Flash Eurobarometer 290: Attitudes of Europeans towards the issue of biodiversity

New research shows more must be done to increase the awareness of biodiversity issue in Europe. The research shows that most Europeans do not feel well informed about biodiversity. The new "Attitudes towards biodiversity" survey reveals that only 38% of Europeans know the meaning of the term, although another 28% have heard of it but do not know its meaning. A majority feel that biodiversity loss is a serious issue, although they do not think they will be personally affected by the decline, with only 17% of respondents agreeing that they are already touched by it. When asked about the most important threats to biodiversity, 27% prioritised pollution, with 26% blaming man-made disasters. The main reason cited by citizens for their lack of actions to stop biodiversity loss was low awareness of what can be done. This is why a new EU-wide campaign, which coincides with the UN's designation of 2010 as the Year of Biodiversity, is being launched. The main thrust of the campaign will be to show citizens the real implications these losses will have in their daily lives, with a focus on actions citizens can take to prevent such losses.

The results by volumes are distributed as follows:

• Volume A: Countries
• Volume AA: Groups of countries
• Volume A' (AP): Trends
• Volume AA' (AAP): Trends of groups of countries
• Volume B: EU/socio-demographics
• Volume B' (BP) : Trends of EU/ socio-demographics
• Volume C: Country/socio-demographics

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  Researchers may also contact GESIS - Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences: https://www.gesis.org/eurobarometer