Public perception and responses to environmental pollution and health risks: evaluation and implication from a national survey in China

Concerns have been raised among policy-makers, researchers and Chinese citizens regarding the widespread environmental degradation that has occurred in China in recent decades. Years of environmental education and media coverage on pollution harm and health risks have not only provided information about pollution to the public, but have also strengthened people’s concerns. However, an ‘intense focus’ on pollution is far from sufficient; at present, it is necessary to assess to what extent the public can identify specific environmental conditions and whether they are ready to cope with potential health risks from pollution. Through face-to-face surveys on trains and at railway stations nationwide, we investigated public experiences of environmental pollution accidents, perceptions of local environmental risks (focused on air and water quality) and responses to local environmental conditions. By comparing public perceptions with official environmental monitoring data-sets, we concluded that the accuracy of perceptions related to four environmental factors ranged from 40 to 60% at the individual scale. Furthermore, the accuracies increased approximately 2–10% at the county scale and 10–30% at the city scale, highlighting the possible benefits of collective intelligence in helping the public to identify existing environment conditions more accurately. Additionally, despite great concerns about pollution and health, public attitudes toward coping with the dangers of pollution and health risks were found to be indifferent. Our study revealed factors at the individual, social and governmental levels that led to low levels of perception accuracy and response scores. Thereout, we stressed potential pathways to improve the accuracy of public perception and the positivity of responses. The survey results indicate that there is a long way to go before the public is well prepared to cope with the risks of pollution; as a consequence, it is necessary to improve both personal environmental awareness as well as governmental, social and commercial responses to pollution events.