Environmental attitude, motivations and values for marine biodiversity protection

Abstract

This study explores people's environmental attitudes and motives for putting economic values to marine biodiversity protection. Primary data were collected from a sample of 359 residents in two important Greek ports: Thessaloniki and Volos. Respondents’ environmental attitude was measured with the New Ecological Paradigm (NEP) scale. Economic values were derived from contingent valuation survey. Use of appropriate methods revealed three factors of environmental attitudes: man dominate to nature, anti-anthropocentrism and limits to growth. Significant relationships are found between NEP scale factors, socio-economic characteristics and individuals’ opinions about biodiversity utility. Pro-environmental behavior is associated with higher NEP scores. A logistic regression setup the relation between people's willingness to pay (WTP) for marine biodiversity protection with their socio-economic characteristics and PCA results. Significant relationships are found between environmental attitudes, non-use motivations, WTP and ethical motives for species protection. Mean individuals’ WTP for marine biodiversity protection was calculated approximately equal to €29.