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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Clim.
Sec. Climate, Ecology and People
Volume 7 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fclim.2025.1532308

What matters for environmental concerns among university students in Bangladesh? An empirical study

Provisionally accepted
Bijoya Saha Bijoya Saha 1Mufti Nadimul Quamar Ahmed Mufti Nadimul Quamar Ahmed 2*Khandaker Jafor Ahmed Khandaker Jafor Ahmed 3Shah Md Atiqul Haq Shah Md Atiqul Haq 1
  • 1 Shahjalal University of Science and Technology, Sylhet, Sylhet, Bangladesh
  • 2 Utah State University, Logan, United States
  • 3 University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Experts have a well-established consensus regarding the detrimental effects of human activities on the environment, including extreme temperature events, rainfall variability, pollution, deforestation, biodiversity loss, and flood occurrences – all of which significantly stress Earth’s natural systems. This study investigates the level of environmental concern among university students in Bangladesh, considering their socio-demographic factors. A comprehensive survey using a self-administered questionnaire targeting 380 final-year bachelor and master’s students from various academic disciplines at Shahjalal University of Science and Technology (SUST) Sylhet, Bangladesh. The analysis involved variables such as gender, completion of university courses related to the environment or climate change, disciplinary background, and vulnerability to climate change or extreme weather events in their home locality. Relationships between these variables and the students’ environmental concerns were examined using cross-tabulation with the Chi-square test and mean difference with the ANOVA test. The findings indicate a high level of knowledge and significant concern among students regarding environmental issues, with disciplinary background being the primary determinant of environmental concern level. Additionally, completing university courses on environmental or climate change topics and experiencing vulnerability to such events in one’s hometown were significant predictors of environmental concerns. This study highlights the growing environmental concerns among university students and underscores the need for further scientific research to understand their impact on population dynamics comprehensively.

    Keywords: environmental concern, Socio-demographic factors, Disciplinary backgrounds, university students, Bangladesh

    Received: 21 Nov 2024; Accepted: 22 Jan 2025.

    Copyright: © 2025 Saha, Ahmed, Ahmed and Atiqul Haq. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Mufti Nadimul Quamar Ahmed, Utah State University, Logan, United States

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.