RESEARCH Perceiving the Environment from the Lay Perspective in Desertified Areas, Northern China Harry F. Lee Æ David D. Zhang Published online: 12 December 2007 Ó Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2007 Abstract Investigating local people’s environmental perceptions can produce useful information that could be incorporated into decision making processes that help resolve environmental problems. Although China is undergoing severe desertification, the perceptions of the local people toward their degraded environment and the related issues have so far not been actively solicited. This article, which is a supplement to Lee and Zhang’s (2004, 2005) studies, seeks to further investigate the lay public’s general environmental attitudes, perceptions of desertifi- cation, interpretations of land-degrading activities, and particularly their interrelations in severely desertified areas. Minqin County in Gansu Province, northern China, was chosen to be the study area. Data was collected via a questionnaire survey (n = 1138) administered in December 2002. Major findings were: (1) Most respondents had only weak altruistic environmental attitudes, with educational level to be a significant determinant. (2) Respondents’ perceptions of desertification and interpretations of land- degrading activities were contingent on personal attributes, general environmental attitudes, and other conceptions related to desertification. It is recommended that the interrelations between the various aspects of the public’s environmental perceptions should be thoroughly examined to facilitate their participation in environmental management. Keywords Lay public Á Perceptions Á Environmental attitudes Á Desertification Á Land-degrading activities Á Minqin Á Gansu Á China Introduction Growing interest in the causes of contemporary environ- mental changes inspires researchers to integrate the biophysical extent of the processes involved with the reac- tions of local populations (Ringrose and others 1996). Subject to this research paradigm, any environmental prob- lems would not merely be considered in absolute terms, but also from the point of view of the people affected. In addi- tion, investigating local people’s perceptions and attitudes has been increasingly highly valued in recent years because it is envisaged to notably help accurately recognize issues and the associated set of corrective measures. This inclination for lay perspectives also occurs within the arena of land degra- dation, in which local interpretations of the phenomenon have been a hot topic of investigation over the last decade (e.g., Zimmerer 1993; Joshi and others 1996; Williams 1997; Bollig and Schulte 1999; Elias and Scoones 1999; Lykke 2000;O ´ lafsdo ´ ttir and Ju ´lı ´usson 2000; Veihe 2000; Ward and others 2000; Wezel and Haigis 2000; Bielders and others 2001; Carvalho and others 2002; Daba 2003; Visser and others 2003). The associated studies satisfactorily link the perceptions of agents of change to policy issues, and help integrate technologies on land degradation and government programs in affected areas to prevent further degradation. In China, by the end of 2004, some 2.64 million km 2 of desertification covered 27.46% of the total territory, affecting 498 counties in 18 provinces and autonomous regions of the country (CCICCD 2006). The extent of desertification is overwhelming, with the economic loss incurred to the nation at around U.S. $6.5 billion a year. What is complicating the issue is that around 400 million people are still living in desertified areas, wherein conflicts and incompatibilities between local people and the envi- ronment have always been driven by economic necessity H. F. Lee (&) Á D. D. Zhang Department of Geography, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong, China e-mail: harrylee@hkusua.hku.hk 123 Environmental Management (2008) 41:168–182 DOI 10.1007/s00267-007-9052-8