Key points

People’s attitudes toward the natural environment are an important determinant of environmental actions. Human activity has the potential to either enhance or degrade the Waikato regional environment. In 1998, 2000 and 2006 Environment Waikato asked randomly chosen adults living in the Waikato region about their environmental knowledge.

• Only one third of Waikato people (33.5 per cent) had a moderate to high level of environmental knowledge in 2006.
• This is in contrast to 1998 and 2000 when most Waikato people had a moderate to high level of environmental knowledge (79 per cent in 2000, the same as in 1998). It should be noted that two of the four questions asked in 2006 were also asked in 2003.
• In 2006, the average score was 2.03 out of 4 (or 51 per cent) for a four question knowledge test.
• In 2000, the average score was 3.31 out of 5 (or 66 per cent) for a five question knowledge test.
• In 1998, the average score was 3.15 out of 4 (or 79 per cent) for a four question knowledge test.
• In 2006, the question most people (55 per cent) answered correctly (by stating that they agreed) was that 'pollution in the region's rivers and streams comes mainly from farmland'.
• In comparison, in 2000, 83 per cent of people answered a question correctly by agreeing that 'land-based activities have an effect on the health of our coasts' (83 per cent).
• In 1998, most Waikato people agreed that 'people create too much waste and rubbish' (89 per cent).

Source: Environment Waikato

What agencies are doing

• Every three years, we run a telephone survey of over 1000 randomly chosen people in the region to find out what people’s concerns are, what they know about, what actions they take, and the attitudes they hold towards the environment.
• Environment Waikato aims to raise the public’s awareness of the environment so that people understand that the daily actions in their lives and business can affect the environment, and what actions they can take to improve their own local environments.
• We keep in contact with major resource users and other resource management agencies to make sure they know about the community’s concerns, values and expectations for their environment.
• The trends identified here help us to determine priorities for policy development work and review the objectives for managing the region’s environment. Information from this survey is used in the development of the region’s major policy documents, such as the Waikato Regional Policy Statement, the Regional Coastal Plan, the Waikato Regional Plan, the Regional Pest Management Strategy and the Regional Land Transport Strategy.

What you can do to help

• Find out more about your local environment (for example, join environmental groups).
• Get involved in environmental issues (for example, make a submission on a plan).
• Do more things that are better for the environment (for example, compost your kitchen and garden waste).
• Join or form a Landcare group in your area.

More information

More detail on this indicator, including how and where this information is collected, is available here.

What we want to achieve

The community outcome we are seeking to achieve by measuring people’s environmental knowledge is:

• We are aware of what we need to do to look after our environment. Our region is renowned for linking environmental awareness with community action.