Climate Change Risk Perception and Perceptions of Adaptation Measures in Egypt: A Mixed Methods Study of Predictors and Implications

Egypt is among the most susceptible countries in the world to the potential impacts of climate change. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) identified the Nile Delta as one of the most exposed deltas to sea level rise. Despite these alarming predictions, there is a lack of in-depth studies on public risk perceptions of climate change in Egypt. Understanding the public’s risk perception of climate change is vital in informing policy and developing effective risk communication strategies that improve public engagement with climate change and, in turn, encourage actions to address its potentially harmful impacts. This thesis provides a novel contribution to the literature through a mixed methods approach, using an online survey and semi-structured interviews. The research investigates three main topics: (1) Public perceptions of climate change; (2) Predictors of climate change risk perception; and (3) Perceptions of climate change adaptation. Results of the survey and the interviews showed that while participants were concerned about climate change and believed in the human causation of it, they had limited understanding and misconceptions about its causes (for example, erroneously linking climate change to the ozone layer). The Climate Change Risk Perception Model (CCRPM) adopted in this study explained 19.2% of the variance in risk perception. In addition, it revealed that experiential factors (affect and personal experience) were the strongest predictors of climate change risk perception in Egypt, while socio-cultural factors (value orientations) were the weakest predictors. Interviews with participants also highlighted that negative feelings featured prominently when speaking about personal experiences with the impacts of climate change. Moreover, regression analysis showed that personal and societal climate change risk perception had different predictors. These results offer important recommendations for policy, relating to matters such as targeted ways of communicating the science, impacts and risks associated with climate change