Levels of
public concern were lowest since 1992 in 12 countries, according to an
international poll
A worker clears rubbish from the Yellow river in Lanzhou in north-west China's Gansu province. Water quality along one third of China's Yellow river is now unusable because of pollution. Photographer:
AP Public concern in environmental issues including global warming, the loss of species and air pollution has dropped to its lowest level in two decades, according to an international poll released this week.
A worker clears rubbish from the Yellow river in Lanzhou in north-west China's Gansu province. Water quality along one third of China's Yellow river is now unusable because of pollution. Photographer:
AP Public concern in environmental issues including global warming, the loss of species and air pollution has dropped to its lowest level in two decades, according to an international poll released this week.
The
GlobeScan poll, undertaken last summer before superstorm Sandy hit the
Caribbean and New York, showed levels of public concern in 12 countries over
environmental problems – which also also included fresh water shortages and
depletion of natural resources – were even lower than 1992, when the first
Earth summit was held in Rio.
The decline
has come in a period when the signs of environmental degradation have become
clearer and the science stronger, from species going extinct faster than new
ones can evolve to dramatic climate change impacts such as the shrinking of
Arctic sea ice in 2012 by 18% against the previous record.
Doug
Miller, chairman of GlobeScan, said in a statement: "Evidence of
environmental damage is stronger than ever, but our data shows that economic
crisis and a lack of political leadership mean that the public are starting to
tune out."
On average
globally, only 49% of people said climate change was a "very serious"
concern, with 50% saying the same for biodiversity loss and the highest level
being 58% for shortages of fresh water. The poll shows concern for most issues
was rising through the noughties and declined since around 2009 when a major UN
climate summit in Copenhagen failed to reach a strong deal.
Graham
Thompson, a spokesman for Greenpeace, told the Independent: "The public
can see that the response of our politicians is completely inadequate to the
threat scientists have revealed, and that dissonance is reflected in these
polls."
Around
1,000 people in each of the 22 countries taking part in the poll were quizzed
on their attitudes, with 12 countries having been polled since 1992. A total of
22,812 people in the following countries were polled: Australia, Brazil,
Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Japan, Kenya, Malaysia,
Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, Panama, Peru, Poland, South Korea, Spain, Turkey,
United Kingdom, US, Brazil, China, Indonesia, Kenya, Panama, and Turkey
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