Behavioral intentions toward afforestation and carbon reduction by the Taiwanese public

Abstract

Global warming has become a worldwide environmental issue in recent years. With implementation of the Kyoto Protocol, reducing emissions of carbon dioxide is the common goal of everyone. Afforestation and carbon reduction have become important forestry policies of the Taiwanese government. Attitudes and behavioral intentions of the domestic public towards afforestation and carbon reduction will play important roles in the effectiveness of forestry policies. In this study, the theory of planned behavior was applied to better understand the relationships among domestic public attitude, subjective norms, perceived behavioral controls, and behavioral intentions. Data were obtained by a mail survey. The domestic public's behavioral intention model was verified by a structural equation model. This study found that older people not only had a positive attitude towards the concept of afforestation for carbon reduction but were also willing to participate in related activities. Significant reference groups also had greater influence on these people, but for the question of whether a person had better means to participate in afforestation activities for carbon reduction, the level of monthly income emerged as the factor of main consideration. It shows that even though an overall positive attitude towards afforestation activities for carbon reduction increases people's willingness to participate, actual participation is still determined by the level of the participant's ability to control difficulties during the related activities. The policy implication of this study is that when setting into action the carbon reduction policies or programs, the Taiwanese government should take into account the claim from significant reference groups, and enhance the visibility of those groups' positive points of view towards the policies. In addition, the government should enhance the promotion of the high-income and the older people's participation in carbon reduction programs, because our results show their high intention to participate.