ABSTRACT
Understanding perceptions and attitudes related to the environment is an important prerequisite for designing and implementing interventions aimed at promoting pro-environmental behaviour. While substantial research has been conducted on this topic internationally, it remains necessary to better understand nature-related perceptions and attitudes among rural communities in sub-Saharan Africa, as these communities are both highly vulnerable to and disproportionately affected by climate variability and change. To address this gap, a narratively orientated qualitative study was undertaken to explore environmental attitudes and narratives among 25 purposively selected participants in two rural South African communities. Three such communal narratives were identified via narrative analysis. First, the majority of residents narratively framed nature as unimportant, except in as much as it had utilitarian value in providing resources to aid survival. Second, a smaller group ascribed intrinsic value to nature within the limited context of gardening. Finally, in contrast to the predominantly anthropocentric concern for the environment that is reflected in the first two narratives, a small group of residents espoused an ecocentric narrative that constructed nature as intrinsically valuable, which was associated with the tendency to act in pro-environmental ways. Based on these findings, a number of implications for interventions and policy are outlined.
