Dominicans Worry That More Poverty And Social Inequality Will Be Caused By Climate Change, Says Survey

40% of Dominicans are most concerned about the increase in poverty and social inequality caused by the climate crisis, says a survey on political culture and climate change in the Dominican Republic conducted by the Institute for Social Research for Development ( ISD), said reports.

According to the survey, which is part of the study "Resilient Economy with Gender Justice in the Dominican Republic," participants believed that water and health are the dimensions most likely to be affected by the climate crisis (58% and 59%, respectively), followed by access to food and shelter.

Even though the residents consulted indicated worry about the climate crisis and agreed that environmental preservation was vital, 41% of those surveyed said that this protection should not come at an additional cost to them.

The survey details that, in this section, significant differences are observed, “men tend more than women to think that the defense and conservation of the environment are absolutely necessary, although its protection sometimes involves high costs. On the other hand, women are more likely to think that the environment should be protected as long as the necessary measures to do so are not too costly”.

“Support for measures to protect the environment faces the dilemma that most people believe that these should have no cost or should be low. Therefore, people adopt in their imaginary that climate change is a material threat so that they can promote measures that imply less costly changes in the short term”, reflect the developers of the survey.

The authors of the study believe that because there is still a significant information gap about the topic and its effects, there is still room for advancement in the positioning of climate change before the Dominican public. However, "it is perceived as positive that the government takes measures to deal with it, although people are not very inclined to accept direct costs, such as the imposition of taxes that affect consumption or the cost of business activity."

According to the survey, few people are willing to take on the responsibility or make adjustments as a part of the solution on an individual level. “Rather, it is considered that large companies are responsible and, therefore, must assume the changes and the costs that this entail,” details the report.