Just Accepted
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Knowledge and attitudes about deforestation: testing strategies to change attitudes.
Abstract
Context With increasing concerns about global climate change and deforestation, attitudes towards environmental protection are important, especially in democracies where citizens can influence policy direction. Aims This paper investigates resident’s’ knowledge of a local environmental issue, deforestation of an ecologically diverse forest. Strategies to change environmental attitudes are also tested. Methods An online survey measures resident’s generic knowledge and technical knowledge regarding deforestation due to bauxite mining. It also contains a randomised experiment (24 factorial design) to test whether four pieces of information cause changes in attitudes towards deforestation due to mining. The method incorporates the practical reality that environmental protection is often in conflict with other objectives such as economic prosperity, so investigates the issue more objectively than only investigating changes in one direction on a spectrum of protection or development. Key results Respondents have high generic knowledge but low technical knowledge, suggesting the need for further education. Information can change attitudes for or against environmental protection, and narratives are more successful than images. However, results vary depending on how attitudes are measured. Conclusions The paper demonstrates how identifying misconceptions or knowledge gaps is an important step towards changing attitudes about the need for environmental protection. Implications Implications include evidence of which strategies can influence public attitudes towards, and away from, environmental protection. Additional keywords Climate change, deforestation, randomised experiment, attitudes, knowledge, environment, bauxite
PC25023 Accepted 06 July 2025
© CSIRO 2025
