Context

Biodiversity is the variety of plant and animal life in the world or in a particular habitat. A high level of biodiversity is usually considered to be necessary to sustain life and the health of an ecosystem. However recent research into biodiversity shows is declining; in fact the rate of decline is increasing in many parts of the world. (World Wildlife Fund, 2013) The International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources has a ‘Red List’ of many endangered species which it brings to the attention of countries to encourage protection of important habitats and action to prevent extinction. (IUCN, 2013) This is why the United Nations has called for a decade of action on biodiversity. This shows that there is a real problem and that there is a responsibility for individuals, local organisations and businesses, governments and international organisations to take action.

These issues also affect Kazakhstan. For example the pink flamingo of the Nura River Basin is an endangered species. (The World Bank, 2013) There are many others. (ACBK, 2013)

According to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF, 2013), the main causes of declining biodiversity are:

• climate change
• pollution
• illegal wildlife trade
• invasive species
• deforestation
• intensive farming
• over-consumption.

Many organisations and people are trying to do something about declining biodiversity. The World Wildlife Fund, New Internationalist (New Internationalist, 2013) and other environmental groups, alongside the UN and the World Bank, make it clear that these causes are linked to our lifestyles, particularly in those parts of the world which have become richer or are developing through processes linked to industrialisation and urbanisation.

This shows that it is the way of life in many parts of the world which causes problems for biodiversity. Therefore we should all be encouraged to take personal responsibility for our actions and to live in ways which protect the environment and increase biodiversity.

Many environmental organisations suggest that we should use fewer resources and recycle, manufacture goods in ways which don’t produce pollution, choose food and goods which don’t travel far to reduce carbon emissions, eat less meat and more organic food, and take other forms of action in our everyday lives.

The United Nations also suggests that action should be taken at all levels – internationally, nationally, by organisations locally and by individuals in the community. However, the scope of this research was too small to explore all of these possible types of action in detail. Therefore the research concentrated upon action by individuals.

However many people do not seem to care about the problem and do nothing to improve the situation. For example, research shows that only 1% of agriculture worldwide is organic and only a few people choose these products regularly. (Organic World, 2012) The purpose of this research is to find out the reasons why so many people don’t take action.

There has been little previous research into this issue; however one article from the UN sponsored association of environmental groups Principles for Responsible Management Education project (UNPRME, 2012) suggests that the main reasons for people not taking action are:

• Lack of awareness about the issue of declining biodiversity in general
• Lack of education and guidance about what to do at a personal level
• Feeling that the contribution of one person is too small to make a difference
• Lack of availability of environmentally friendly goods and services
• Fear of being seen as strange or different by other people
• The expense of environmentally friendly goods and services

The research was therefore designed to explore the issue of declining biodiversity and public opinion about the need to take action. By researching people’s attitudes to taking action and barriers to action it may be possible to discover new ways to encourage individuals to do something about declining biodiversity.

Aims

The purpose of the research project was to explore public opinion in Kazakhstan on declining biodiversity. The aim was to find out about how much local people know about the issue of declining biodiversity and their opinions about the need to respond practically. This includes their attitudes to changing lifestyles and taking individual action.

Therefore in this research the main research questions were:

· To what extent are people aware of the global issue of declining biodiversity?

· How much do people know about taking action to improve biodiversity?

· What individual actions to improve biodiversity are people willing to take?

· What are the barriers to taking action for individuals?

The outcomes of the research were intended to increase understanding about declining biodiversity and the actions to improve biodiversity that are most likely to be adopted and which should therefore be promoted amongst local people.

Method

The research design included several different methods. This enabled the information and data gathered by one method to be checked and confirmed by another. Potential bias or inaccuracy in one method was challenged by another. Mixed methods were used to strengthen the overall quality of the research and to increase confidence in the conclusions.

Background research on the internet and libraries to get general information about the topic was conducted at first. As the issue of declining biodiversity is globally important there was far too much information available. In addition many of the sources were outdated. Some material could not be checked and the authorship verified. This could have created inaccuracies and introduced bias into the data.

To prevent these problems the background research concentrated upon internationally respected sources and recent research. For example, the United Nations was a particularly useful and reliable source of up-to-date information about biodiversity globally as well as in Kazakhstan. The content of the ‘Context’ section of this report therefore reflects this approach.

The background information about public opinion and potential responses to biodiversity informed the design of the two primary research methods.

The first method used to find out about public opinion was a face-to-face questionnaire. The questionnaire was targeted upon young people from the age of 14-18 and conducted in two local schools. The reasons for the selection of this age group in schools were:

• part of the purpose of the research was to help set up an environmental club in a school and the opinions of this age group were particularly relevant
• the sample was easy and safe to get access to
• permission to give the questionnaires to students was obtainable
• students in school could choose to participate, making the research ethical
• young people are more likely to be aware of the problems of declining biodiversity from the school curriculum, so any issues or barriers for them were likely to be genuine and their opinions about them very useful

To make the sample representative two schools were chosen in different parts of the city and fifty respondents were found in each school, so 100 questionnaires were completed. However, three of these questionnaires were spoiled and not completed properly, so the final sample size was 97. This enabled the results to be generalisable to all young people in the city, and potentially Kazakhstan.

The first part of the questionnaire was designed to gather information about the respondent so that different ages and genders could be compared. The second section tested the level of awareness of declining biodiversity as an issue. The third section was designed to identify young peoples’ views about barriers and difficulties to changing lifestyles.

The questionnaires were completed in writing by the respondents in the presence of the researchers. Each one took about ten minutes to complete.

To test the results from the questionnaires and to get more detailed information about barriers to change and the importance of declining biodiversity to young people some unstructured interviews were conducted. These were conducted with students who volunteered to take part in the second stage of the primary research. The interview was guided by a checklist of topics to discuss but the conversation was allowed to range widely depending upon the responses of the participants. An informal atmosphere was created for the 30 minute interview. For example coffee and biscuits were offered. This was designed to help the participant relax and talk openly to improve the quality of the data gathered. The interviewer took notes during the interview and asked the participant to check that these were accurate at the end of the interview. Six students were interviewed – three males and three females.

The data gathered was analysed and applied to the research questions. These results are described below.