MEDIA RELEASE

Survey shows how Bay’s environment perceived

For immediate release: Friday 3 August 2007

The majority of people living in the Bay of Plenty see the region’s natural environment as an important reason for their choice of location.

That’s just one finding from a survey by Environment Bay of Plenty that asked 1300 people their attitudes to and perceptions about the region’s environment. It found that 93% of people viewed the natural environment as important or very important to their reasons for living here.

Environment Bay of Plenty councillor Ian Noble says the survey has provided some interesting results – for example while the appreciation of their natural environment is high, it found that only eight percent of people are actively involved in an environmental group.

“These sorts of results are incredibly interesting and give us an honest view about what people think about our environment,” says Mr Noble. “We can then compare these results and see how they match with what we know about our environment from the monitoring we do.”

The survey is one of two commissioned – the regional council has also released results of a separate Community Outcomes survey. This survey asked 1700 residents about how well they thought the region was progressing towards the community outcomes of the entire region.

“From these results we’ve picked up that people have a strong sense of pride in their local town and the local area. They’ve also stated that earthquakes are perceived as the greatest danger for someone living in the Bay of Plenty, although 56% of people believe they’re not adequately prepared for one.”

The results from both surveys will feed into Environment Bay of Plenty’s report on the progress being made towards the community outcomes and the state of the region’s environment.

“These surveys help us understand what people are thinking about our environment, and also what actions they’re taking – whether they be good or bad – for our environment. We’re also able to identify what areas the community thinks we need to be focusing on, and whether they’re aware of what work is being done.”

Some survey highlights

Attitudes and perceptions about the environment:
- The state of the natural environment is generally viewed positively (77% stated that the overall state of the natural environment in the Bay of Plenty is good or very good). Views were mixed about whether the environment is improving (34%) or becoming worse (24%).
- 85% of participants believe waterway deterioration to be a concern and 63% of respondents perceive human behaviour to almost exclusively contribute to the levels of waterway deterioration.

Attitudes and perceptions towards community outcomes of the Bay of Plenty:
- Public transport was seen as safe (49%), affordable (39%), comfortable (37%) and convenient (36%). Few respondents disagreed with these statements/attributes, however some people were unsure about these aspects.
- The level of knowledge about community leaders remains low. Respondents believe they can make a difference (68%) – if they want to, in both community decisions and their community itself.

ENDS

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