Attitudes Towards Environmental Responsibility: The Case Of Croatia

The environment is considered as a serious social and economic issue that needs to be addressed comprehensively if we want to achieve and maintain the quality of life for ourselves and for generations to come. The environment is an integral part of the broader economic and social development of virtually every country in the world. All those who wish to preserve their environment and contribute to the overall protection and conservation of biodiversity are committed to developing its legal system and installed it to those normative values that can help the environment and sustainable development. The aim of this paper was to provide a theoretical framework for understanding the key concepts related to the environmental responsibility segment and to help create a clearer picture of Croatia’s population by gathering secondary data from the available literature and previous research. For this analysis, backdate of eight research waves through 4 years, 2 waves per year from 2010 to 2013 was used, all of them conducted on a random sample of Croatian citizens, examining (as a part of wider study) attitudes and preferences of the respondents on environmental protection through prism of survival of the human species, behavior of individuals and society to nature and expected economic growth. Attitudes of the respondents differ mutually with regard to observed socio-demographic characteristics of the sample where the population of younger age (15-19 years old) and Region Slavonia as statistical significant difference in all the four waves of measurements in all examined variables. A healthy environment is a fundamental prerequisite for the preservation of human health and quality of life. Europe 2020 is a new strategy of the European Union, which succeeds the Lisbon Strategy, indicates the need for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth, and leads to high levels of employment, productivity and social cohesion.