Exploring the Psychological and Socio-Demographic Predictors of Pro-Environmental Behaviours Towards Forest Conservation in Brazil.

Deforestation has become a major issue facing Brazil. The constant loss of forests across the country has reached alarming levels. Encouraging Brazilians to engage in pro-environmental behaviours that support forest conservation is an urgent need. This thesis explores how Brazilians perceive forest conservation actions in the country. It also explores psychological and demographic factors as predictors of pro-environmental behaviours towards forest conservation, such as learning about environmental issues or signing petitions on forest conservation.

An online survey was distributed using the snowball sampling technique to obtain data from all five macro-regions of Brazil, which reached a total sample size of N=977. The main results demonstrated that Brazilians perceived deforestation as a major environmental issue facing the country and that local community engagement was the best solution to relieving the forest degradation caused by humans. However, not all participants believed themselves capable of acting for forest conservation. Connection with nature played an important role in predicting pro-environmental behaviours towards forest conservation. Concern about deforestation and a participant’s age were also significant predictors of pro-environmental behaviours towards forest conservation.

The findings of this thesis contribute to our understanding of public opinion about Brazilian’s forest conservation. Moreover, they advance the understanding of psychological and demographic factors enabling pro-environmental behaviours towards forest conservation in Brazil. They could help inform policies to mitigate human impacts on deforestation in Brazil.