Effect of compositional and contextual factors on the perceived importance of environmental change and livelihood sectors in three Caribbean countries

Policy and practical efforts to reduce vulnerability, strengthen resilience and drive desirable environmental attitudes or behavior ought to be informed by an understanding of the contextual and compositional factors that shape people’s perceptions of environmental phenomena. The objective of this study was to determine the contextual and compositional factors that significantly influence the perceived importance of environmental change and livelihood sectors in three Caribbean countries. A cross-sectional survey was conducted with 441 households in eight coastal communities in Belize, Dominican Republic, and Suriname. The sample included male (247) and female (194) participants. Inferential and ordinary least squares regression were applied to examine relationships between predictor (relevant contextual and compositional factors) and outcome variables (perceived importance of environmental change in relation to livelihood sectors or activities) at community and household scales. Univariate analysis of the predictors and other socio-demographic variables was done using Pearson’s chi-square statistics. Bivariate analysis was initially performed to examine zero-order relationships between the outcome variables and theoretically relevant predictor variables. Further, multivariate models were estimated to explore the net effects of the predictor variables using the stepwise selection approach. Results indicate complex and differentiated interactions between predictor and outcome variables at community and household scales. We found ethnicity, community, and country as strong predictors of the outcome variable across the models. This is followed by education and income. Generally, increase in education and income was associated with significant decrease in the perceptions of the outcome variable and might have contributed to a recognition-threat gap. Still at the multivariate level, there was no statistically significant difference between women and men in the perception of the outcome variables but women were associated with decreased perception at the bivariate level. Different age groups had similar self-reported perceptions of environmental change and livelihoods. Overall, respondents in different livelihood sectors expressed different perceptions on the importance of environmental change and livelihoods for community and household resilience. This suggests varied experiences and/or perceptions of vulnerability, undergirded by the contextual and composition