自然への「関心」低下　コロナ影響か―内閣府調査

　内閣府は１４日、自然や生物多様性に関する世論調査結果を公表した。自然に対し「非常に関心がある」「ある程度関心がある」と答えた人の割合は７５．３％で、前回調査（２０１９年）の９０．６％から大幅に低下。調査方法が変わり単純比較はできないが、説明に同席した環境省の担当者は「新型コロナウイルスの拡大で自然に触れる機会が減ったからではないか」と分析している。
　同省担当者はまた、コロナによる経済状況の悪化で気持ちに余裕がなくなっている可能性もあると指摘した。調査は今年７～８月、１８歳以上の男女３０００人に郵送で実施。１５５７人（５１．９％）から有効回答を得た。（2022/10/14-17:11）

A Japanese government survey showed Friday that 75.3 pct of respondents are very or somewhat interested in nature, down from 90.6 pct in the previous survey in 2019 before the COVID-19 pandemic.
   Although the two surveys cannot be compared directly as the survey method changed, an Environment Ministry official said the sharp decline may be because "people had fewer opportunities to interact with nature due to the spread of the novel coronavirus."
   The official also mentioned the possibility that people lost emotional capacity owing to financial problems stemming from the pandemic.
   The mail survey by the Cabinet Office, conducted from July to August, covered 3,000 people aged 18 or older across the country. Valid answers came from 1,557, or 51.9 pct.
   Regarding biodiversity, or the enormous variety of living organisms that together make up the natural world, 72.6 pct of respondents knew the meaning of the term or had heard of the word while not knowing its meaning, up from 51.8 pct in the previous survey.