Measuring the Rural and Urban Attitudes towards Wetlands Using the New Ecological Paradigm: Setiu Wetlands, Malaysia

Suziana Hassan; Søren Bøye Olsen; Syamsul Herman Mohammad Afandi; Bo Jellesmark Thorsen

doi:10.21834/e-bpj.v1i2.278

Authors

Suziana Hassan 1Faculty of Agriculture and Food Science, Universiti Putra Malaysia Bintulu Campus, Bintulu 97008, Malaysia 2Department of Food and Resource Economics, Faculty of Science University of Copenhagen, Rolighedsvej 23, Frederiksberg C 1958, Denmark
Søren Bøye Olsen Department of Food and Resource Economics, Faculty of Science University of Copenhagen, Rolighedsvej 23, Frederiksberg C 1958, Denmark
Syamsul Herman Mohammad Afandi Faculty of Forestry, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang 43400, Malaysia.
Bo Jellesmark Thorsen Center for Macroecology, Evolution, and Climate, University of Copenhagen, Rolighedsvej 23, Frederiksberg C 1958, Denmark.

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.21834/e-bpj.v1i2.278

Keywords:

Setiu Wetlands Conservation, Urban-Rural Attitudes, New Ecological Paradigm

Abstract

This study addresses the attitudes of the urban and rural dwellers towards Setiu Wetlands conservation. The New Ecological Paradigm (NEP) scale is adopted to measure the degree of environmental concern. A series of factor analysis and regression is applied to analyze the urban-rural attitudes and three factors structure of attitudes to wetland conservation is suggested. The urban-rural residential variable is able to predict in part the overall NEP scores and element of anti-anthropocentrism, where the urban communities are more positive towards wetland conservation. Therefore, outreach efforts are suggested in the rural population.

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