Abstract:
Mangrove ecosystems are identified as one of the most productive ecosystems and provide a
range of ecosystem services, yet they have been heavily subjected to the decline over past years.
Therefore, enhancing the knowledge, attitude, and perception (KAP) on mangroves conservation
among stakeholders, especially, youth is one of possible strategies for the long-term mangrove
conservation and management. In addition, this practice also can incorporate in national planning
while fulfilling some research gaps in the field of mangrove ecosystems conservation. The present
study was conducted to quantify the KAP and to assess the suitability of using university students
towards sustainable mangrove ecosystems. This research was carried out as a questionnaire
survey among students (n=527) representing 30 universities studying in the 2020-2021 academic
period adopting a random sampling technique. Through the questionnaire, the level of KAP
towards mangrove forest conservation among students was evaluated and quantified. Cronbach's
alpha reliability test (Cronbach's alpha = 0.823) was followed to test the reliability of data. The
study findings asserted that the range of Likert scaled score (5-highest and 1-lowest) for the
knowledge assessment criteria was 3.5 to 4.5 scale. Further, attitude assessment criteria were in
between 3.0 to 4.6 distributions whereas the perception criteria showed a score level from 4.0 to
4.7. Furthermore, it was noted that there exists a positive relationship between KAP components,
as per the linear regression models of attitude and knowledge, perception and knowledge, and
perception and attitude were significant. According to the linear regression models we tested for
each component, the complete model designed to evaluate the effect of attitude (p < 0.001) and
perception (p < 0.001) on the knowledge component received 98% of the weight when selecting
the best model with Akaike Information Criterion to determine the relationships between
components. Hence, the model asserts the significance and synergy of attitude and perception
components for knowledge as the results were significant and positively correlated. The study
findings suggest that as the students are aware of the importance of mangroves and conservation
value and there exists a higher potential to employ their contribution to mangrove conservation
projects research activities and community awareness.
