Public's Perception on Knowledge, Attitude, and Practice towards Mangrove Forest Conservation: A Case Study in Penang, Malaysia

Rozainah, M.Z., and Halim, A., 2024. Public's perception on knowledge, attitude, and practice towards mangrove forest conservation: A case study in Penang, Malaysia. In: Phillips, M.R.; Al-Naemi, S., and Duarte, C.M. (eds.), Coastlines under Global Change: Proceedings from the International Coastal Symposium (ICS) 2024 (Doha, Qatar). Journal of Coastal Research, Special Issue No. 113, pp. 164-168. Charlotte (North Carolina), ISSN 0749-0208. Mangroves are one of the world's most productive ecosystems, yet they confront substantial threats including natural hazards (e.g. sea-level rise) and human impacts (e.g. pollution and overexploitation of coastal land). Although controlling natural hazards can be challenging, comprehensive understanding of how humans perceive and act on mangroves can help to curtail their impacts on mangrove ecosystems. Hence, the paper aimed to determine the levels of knowledge, attitude, and practice towards mangrove forest conservation among the public in Penang Island, Malaysia, and their correlations. A Knowledge-Attitude-Practice (KAP) survey was carried out on a sample of 294 respondents and descriptive statistics and inferential tests were used to analyze the data. The results showed that 76.5% of the respondents were within the age range of 21-60 years old, 75.2% were working including self-employed, government, and private sectors, and 42.9% were educated to tertiary level. The prevalence of good knowledge, attitude, and practice among the public were 36.4%, 34%, and 35%, respectively. The results exhibited that knowledge, attitude, and practice towards mangrove forest conservation were influenced by sociodemographic characteristics including age, level of education, and occupation. Meanwhile, there were significant positive relationships between knowledge and attitude (r=0.66, p<0.001), knowledge and practice (r=0.52, p<0.001), as well as attitude and practice (r=0.64, p<0.001), respectively. These indicate that knowledge and attitude could serve as catalysts for enhancing the practice of mangrove forest conservation among the public. In summary, knowledge, attitude, and practice towards mangrove forest conservation among the public were poor, indicating the need for more awareness and interventions from the experts and government agencies, and providing insights into how to improve mangrove forest conservation strategies in Malaysia.