Biodiversity Profile in Knowledge, Attitude and Practice (KAP) of the Citizens of Mashhad Metropolis applying Sustainable Development

Decades of environmental conservation experience have shown that Knowledge, Attitude and Practice (KAP) of human society is an essential part of conservation. In this regard, the purpose of this study is to investigate the KAP of Mashhad citizens towards biodiversity and related factors. This research was conducted with a mixed quantitative and qualitative method. The statistical population of the study, using Cochran's formula, 384 samples of people over 15 years old living in different areas of Mashhad, was determined based on clustering. The data collection tool was a localized EU questionnaire whose validity and reliability were 0.73 for 5 items of variable attitude, 0.77 for 7 items of variable and 0.71 of 5 items of variable behaviour. Descriptive statistics and results from Exell2016 and SPSS16.0 software as well as distribution and frequency tables and related graphs were applied to describe the data. SPSS16.0, t-test, test hypotheses from t-test, variance analysis and Spearman correlation test were applied to analyse the data and hypothesis test. The results showed that less than a third of people had heard of the biodiversity term. University education contributes to the improvement of the term biodiversity. There is also a significant relationship among the variables of gender, income and education's type of citizens' attitudes toward biodiversity. In addition, there is a positive and significant correlation between environmental knowledge and attitude. In fact, with the increase in the level of knowledge, the attitude of citizens towards biodiversity has been raised to a higher level. As a result, their behaviours are directed towards the protection of the environment. There is also a significant difference between the KAP of citizens living in different areas. Finally, by analysing the biodiversity profile in the KAP of Mashhad citizens and referring to the Delphi panel, a conceptual model of the research was presented.