From June 7 to July 30, 2021, a research team from Development Dialogue Asia, the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication, Communication for Change, and Kantar Indonesia conducted a nationally representative survey of 3,490 Indonesian adults (ages 16+). The study was designed to investigate public climate change awareness, beliefs, and attitudes, as well as perceived risks of environmental problems (e.g., deforestation, forest fires), awareness and beliefs about Indigenous peoples, and other responses to environmental protection (e.g., norms, values, activism).
Global Warming Awareness and Beliefs
- 76% say they either know “a little” about global warming (55%) or “have never heard of it” (20%). When asked to assess several potential definitions, 44% of Indonesians correctly said that climate change involves “significant changes in weather patterns, temperature, wind, and rainfall that occur over a long period of time (decades or more).”
- After reading a short definition of global warming, 63% think global warming is happening.
- 29% think that global warming is happening and that it is caused mostly by human activities, while 23% think it is happening and caused more or less equally by human activities and natural changes in the environment. By contrast, only 8% think global warming is happening and caused mostly by natural changes in the environment.
Perceived Risks of Global Warming
- 73% say they are either “very worried” (26%) or “worried” (47%) about global warming.
- Majorities of Indonesians think global warming will cause either “a great deal” or “a moderate amount” of harm to plant and animal species (73%), people in Indonesia (72%), future generations of people (72%), people in their community (67%), their family (66%), and themselves personally (64%).
- 33% think people in Indonesia are already being harmed by global warming. Only 2% of Indonesians think people in Indonesia will never be harmed by global warming, but one in three (33%) don’t know when people will be harmed.
Perceived Risks of Deforestation
- 80% say they are either “very worried” (34%) or “worried” (45%) about the rate of deforestation in Indonesia today.
- Majorities of people in Indonesia think deforestation is either “very harmful” or “somewhat harmful” to citizens all across Indonesia (89%), people who live near the forest (87%), the local government where the forest is located (77%), the central or national government (77%), and business people who have invested to open up the forest (59%).
- People in Indonesia most frequently say that floods (71%), landslides (68%), and loss of water reserves (46%) are their top three worries about deforestation.
- 40% say cutting down a bigger area of the forest in Indonesia is never justified. However, the majority of Indonesians (60%) say cutting down a bigger area of the forest is justified if it is for building public infrastructure (32%), lifts more people out of poverty (17%), increases people’s income (15%), opens more jobs (14%), and/or increases the state’s revenue (4%).
Perceived Risks of Forest Fires
- 81% say they are either “very worried” (32%) or “worried” (49%) about forest fires in Indonesia today.
- 63% think forest fires are caused mostly by human activities.
Perceived Local Environmental Risks
- Large majorities of Indonesians are either “very worried” or “moderately worried” about harm to their local area from water shortages (91%), whirlwinds/small tornados (88%), droughts (87%), wildfires (86%), water pollution (85%), air pollution (83%), flooding (83%), rising sea levels (77%), and extreme heat (69%).
Awareness and Understanding of Indigenous People in Indonesia
- 62% say they either “have never heard of” (15%) or know “a little about” (47%) “Masyarakat Adat” – the Indigenous people of Indonesia.
- Only 4% of Indonesians understand that the term “Masyarakat Adat” does not refer to “all people or all tribes in Indonesia.”
Environmental Norms, Values, and Efficacy
- 83% say it is “extremely important” or “important” to their family and friends that they take action to reduce human-made environmental destruction (i.e., an injunctive norm). A majority of people in Indonesia (64%) also say their family and friends make either “a lot of effort” or “enough effort” to reduce human-made environmental destruction (i.e., a descriptive norm).
- 91% of Indonesians agree that they feel morally obligated to protect the environment from human-made destruction for the common good today, while 90% say they have a duty to reduce human-made environmental destruction for future generations. 82% also say that they feel guilty about the negative things humans have done to the environment.
- 90% agree that they share the same values with people who save and protect nature. Additionally, 70% say that they like to be identified as an “environmental activist.”
- 26% think humans can reduce environmental destruction and that we will, while 63% think humans could reduce environmental destruction, but either say “it’s unclear at this point whether we will do what’s needed” (32%) or “people aren’t willing to change their behavior, so we’re not going to” (31%). Very few Indonesians (4%) think humans can’t reduce environmental destruction.
- Majorities of Indonesians say they are “extremely sure” or “sure” that the government (75%), their community (73%), and citizens of Indonesia (71%) can work together to reduce human-made environmental destruction.
Environmental Activism
- When asked about actions to protect the environment from human-made destruction, few people in Indonesia say they have donated to a group working on environmental issues (18%); expressed their views to others using social media (16%); encouraged others to take action directly or through social media (10%); joined or volunteered in a group working on environmental issues (9%); attended peaceful demonstrations (9%); signed a petition, including online (8%); organized political activities, events, or protests using social media or directly (8%); contacted a government official, indirectly (through social media, letters, or emails) or directly (5%); and/or joined in boycotts (4%).