Jordan Environment Watch : Arab Public Opinion & Environment Survey 2006

The most comprehensive survey of the state of awareness and education of the Arab public vis-a-vis the Environment has been published by the Environment & Development magazine in June 2006. The survey was conducted in all Arab countries, and organized, analysed and edited by Mustapha K. Tolba the former Executive director of UNEP and the father of the Rio earth Summit in 1982, and Mr Najib Saab the publisher of the "Environment & Development"magazine.

The survey, than can be downloaded here was distributed through a network of 8 Arab daily newspapers, and some Radio and TV stations.

The questionnaire was designed in a sequential manner, starting with asking about the environmental conditions in the immediate neighbourhood, then in the country, moving on to the main environmental problems and causes of deterioration, up to enquiring about readiness to perform personal action to protect the environment.

Most of the respondents (60%) found that the state of the environment in their country was getting worse, while 30% thought that it was getting better. The four main causes of environmental deterioration chosen by the respondents were: non-adherence to legislation, inadequate awareness programmes, bad environmental management and weak environment protection agencies. In some Levant countries, the majority of respondents included insufficient public expenditure on the environment among major problems.

Evaluating the level of urgency of environmental problems in the country, air pollution scored the highest across the board, as 80% of the total considered it a major problem. This was true not only for the regional average, but in individual countries and inside sub-regions as well. Hazardous waste scored second, health hazards from pesticides and fertilizers third, followed by weak environmental awareness and solid waste. Fresh water resources, industrial and coastal pollution also scored as high priorities. It was obvious that the public is more sensitive to problems directly related to the human health. However it was remarkable to note that 71% thought that weak awareness of environmental problems was a major threat.