Perception of climate change among Małopolskie Voivodeship rural population

Climate change is currently one of humanity's primary challenges. Although it has yet to affect all parts of the world equally, it impacts all continents and virtually all countries. People's perception of the change also evolves. This makes monitoring the public's attitude towards climate change highly relevant. The article aims to characterise the attitudes and behaviour of the Małopolskie Voivodeship countryside towards climate change. The survey design covers the research areas referred to in the EIB Climate Survey report. The survey reported in the article involved 300 randomly selected adult residents of rural areas in five districts of Małopolskie Voivodeship (southern Poland). The authors also interviewed representatives of local authorities, such as environmental stewardship advisers. The results indicate that most respondents consider climate change and its consequences to be the central challenges for humanity in the twenty-first century. The most severe global problem for them is air pollution. Climate change affects the everyday lives of more than half of the respondents. Only 10% did not report any impact. The most popular forms of environmental stewardship among the respondents are the reduced use of plastics, reduced water consumption, and purchasing energy-efficient devices. Surprisingly, 15% of the population of Miechowski District and 10% of people in Limanowski District declared no environmental stewardship efforts to curb the impact of climate change.