questionnaire version A (collective nature conservation), questionnaire version B (personal nature conservation) and questionnaire version C (neutral group): Attitudes towards the topic of plastic waste with regard to intentions (I will do without many plastic products in the future, even if it hurts, within the next four weeks I will think concretely about how I can avoid plastic in my household) and behavioural intention (willingness to support an initiative to avoid plastic in the household through one´s own cooperation and interview time in minutes for which the respondent would be available free of charge); agreement to further statements on the topic of plastic waste: by avoiding plastic waste as an individual, I can noticeably improve the state of nature; a clear majority of people in Germany think it is important to avoid plastic waste and are willing to do something about it; by avoiding plastic waste together, we can noticeably improve the state of nature; avoiding plastic waste is more of a collective task for all people in Germany than for the individual.

Demography: sex; age; nationality German; other nationality mentioned; marital status; living situation; employment status; occupation if not employed; occupational status; education: school or university degree; completed apprenticeship; religiosity; religion or denomination; household size; number of children under 18 in the household; total number of children; personal net monthly income (grouped); net household income (grouped); degree of urbanisation at the time of childhood and adolescence and currently; agreement with the statement that the questions of the questionnaire could be answered completely freely and without influence by the interviewer.

Additionally coded were: federal state; city size category (BIK 5, 7 and 10 categories); weight; interviewer assessment of the persuasiveness of the behavioural tasks (assessment of nature conservation brochures or use of plastic waste in own household); doubts about the authenticity of the behavioural tasks by the respondents.