Protecting and restoring freshwater biodiversity across urban areas in Aotearoa New Zealand: Citizens' reporting of pollution in stormwater drains and waterways

Urbanization poses numerous challenges to freshwater biodiversity. This paper describes two studies with the joint aim of demonstrating the benefits of applying a systematic behaviour change framework and providing the foundational knowledge to inform future behavior change work to protect and restore urban freshwater biodiversity. In Study 1 we used a mixed-methods research design, involving 14 key informant interviews followed by an online survey targeting 17 freshwater biodiversity experts and another targeting a representative sample of 550 urban residents, to identify and prioritize the most promising resident behaviors to target to reduce stormwater pollution and improve natural waterway habitats in urban areas. Study 2 focused on the top-ranked short-term behavior identified in Study 1, citizen reporting of pollution in stormwater drains and waterways. We surveyed a representative sample of 1901 urban residents across Aoteraoa New Zealand to identify four main determinants influencing this behavior: awareness and uncertainty about reporting, lack of opportunity to report, social motivation and personal motivation to report, and five potential target audiences: 'Supportive', 'Unaware but receptive', 'Motivated but lack support', 'Reluctant', and 'Not my problem'. We make recommendations for the most appropriate intervention designs to target each of these audience segments to promote the reporting of stormwater pollution in urban areas. This knowledge will allow for a more coordinated and effective approach for addressing the 'human element' that lies at the heart of many urban freshwater management problems.

Development and psychometric properties of a questionnaire to evaluate sustainable waste separation behavior and environmental health promotion

Background

Assessment of benefits and barriers of waste separation at source is necessary to identify the effective factors in this field. This study aims at designing and validation of a questionnaire assessing the barriers and benefits of waste separation at source from the viewpoint of women based on the community-based social marketing model in Genaveh Township, Bushehr, Iran

Methods

In phase 1, a literature review and focus group discussion were conducted to identify the barriers and benefits of waste separation at the source and to design the items and questionnaires. In phase 2, a psychometric evaluation was performed, including face validity, content validity, structural validity, and reliability. Data were analyzed by SPSS and R software.

Results

Out of 56 initial items, seven items with the content validity ratio less than 0.56 were removed, and one with the content validity index less than 0.79 was reviewed. Content validity ratio of the questionnaire was 0.782 and content validity index 0.957. The results of exploratory factor analysis showed that the five and seven-factor models showed good fit. Considering the possible existence of some items in several factors, confirmatory factor analysis was used in the next step. Finally, two items were removed and two others were displaced. The reliability of the instrument was confirmed by internal consistency (α = 0.92) and its stability by the test-retest (ICC = 0.83).

Conclusions

The valid and reliable 48-item questionnaire is a suitable instrument for assessing the barriers and benefits of waste separation at source from the viewpoint of women based on the community-based social marketing model in Genaveh Township, Bushehr.