Exploring Relationship between Perception Indicators and Mitigation Behaviors of Soil Erosion in Undergraduate Students in Sonora, Mexico

Alondra María Díaz-Rodríguez, Claire Kelly, Alfredo del Valle, Claudio Bravo-Linares, William Blake, Hugo Velasco, Roberto Meigikos dos Anjos, Laura Fernanda Barrera-Hernández and Sergio de los Santos-Villalobos
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Alondra María Díaz-Rodríguez: Instituto Tecnológico de Sonora, Departamento de Ciencias Agronómicas y Veterinarias, Cd. Obregón 85000, Mexico
Claire Kelly: School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences, Plymouth University, Plymouth PL4 8AA, UK
Alfredo del Valle: Facultad de Ciencias, Instituto de Ciencias Químicas, Universidad Austral de Chile, Valdivia 5091000, Chile
Claudio Bravo-Linares: Facultad de Ciencias, Instituto de Ciencias Químicas, Universidad Austral de Chile, Valdivia 5091000, Chile
William Blake: School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences, Plymouth University, Plymouth PL4 8AA, UK
Hugo Velasco: Grupo de Estudios Ambientales, Instituto de Matemática Aplicada San Luis, Universidad Nacional de San Luis/CONICET, San Luis D5700HHW, Argentina
Roberto Meigikos dos Anjos: LARA-Laboratório de Radioecologia e Alterações Ambientais, Instituto de Física, Universidade Federal Fluminense, Rio de Janeiro 24210-346, Brazil
Laura Fernanda Barrera-Hernández: Departamento de Ciencias Biológicas y de la Salud, Universidad de Sonora, Cd. Obregón 85199, Mexico
Sergio de los Santos-Villalobos: Instituto Tecnológico de Sonora, Departamento de Ciencias Agronómicas y Veterinarias, Cd. Obregón 85000, Mexico

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 16, 1-17

Abstract: Soil erosion represents a critical socio-economic and environmental hazard for Mexico and the world. Given that soil erosion is a phenomenon influenced by human activities, it is essential to know the level of cultural perspectives on this matter. An instrument with eight scales was applied to 275 university students from a northwestern Mexican city, which measured the knowledge about soil erosion, self-efficacy in solving the problem, future perspectives, perceived consequences, obstacles to addressing soil erosion, and mitigation intentions and behaviors. To analyze the relationship between the scales and the intentions and behaviors of soil erosion mitigation, a model of structural equations was tested. In summary, the participants know the problem of soil erosion, its impacts, and recognize risks to human and environmental health. They also know their important role within soil conservation; however, they identified significant obstacles to action. This study determined that each indicator has a correlation with soil erosion mitigation intentions except for the obstacles. The indicators that had the greatest positive relationship in mitigation intentions were knowledge, self-efficacy, and the perspective of the future. The implications of these results open the landscape to the creation of efficient strategies to mitigate soil erosion in this region and Mexico.

Keywords: soil degradation; environmental psychology; agricultural practices; soil conservation; knowledge; pro-environmental behavior (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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