As Poslovni Dnevnik/Darko Bicak writes, when compared to five other Central European countries, the strongest increase in support for nature care was recorded among Croatian residents, according to a study published in the Journal of Sociology.
The work of sociologists Bruno Simac, Tijana Trako Poljak and Vladimir Ivanovic from the Faculty of Philosophy in Zagreb analyses data from the European Social Survey from 2008 and 2018 and compares trends in expressing concern for the environment. This rise in Croatian ecological awareness is more than encouraging given the EU’s strong focus on the green transition, in which the environment is being placed first.
They chose Croatia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia, explaining that they share a similar geopolitical position, historical heritage and socio-cultural miles, and there is a thesis that as post-communist nations, they support environmental protection less than advanced democracies typically do. The strongest increase in aid for care for the environment and for nature during the aforementioned period is related to Croatia, which, along with neighbouring Slovenia, had the highest result related to nature care back in 2018.
Poland, Slovakia and the Czech Republic recorded stagnation in their results, and Hungary has shown an unfortunate and significant decrease in the same aid from between 2008 and 2018.
Croatia had one of the lowest results way back in 2008, but while Slovakia, Poland and the Czech Republic didn’t move forward much at all until 2018, Croatia took second place, surpassed only by Slovenia. The research used the so-called Schwartz’s values that emphasise the importance of society, and thus the whole “universe” over individual interests, which provides a new dimension for the interpretation of environmental attitudes in these countries.
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