Tamar Kahn
1 October 2008
Cape Town — South Africans are growing increasingly concerned about climate change but are reluctant to bear the costs of initiatives to curb greenhouse emissions, a survey from the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) shows.
The 2007 South African Social Attitudes Survey, which included 3164 people, found that those participants who knew what global warming was (72%) were generally well informed about the causes of climate change and almost half of them (44%) said they were more worried about the issue than they had been a year ago.
Even so, awareness of the dangers of climate change was much lower in SA than in other countries.
When asked how serious a threat they believed global warming to be, 71% of participants said it was a "very serious" or "somewhat serious" problem.
By contrast, almost 95% of Brazilians and about 90% of Britons, Canadians and Indians rated global change as a very serious or somewhat serious threat in the 2006 GlobalScan Poll, which included 30 countries.
"It's seen as a distant threat," HSRC researcher John Seager said.
"When we asked people what the most important challenges facing SA were, the list started with unemployment, HIV/AIDS, economic issues and poverty. The environment was number 10. If you're not sure where your next meal is coming from, it's more pressing than something that will affect future generations," he said.
While half the participants believed the government should take steps to curb greenhouse emissions, they did not want the state to increase the price of petrol, electricity or gas to reduce consumption. They were also not in favour of increased taxes to improve public transport.
However, the majority of respondents supported government expenditure on developing wind farms or making energy saving devices cheaper (73% and 72% respectively).
Although the participants said responsibility for dealing with climate change lay with the government, business and individuals, half of them said it was difficult for them to do anything about it themselves.
"We all know it's important, but most of us are not sure how to get to grips with it," Seager said.
"Although the data suggest that awareness has increased over the past few years, greater efforts will be required to increase general awareness and to 'catch up' with public opinion in other countries. The real challenge is to provide information that allows people to take control of the situation, recognising that individuals can make a difference," he said.
'If you're not sure where your next meal is coming from, it's more pressing than something that will affect future generations'
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