Environmentalism in the Middle East: Attitudes toward preservation, conservation, and grass roots ecosystem management in Bahrain, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia

The goal of this study was to examine attitudes toward the environment in the Middle East. The current study assessed the relationship between severity of environmental problems and attitudes toward the environment in Bahrain, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia. It studied the extent to which environmental attitudes fit Inglehart's (1995) 'challenge-response model' in which people reveal higher levels of concern about the environment because of serious objective environmental problems like air and water pollution. Attitudes toward the environment in the Middle East were examined based on respondents' levels of support for preservation, conservation, and grass roots ecosystem management (GREM). Country, gender, social class, family income, father's education, environmental efforts, willingness to pay higher prices, higher taxes, and accept a cut in living standards to protect the environment were identified as explanatory factors of the level of support for the environment.; Data for this study were obtained from the Unit for Community and Environmental Studies (UCES) in the Social Science Research Center at Mississippi State University. The data set, consisting of 1,104 respondents, was derived from an environmental attitude survey conducted at the University of Bahrain 1999, King Saud University in Saudi Arabia 1999, and Mu'tah University in Jordan 2001. To achieve the objectives of this dissertation, descriptive statistics, independent sample t-test, one way analysis of variance (ANOVA), and regression analysis were used.; Findings revealed the importance of country, gender, socioeconomic status, and personal environmental efficacy as explanatory factors of attitudes toward the environment in the Middle East. Significant differences were found in attitudes toward preservation, conservation, and GREM according to respondents' country, gender, social class, family income, father's education, and personal environmental efficacy. The empirical findings indicated that levels of support for the environment in the Middle East were in line with Inglehart's (1995) thesis of environmentalism in which severity of environmental problems creates trends of public support for environmental protection in rapid developing countries.