| Περίληψη: | The latest Eurobarometer Report on Attitudes of Europeans towards biodiversity provides, among other, an overview of the awareness status of the terms “Biodiversity” and “Natura 2000 network” across all 28 Member States. This survey revealed that
almost 3 out of ten respondents have never heard of the term “Biodiversity” and 7 out 10 respondents have never heard of the term “Natura 2000 network”, the most extensive green infrastructure and the core of EU’s conservation policy. This is a significant issue because awareness and recognition are the first steps leading to participation and engagement. In this study we make use of Eurobarometer data which provide the opportunity for applying elaborate statistical methodology. We examine the statistical and conceptual validity of a multilevel data structure and apply multilevel ordinal logistic regression in order to describe the data and classify and project respondents to various categories of “awareness”. The results of this study provide
insight to the drivers behind low awareness and the factors influencing intra-country and intra-regional variation; it reveals that if policy does not drastically alter the quality and quantity of “awareness”, response will be low and biased. These results are useful for designing a new strategy for approaching the citizen, raising awareness and, finally, engaging the “Biodiversity and Natura 2000” aware citizen into participatory planning actions, especially in view of the upcoming, new EU Biodiversity Strategy.
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