Including Marine-Related Items in the ISSP Environment Module is Important for a More Holistic Measure of Public Environmental Perceptions

Abstract

In this study, we examine public perceptions of the importance of addressing marine ecosystem problems by including an item (which we treated as a dependent variable) in the Environment IV module of the International Social Survey Programme (ISSP) in New Zealand. Overall importance perception was high (mean rating of 4.44 on a 5-point scale). However, our hypotheses that ratings on ISSP items, which implicitly represent marine stressors (e.g., air pollution, nuclear waste), would be consistently associated with high-importance ratings for addressing marine ecosystem problems were not supported. This observation suggests that perceptions of marine issues are not necessarily underpinned by an understanding of multiple marine stressors. Including compulsory marine-related items in the ISSP could provide a clearer understanding of public perceptions of marine ecosystems and assist in informing public education and communication. This inclusion would offer a valuable global perspective, given that the ISSP is implemented in Western and non-Western countries. The ISSP offers questions on multiple environmental domains, including attitudinal, behavioral, and political and unique demographic questions that would enable in-depth country-comparative analyses of marine-related perceptions not possible in existing international environmental perception surveys.