Unlocking the potential: an exploratory analysis of knowledge, attitudes, and perceptions (KAP) of University students towards sustainable mangrove conservation

Sustainable mangrove conservation has become a global challenge due in part to a lack of cohesion between knowledge, awareness, and practices among communities. The present study thus aimed to quantify the knowledge, attitudes, and perceptions (KAP) regarding mangrove ecosystem conservation among university students, who have the potential to serve as catalysts for conservation efforts. The research also sought to assess the relationship between their sociodemographic characteristics and KAP towards mangrove conservation. A questionnaire survey was administered to selected university students in Sri Lanka through purposive sampling (2020–2021 academic period). Cronbach's alpha test was used to assess the internal consistency of the data in each KAP item. Linear regression models were employed to understand the relationship between KAP factors. The PERMONAVOA test based on Hellinger distance was used to understand the relationship between KAP and the sociodemographic characteristics of students. Out of the total 527 participants representing 30 universities, 63.5% were female and 35.8% were male. The study findings showed the range of mean Likert-scaled scores (with 5.0 being the highest and 1.0 being the lowest) for the knowledge components was 3.5 to 4.5. For the attitude components, the range was 3.0 to 4.6, and for the perception components, the range was 4.0 to 4.7. A positive correlation among KAP components was observed, with significant linear regression models for attitude and knowledge, perception and knowledge, and perception and attitude (p