Personal Assessment of Reasons for the Loss of Global Biodiversity—an Empirical Analysis

Matthias Winfried Kleespies,Paul Wilhelm Dierkes

doi:10.3390/su12104277

Matthias Winfried Kleespies, Paul Wilhelm Dierkes

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/su12104277

Copy DOI

Journal: Sustainability	Publication Date: May 22, 2020
Citations: 2	License type: CC BY 4.0

Affiliation: Goethe University Frankfurt

Abstract

The UN's sustainable development goals (SDGs), which aim to solve important economic, social, and environmental problems of humanity, are to be supported by education for sustainable development (ESD). Empirical studies on the success of the implementation of the SDGs in the field of education are still pending. For this reason, using the loss of global biodiversity as an example, this study examined the extent to which high school students, teacher trainees in biology, and biology bachelor students can identify the causes of the global biodiversity loss. A new questioning tool was developed and tested on 889 participants. In addition, the relationship between connection to nature and the personal assessment about biodiversity threats was examined. The factor analysis of the scale used showed that 11 out of 16 items were assigned to the intended factor. The comparison between high school students, teacher trainees in biology, and biology bachelor students showed no significant difference in overall assessment of the reasons for global biodiversity loss. When comparing the three risk levels in which the risk factors for biodiversity could be divided, across the three student groups, only minor differences were found. Therefore, a specific education of prospective teachers is necessary, as they have to pass on the competence as multipliers to their students. No significant difference could be found when examining the relationship between connection to nature and the overall scores of the assessment scale for the reasons of biodiversity loss. However, it was found that people who felt more connected to nature were more capable of assessing the main causes of risk for global biodiversity, while people who felt less connected to nature achieved better scores for the medium factors.

Highlights

In 2015, the 17 sustainable development goals (SDG) were ratified as part of Resolution 70/1 of the General Assembly of the United Nations [1]. These SDGs were the follow-up goals to the eight millennium development goals (MDGs) of the year 2000 that were an attempt to reduce global poverty, especially in developing countries, by 2015
Notable progress has been made in many countries, and some have even achieved most of the MDGs [2]
In order to determine how well high school students, teacher trainees, and biology students can assess the causes of global biodiversity loss, it was necessary to develop a new test instrument

Summary

Introduction

In 2015, the 17 sustainable development goals (SDG) were ratified as part of Resolution 70/1 of the General Assembly of the United Nations [1]. These SDGs were the follow-up goals to the eight millennium development goals (MDGs) of the year 2000 that were an attempt to reduce global poverty, especially in developing countries, by 2015. From the point of view of environmental and sustainability education, objective number 15 is of particular importance. It aims to protect terrestrial ecosystems, promote their restoration and sustainable use, and put an end to the loss of biodiversity [4]. Biodiversity plays a special role in the indicators for assessing the success of SDG 15 [5]

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion