A recent survey, released by the UN Convention on Biodiversity, has been conducted on more than 10,000 children aged 5-18 from ten different countries (Australia, China, France, Germany, Japan, Mexico, Singapore, Spain, UK and USA). Goal of the study was to investigate children’s perceptions of nature.
When asked to rank what was most important to them, ten times more children ranked watching TV or playing computer games first compared to those who chose saving the environment (40% and 4%, respectively). And while species extinction rates are estimated to be up to 1,000 times the natural rate, only 9% ranked looking after animals as most important and 15% did not even know what ‘endangered species’ implied.
When asked which type of animal or plant they would most like to save, less than 1% opted for insects, 6% chose plants, 9% cited birds, 23% reptiles and 50% mammals.
"The survey confirms the alarming disconnect of our children with nature and calls for urgent action to close this growing gap between tomorrows citizens and their natural heritage" commented Ahmed Djoghlaf, the executive secretary of the Convention.
SB
---
Image source
For more information:
http://www.cbd.int/doc/press/2010/pr-2010-05-18-airbus-en.pdf
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/for-kids-video-games-top-saving-nature-survey-1980982.html
No comments:
Post a Comment