Perceptions and attitudes of tertiary level students towards wood and non-wood furniture and energy fuels in Bangladesh

Abstract

We aimed to investigate the perceptions and attitudes of tertiary level students in Bangladesh regarding wood and non-wood (fossil-based) furniture and energy fuels through a pre-tested semi-structured face-to-face interview. About 59% and 90% of students opined that wood or bamboo-based fuels and furniture can be used as a substitute for fossil fuels and non-wood furniture, respectively, while 96, 54 and 71% of students commented on storing carbon, lowering CO2 emissions, and reducing deforestation, respectively, by the use of wood and residues. This mitigation benefit of wood also depends on recycling and reusing of wooden furniture, and scientific use of wood residues (e.g., biomass gasification) and almost all students agreed with the post-use of furniture as fuels. About 78% of students showed a positive attitude to use and 72% to buy more wooden furniture compared to non-wood furniture and 78% to reuse or recycle post-use furniture. These positive attitudes toward using and buying wooden furniture and recycling wood in science students were significantly higher than those in non-science students. Our findings also show that students’ perceptions of wooden furniture and bioenergy were reflected in their positive attitudes to promote the use of these. However, peoples’ unawareness about environmental benefits of wood and bioenergy use and related policies, and post-use of wood products or recycling have been seen as the main challenges. Young generations’ positive attitudes could help society to overcome the challenges. The study concluded to incorporate environmental education along with formal education so that non-science and female students could easily perceive new ideas and conceptions at their youth stage to show positive behavior towards using wood-based products and bioenergy. The findings of this study could be applied to other regions of a similar environment in building up essential awareness and attitudes of tertiary level students towards environmental benefits and climate change mitigation.