An analysis of Risk perception and attitudes towards climate change in Egypt

Abstract

Climate change is one of the most urgent issues of concern as its effects are already manifesting in various ways. Public risk perception is vital for elucidating the factors influencing climate change mitigation and adaptation actions. Understanding public perceptions is critical in areas with a high vulnerability to the effects of climate change, such as Egypt, where climate change risk perception has received little attention. A better understanding of the factors that influence and shape public risk perceptions of climate change will enable policymakers to develop initiatives to encourage public participation and gain support for effective climate policy. Therefore, this study provides an exploratory model by investigating the various determinants that influence risk perception in Egypt using data collected through an online survey of the Egyptian sample. The results show that the model is able to explain nearly 25.1% of the variance in risk perception. Our findings highlight the prominent role of psychological distance (proximity) of climate change as the strongest predictors of climate change risk perception explaining significantly more variance in risk perception than either cognitive (knowledge about climate change) or experiential factors (affect and personal experience). The model, therefore, offers implications for risk communication prioritizing the factors that shape and influence public risk perception of climate change in Egypt.