Climate change (or global change if we consider that it doesn’t affect only climate) is a very recurrent topic these days. The reason is that on November 30 started the COP21 in Paris, in which more than 190 nations have gathered, and will finish on December 11. Here, instead of talking about the climate evolution or its possible effects, we are going to talk about the results of a survey made by the Pew Research Center about the world population’s opinion on global change.
ABOUT THE SURVEY
The survey was carried out from March 25 to May 27, 2015, at 45,435 people from 40 countries around the world.
GENERAL CONCERN
The majority of the people surveyed in all 40 nations consider that climate change is a serious problem. In concrete, 54% consider it a very serious problem. Latin America (mainly Brasil, Chile and Peru) and Africa (principally Burkina Faso, Uganda and Ghana) are even more worried than the global average. However, 85% say global change is a serious problem to some extend.
Moreover, 51% hold that this worldwide issue is harming people now (being Latin America, Europe and Africa more concerned than the global median) and another 40% are very worried that climate change will harm them personally in the future (specially in Latin America).
What attracts attention is the fact that USA and China, the two countries in the world that produce more dioxide carbon, are among the least concerned. Generally, people from countries that produce more carbon dioxide per capita are less anxious about the climate change.
WHICH ARE THE BIGGEST FEARS?
In general, 44% of the respondents consider water shortages the major concern and, in fact, is the biggest fear in all regions, followed by sever weather (such as floods or intense storms, 25%), hot weather (14%) and sea level rise (6%).
Latin America, Africa and USA are more worried by water shortages than the average, while Asia/Pacific and Europe surpass the average of the concern in severe weather.
HAVE THE PERCEPTIONS CHANGED OVER TIME?
In general, there have been a very little increase in the perception that climate change is a very serious problem. While in 2010 47% of the respondents considered it a very serious problem, in 2015 they are a 49%.
However, in some countries the perception have changed. In some key economies, such as Turkey (reduction of 37%), China (-23%), South Korea (-20%) or Japan (-13%); the number of people saying that climate change is a very serious problem has reduced. On the other side, in Nigeria (an increase of 18%), France (+10%) and in USA (+8%) the concern is now higher.
WHAT SHOULD BE DONE TO DEAL WITH IT?
In 39 of 40 countries (the exception is Pakistan), people consider that their countries should do something to fight against the problem. In specific, 78% of the polled people support the fact that their country should limit greenhouse gas emissions, specially in Europe (a median of 87%) and Latin America (83%).
But this would not be enough. 67% say that people will have to change their lifestyle (mainly Latin Americans and Europeans), while 22% think that thanks to technology the problem will be solved. Probably, a combination of both will be the solution.
Which countries should do more? 54% find that rich countries should do more than the developing ones because they have produced most of the greenhouse gas emissions, while a 38% consider that developing countries should do just as much because they will produce more in the future.
REFERENCES
- Pew Research Center (2015): Global concern about climate change, broad support for limiting emissions.
- Main picture: CBS News
All you need is Biology 