Sustainability (English)

[2M03] Case Study on Citizens' Environmental Awareness in Pacific : A Case from Pohnpei State,FSM

*Tota TAKAGI¹ (1. Ritsumeikan University)

Keywords:Solid Waste Management, Pacific Island Countries, Pohnpei States, J-PRISM, Mann-Whitney U test.

Plastic pollution occurs in the Pacific Island Countries(PICs). It is an urgent issue for PICs because they are small, isolated, and changing their lifestyles rapidly. Therefore, policy development for solid waste management is strongly needed, but it has only just begun. This study has face-to-face surveys conducted in the Federated States of Micronesia which is a part of small developing states in the PICs. TWe conducted a survey on environmental awareness and environmentally conscious behaviors and used Mann-Whitney analysis to examine differences among demographic attributes. Thus, this study represents the first attempt to investigate environmental awareness among residents, as such research has not been previously undertaken. Finally, interviews were conducted targeting on Japan International Cooperation Agency, the local Ministry of Environment, and the environmental Non-Governmental Organization. This interview highlighted the challenges of J-PRISM, which is a technical cooperation program conducted by JICA in the field of environment for PICs. At the end of the document, public policies are discussed based on the surveys including people’s environmental consciousness, pro-environmental behavior, and interviews with specialized institutions.