Climate change and ‘green and blue spaces’ – people’s views and access

SOME seven in ten adults in Scotland, or 68 per cent, agree that climate change is an ‘immediate and urgent problem’.

The figure is among the latest statistics issued by the Scottish Government, as part of the Scottish Household Survey 2019.

That means an increase by four per cent since 2018 in people’s views about climate change, and by 23 percentage points since 2013.

Says the survey: “This increase had been most prominent among adults aged 16 to 24, from 38 per cent in 2013 to 69 per cent in 2019.

“Only 14 per cent of adults believed that climate change was a problem for the future, a decrease from 25 per cent in 2013.

“Adults with a higher educational qualification or who live in a less deprived area were more likely to agree that climate change was immediate and urgent.”

The survey goes on to note that 66 per cent of adults in Scotland live within a five-minute walk from an open green or blue (water) space.

That represents a decrease from 2013, when 68 per cent of adults fell in this category.

Says the survey conclusions: “For adults in the 20 per cent most-deprived areas, the proportion who are within a five-minute walk of a green or blue space had increased from 55 per cent in 2016 to 62 per cent in 2019.

“However, for adults in the least deprived areas the proportion had decreased from 71 per cent in 2014 to 67 per cent in 2019.”

Source: Scottish Household Survey 2019, published (here) September 15 2020.