Preaching to the converted? Suggestions for better environmental communication in Azerbaijan

In contrast to what is often assumed about Azerbaijani youth in the media and in dinner conversations, he argues that the surveyed student population of the ADA University actually showed rather high levels of knowledge and concern about environmental issues such as saving water, saving electricity, use of public transportation and non-littering. 

He notes that the students also indicated high levels of social control to behave sustainably and, in general, to act in a nature-friendly manner, with the exception of public transportation – which is a major challenge in Baku.

Policy implications

His findings stress an important message to policy-makers. 

First, do not just tell the youth or population at large that they need to save water, electricity or stop littering. It seems that most people already know as much. Instead, use more affect-based communication strategies, ideally based on application of the research on behavioral heuristics and biases. Smart communication works better than just supplying knowledge. 

Secondly, in addition to shaping attitudes through framing, do also design behavioural interventions that actually shape social norms, and make it easy to achieve behavioural change (e.g. make it easier and more comfortable to use buses or metro, for example). 

The blog post on environmental attitudes of the Azerbaijan youth (based on the research at ADA University) is available here in English and Azerbaijani.