Assessing public awareness on biodiversity in Hong Kong

Abstract

Hong Kong has pledged to launch the Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (BSAP) at the end of 2015 in respond to the Convention of Biological Diversity (CBD). BSAP will be the first and most comprehensive action plan for biodiversity conservation in Hong Kong. Throughout the formulation of BSAP, level of biodiversity awareness is one of the key factors to determine if BSAP can be effectively implemented. Without prior studies in Hong Kong, this study would provide a basic assessment on the level of biodiversity awareness of five stakeholder groups involved in the process: government officials from AFCD and non-AFCD bureaus and departments, Legislative Councilors and their assistants, members from advisory bodies of the government, NGOs and the public.

The level of biodiversity awareness is determined by three criteria: understanding of biodiversity, attitude on the use of biodiversity resources and attitude towards biodiversity. Survey was conducted by sending online questionnaire to these five stakeholder groups via emails, with face-to-face interviews as a supplementary method. Among the 258 returned questionnaires, the level of biodiversity awareness of the stakeholder groups can be categorized into two groups: high biodiversity awareness groups with AFCD officials, NGOs and advisory bodies; and low biodiversity awareness groups with public, Legislative Councilors and non-AFCD officials. Participants have studied Biology or Ecology in school, or have volunteering experience in conservation organizations have higher biodiversity awareness. Female has more positive attitude towards biodiversity, but there is no difference in understandings of biodiversity and attitude on the use of biodiversity resources. University and postgraduate education enhance the knowledge on biodiversity, but have no effects on attitudes on biodiversity.

Raising biodiversity awareness is the first step to mainstream biodiversity into different sectors. It is the basis for effective BSAP implementation. Current level of biodiversity awareness of non-AFCD officials, Legislative Councilors and general public is still low. Awareness-raising work on biodiversity for these three groups and the whole society should be enhanced to make sure the targets set by BSAP are achievable at 2020. Immediate actions such as enhancing promotion of the BSAP itself and higher involvement of NGOs in the BSAP awareness raising context are necessary to gain more support from different sectors. Long-term practice such as integrating local biodiversity into school curriculum, encouraging more volunteering work and applying social marketing to promote pro-biodiversity behavior are possible solutions to enhance biodiversity awareness in Hong Kong. Raising biodiversity awareness is a long term process and requires inputs from everyone to achieve the targets of CBD and reaching sustainable development for the future.