Brussels, 09/04/2010 (Agence Europe) - What do you mean “biodiversity”? In this International Year dedicated to the biodiversity, which is under severe threat throughout the world, precious few Europeans understand what is meant by the term, if the findings of the Eurobarometer survey, published by the European Commission on Friday 9 April, are anything to go by.
The survey on “Attitudes of Europeans towards the issue of biodiversity”, which questioned a representative sample of 1,000 people aged over 15 in each of the 27 member states between 8 and 12 February, reveals that only 38% of Europeans know what is meant by “biodiversity”, although another 28% have heard of it but still do not know its meaning. The citizens best informed about biodiversity are in Austria and Germany.
Most Europeans do not feel well informed about the topic. Only 32% of those interviewed feel they are “well-informed” about the loss of biodiversity and a mere 5% felt that they are “very well informed”. Once again, it is in Austria and Germany that the highest numbers state that they are well informed (46% of Austrians and 59% of Germans).
Most of those interviewed feel that biodiversity loss is a serious issue, although they do not think they will be personally affected by the decline. Only 17% of respondents agreed that they have already been affected by it. The main reason cited by citizens for their not doing anything to stop biodiversity loss was low awareness of what can be done. No problem! The European Commission intends to raise awareness levels. Hence the campaign, “Biodiversity - we are all in this together”, which it launched on Friday 9 April to make citizens more aware of the issue through a website, a video clip, public relations initiatives, street art and media, including social media (a Facebook page “I love bluefin tuna” already has 8,508 lovers).
The issue is massively important, since this year the EU is to adopt a new strategy for preserving biodiversity and setting a target for after 2010, especially as the target it gave itself of halting biodiversity loss by the end of 2010 will not be reached.
The €5 million campaign aims to make EU citizens more aware of biodiversity, to help them understand the possible consequences of its decline and show them how they, too, can play their part in slowing and preventing continuing loss. The Eurobarometer survey conducted by the Gallup Institute (Hungary) at the request of the European Commission (DG Environment) is available online at: http: //ec.europa.eu/public_opinion/index_en.htm (A.N./transl.rt)