Nature conservation from a Junior High School perspective

Nature conservation has a higher probability of being successful when it is backed by public support. This is influenced by knowledge and values, many of which may derive from school curricula, experiments and activities. We implemented a study in a Portuguese Junior High School aiming to evaluate: (1) which factors influence how people subscribe reasons for conserving nature; (2) the criteria used to identify conservation priority species; and, (3) the proposed recovery measures for priority species. A survey of 91 students in a suburban area revealed that nature conservation was regarded as being more important than tourism or industry, but less than values related to public health. Students who have close contacts with wildlife and whose parents have higher education levels exhibited positive attitudes towards nature conservation, which seems to derive from exposure to information related to nature, in their home environment. The criteria chosen to identify conservation priority species and to select appropriate conservation measures indicate that they are likely to be influenced by the media. These results emphasise that the relationship between parental education levels and access to information is an important factor in shaping urban students' attitudes towards nature conservation.