Risk perception

This section addresses the first research objective: determining stakeholders’ climate change risk

perceptions. Risk perception among the participants was evaluated by measuring two main elements: the level of concern for climate change impacts and the perceived characteristics of climate change. These characteristics include the onset of impacts, the seriousness of the impacts of unmitigated climate change and the degree to which climate change is controllable.

6.2.1 Level of concern

The participants were asked how concerned they feel about climate change affecting Mauritius, them personally and tourism in Mauritius. All participants reported that they feel “very concerned” about climate change affecting Mauritius. Likewise, all participants, except one, felt

“very concerned” about climate change affecting them personally. One academic felt “fairly concerned” on the personal level. Therefore, participants perceived climate change as being highly risky for Mauritius and for themselves.

With respect to tourism in Mauritius, the majority of the participants (14), including all the industry managers, reported feeling “very concerned”. Five participants felt “fairly concerned”. For these five participants, risk perception is lower for tourism than for the island and for themselves. They include three government officials, one academic and one member of an NGO.

6.2.2 Onset of climate change impacts

The participants were asked when, according to them, climate change will start affecting Mauritius, their local area and tourism in Mauritius. All except two participants believed that the effects of climate change on Mauritius are “already being felt”. Two industry managers believed that climate change will start affecting the island “within a few years”. However, both reported having experienced changes in environmental conditions which they consider as indicative of climate change, including sea-level rise, beach erosion, coastal inundation and damage to marine life. One of them explained how temperature rise is specifically affecting his operations, leading to more carbon emissions by his establishment:

71 When this hotel was built five years ago, a cooling tower was designed by considering an ambient temperature of 28°C. Now the ambient temperature is about 29.5°C. This additional 1.5°C makes a significant difference. I am unable to obtain my cooling cycle as required and this is affecting my operations. It affects the comfort of clients. Instead of using one cooling tower to achieve a cool temperature for my system here, I have to use two. It consumes more energy, more electricity and it becomes like a vicious cycle (Mr. A. Coonjun, Director of Engineering at The St Regis Mauritius Resort).

Views about climate change effects on participants’ local areas varied slightly. The majority (15)

considered that their local environment is already being impacted. A member of an NGO forecasted that climate change will affect his local area “within a few years”; two government officials believed that their local areas will be affected “during their lifetime” and another member of an NGO believed that the effects will not be felt within her lifetime, but future generations will be affected.

Higher variability was recorded in participants’ views about the onset of climate change impacts

on tourism in Mauritius, as illustrated in Table 6.3. Most participants (12) considered that tourism is already being impacted by climate change. However, seven stakeholders perceived climate change as representing more immediate risks to Mauritius and to their locality than to the tourism industry. In contrast, one industry manager, the Property Manager of La Margarita Hotel, believed that tourism will never be affected by climate change. The factors influencing his differing views are discussed in the next chapter.

Table 6.3 Participant views about the onset of climate change impacts on tourism in Mauritius.

Stakeholder group

When do you think climate change will start affecting tourism in Mauritius? The effects are already being felt Within a few years Within your lifetime

Not within your lifetime, but it will affect future generations Never Total NGOs 2 1 3 Industry Managers 4 1 1 6 Government Officials 4 4 8 Academics 2 2 Total 12 5 1 0 1 19 Total (%) 63.2 26.3 5.3 0.0 5.3 100%

72 6.2.3 Seriousness of impacts

The participants were asked how serious it will be for Mauritius, them personally and tourism in Mauritius if nothing is done to reduce climate change in the future. All except two participants thought that it will be very serious for Mauritius if nothing is done to mitigate climate change. For one industry manager, the Property Manager of La Margarita Hotel, and one government official, the situation for Mauritius will be somewhat serious. Generally, the Property Manager of La Margarita Hotel demonstrated a lower climate change risk perception than other participants.

All except three participants considered that it will be very serious for them on a personal level. Two government officials believed that it will be somewhat serious for them while another government official considered that climate change will not be so serious for him. However, this participant reported feeling very concerned about climate change affecting his local area, where effects such as uncomfortably hot temperatures were already being felt.

The same participant believed that unmitigated climate change will not be so serious for tourism in Mauritius while all other 18 stakeholders believed that the circumstances for tourism will become very serious. However, the participant stated feeling very concerned for tourism and believed that climate change will impact tourism within a few years. This inconsistent pattern, that is, high levels of concern but the belief that unmitigated climate change will not prove to be a serious issue, may indicate that the participant was subject to social desirability bias and had a lower risk perception than other participants. Social desirability bias refers to the purposeful manipulation of responses by participants to appear more favourable to the researcher (Krosnick & Presser, 2010).

6.2.4 Control over climate change

The participants were asked to what extent they believe that climate change is controllable through human intervention. None of the participants considered climate change to be

completely out of human control. On a scale of 1 to 5, where 1 represented ‘not controllable at all’ and 5, ‘completely controllable’, only one participant selected a value tending to the lower end of the scale. To varying degrees, almost all participants view the phenomenon as being controllable through human intervention, as illustrated in Table 6.4.

73 Table 6.4 Participant ratings about the extent to which climate change is controllable through human

invention (N=18, an academic did not respond to the question).

Stakeholder group

In your opinion, to what extent is climate change controllable through human intervention?

Not controllable at all Completely controllable 1 2 3 4 5 Total Academics 1 1 Government Officials 2 4 2 8 Industry Managers 4 2 6 NGOs 1 1 1 3 Total 0 1 8 7 2 18 Total (%) 0 5.6 44.4 38.9 11.1 100%