Volume 54, October 2014, Pages 160–168
Urban awareness and attitudes toward conservation: A first look at Canada's cities
Highlights
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- Urban Canadians have little awareness of conservation policy.
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- Urban Canadians have little awareness of endangered species.
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- Urban Canadians do not feel personally responsible for the protection of urban biodiversity.
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- Urban Canadians support federal government involvement in the protection of urban biodiversity.
Abstract
Biodiversity
loss is a global issue that has more recently been brought to the
forefront of local governments with the aid of the 2008 Bonn
Call-for-Action. However, species at risk conservation continues to
receive little attention at the local level even though urbanization is
primarily responsible for habitat destruction in developed countries.
This paper illustrates that urban residents lack awareness of policy and
endangered species based on 900 survey responses from Toronto and
Vancouver residents. Additionally, this study finds that urbanities feel
very little responsibility for conservation as compared to other actors
like farmers and the federal government. To address the lack of
awareness and bolster positive attitudes toward urban conservation the
paper argues municipal governments should create eco-literacy programs
and link biodiversity conservation into already existing climate action
plans or green strategies.
Keywords
- Conservation;
- Urban attitudes;
- Toronto;
- Vancouver;
- Species at risk;
- Cities
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