Urban Population Knowledge of Climate Change in Costa Rica and Nicaragua

LAJED No 19 Mayo 2013 55 - 75 ISSN: 2074 - 4706 Urban Population Knowledge of Climate Change in Costa Rica and Nicaragua Conocimiento sobre cambio climático en poblaciones urbanas de Costa Rica y Nicaragua Sergio A. Molina Murillo* Abstract Most scenarios indicate that people in developing countries are more vulnerable and less capable of adapting to climate change. Since our public understanding of risk toward climate change in developing countries is limited, this article presents results from Costa Rica and Nicaragua, two countries which are socio-economically distinct, but which are expected to suffer similar extreme weather events. From October of 2008 until May 2010, a total of 1,047 respondents were surveyed in cities of both countries. The main results indicate that climate change is a widely known concept but other notions such as “carbon footprint” are foreign to most respondents. Despite the general concern with its negative consequences, respondents’ foremost concern is linked to their socioeconomic situation, and how it will be impacted by climate change in such aspects as poverty and social security. The results presented here contribute to advance national and international policies aiming to support mitigation or adaptation strategies in developing countries. Keywords: Climate Change; Central America; Costa Rica; Nicaragua; public perception; attitudes, familiarity, carbon footprint, cities, developing countries. * Resident Professor of Environmental Economics and Policy. The School for Field Studies, Center for Sustainable Development Studies. Apartado 150-4013 Atenas. Alajuela, Costa Rica. + (506) 2446 6960 Ext. 105. Contact: 55 Urban Population Knowledge of Climate Change in Costa Rica and Nicaragua Resumen La mayoría de los escenarios indican que las personas en los países en desarrollo son más vulnerables y menos capaces de adaptarse al cambio climático. Puesto que nuestra comprensión pública del riesgo frente al cambio climático en los países en desarrollo es limitada, en este artículo se presentan los resultados en Costa Rica y Nicaragua, dos países en los que se espera se produzcan fenómenos meteorológicos extremos, aunque países socio-económicamente distintos. Desde octubre del 2008 y hasta mayo del 2010, un total de 1.047 personas fueron entrevistadas en ciudades de ambos países. Los principales resultados indican que el cambio climático es un concepto ampliamente conocido, pero otras nociones tales como “huella de carbono” son ajenas a la mayoría. A pesar de la preocupación general por sus consecuencias negativas, la preocupación más importante de las personas está relacionada con su situación socioeconómica afectada por el cambio climático en aspectos tales como la pobreza y la seguridad social. Los resultados aquí presentados contribuyen a avanzar el desarrollo de políticas nacionales e internacionales destinadas a apoyar la mitigación y estrategias de adaptación en los países en desarrollo. Palabras clave: cambio climático; Centroamérica; Costa Rica; Nicaragua; percepción pública; actitudes, familiaridad, huella de carbono, ciudades, países en desarrollo. Classification / Clasificación JEL: Q54 ,Q01, Q56, Q58 1. Introduction Among the modern issues that the global community currently faces, climate change is considered one of the most important due to its threat to both nature and humans. Climate change is widely thought to be a result of anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions, and therefore preliminary steps are underway to mitigate its ill-effects. Most scenarios indicate that people in developing countries or in poor areas are more vulnerable to the impacts, and less capable of adapting to the changes produced by climate change (IPCC, 2007). In this regard, the World Bank (2009) reported that approximately 75-80% of the potential damage from climate change will be suffered by developing countries. Despite this, most of the information and accumulated knowledge has been explored in developed countries. Most studies focused on the science and the impacts of climate change, although several studies have also been conducted on the public perceptions and knowledge of this phenomenon (e.g., Kempton, 1991; Leiserowitz, Smith & Marlon, 2010; Semenza et al., 2008). To better resist and prevent 56 Sergio A. Molina Murillo the impacts of climate change on developing countries, we need more information about the individual and collective understanding of the problem. Central America is likely to be hard hit by global climate change in the future. Changing climate patterns will affect biodiversity, composition and resilience of ecosystems, public health, and economic livelihoods. For example, food security in tropical Latin America is likely to be jeopardized by declining productivity of key crops and livestock (IPCC, 2007). As neighboring countries in Central America, Costa Rica and Nicaragua are expected to be similarly influenced by climate change (EuropAid, 2009). However, when disregarding geographic proximity, these two nations have very different backgrounds. While Costa Rica´s political, socioeconomic, and environmental development model has allowed it to emerge as one of the strongest and most stable economies in the Americas, Nicaragua remains as one of the poorest countries in the region, dealing with frequent governmental instability, lack of basic infrastructure, and widespread poverty. This may lead to variation in individuals’ perceptions of global climate change. In this article I examined public awareness and concerns about global climate change of urban populations in the neighboring Central American countries of Costa Rica and Nicaragua. Are people from Costa Rica and Nicaragua familiar with the concept of climate change? If so, are they familiar with more in depth concepts such as ‘carbon footprint’? What kind of climate change impacts are they most concerned with? These are some of the questions explored in this paper. Given that Costa Rica has emerged as a global leader on the issues of environmental protection (e.g., biodiversity conservation, ecotourism, climate change policy) as part of its development strategy, and its development indicators are considerably higher than Nicaragua, I predicted that Costa Ricans will be more aware of the issue of climate change. The following section provides a theoretical review of the most relevant aspects pertaining to the importance of awareness on climate change as a way to minimize its impacts. Additionally, I characterize the two countries in order to provide the relevant context of the study. The methodological section explains the study design, data collection, and analysis processes. Following, I present and discuss the results based mostly on non-parametric analyses. Finally, conclusions and areas of future research are presented. 57 Urban Population Knowledge of Climate Change in Costa Rica and Nicaragua 2. Theoretical context 2.1. The importance of public knowl (...truncated)