Environmental literacy in 9th grade students from Madeira Island (Portugal)

Has a contribution to evaluate present levels of environmental literacy in Madeira Island (Portugal), we developed a survey involving 491 9th grade students and found a good level of knowledge (71.8%), a strong tendency to agree with the New Ecological Paradigm (58.2%) and an encouraging level of environmentally responsible behaviors (47.9%) in a ‘very often’ and ‘always’ basis. Results from present study should be considered to improve environmental education programs in place, especially in Portugal and Madeira Island, but new surveys were needed to evaluate other age groups as also the relationship between different components of environmental literacy.