3. Climate change: Thematic areas of concern
“Policy and governance” ranked top among all areas of concern (M=
4.74, SD= 0.514) according to the group of experts (Fig. 5).
“International partnership and cooperation” and “research and
innovation” (M= 4.62 and 4.74, SD= 0.923 and 0.514, respectively)
represent important themes for both experts and non-experts. Both
respondent groups ranked “research and innovation” as the second most
important thematic area for climate change. Among all areas of climate
change concern, “monitoring and data sharing” is the lowest-ranked by
the non-expert participants (M= 3.77, SD= 1.275) and “environmental
health” by experts (M= 4.35, SD= 0.755). Themes such as “economy” and
“perception and behavior” ranked less important as well. Contrary to
COVID-19, where both respondent groups have considered “economy” to be
a very important aspect, both groups considered “economy” the least
area of concern among all topics when it comes to climate change (Fig.
5).