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 The questionnaire was administered to a representative national sample of 3 164 people sixteen years old and over, and addressed issues such as knowledge and concern about climate change; views on causes and likely impacts of climate change; responsibility for action (i.e. government, NGO, industry, individuals); and support for interventions.
Public awareness of climate change When asked if they had heard of climate change or global warming, 27% of respondents had not heard about it prior to the interview. But 6% said they knew ‘a lot' about climate change and 12% ‘a fair amount'. Predictably, up to 28% of respondents were unable to answer more specific questions on climate change, although there was a reasonable amount of knowledge among the rest of the sample. There was little variation in knowledge by age, which suggests that information is being accessed via the media, rather than through formal education (Figure 1). 
Perceptions of risk When asked how serious a problem climate change might be, 54% (overall) responded that it was either a ‘somewhat serious' or ‘very serious' problem. In terms of knowledge about the causes of climate change, many respondents gave correct responses (unprompted) regarding the main causes of climate change (Table 1).
 On a question about people's level of current concern about climate change, as compared to a year ago, almost half the respondents (44%) said they were more concerned about climate change now, suggesting an increase in awareness over time. A similar question was used in the GlobeScan Poll , carried out in 30 countries including South Africa, in 2003 and 2006. Their results found that 72% of South Africans felt that climate change was ‘very serious' or ‘somewhat serious' in 2006, having risen from 62% in 2003. In our study, of those who were willing to offer an opinion about the seriousness of climate change, 71% stated that global warming is a ‘very serious' or ‘somewhat serious' problem, suggesting the same levels of concerns to those in the GlobeScan Poll of 2006. When compared with other countries, even developing countries, levels of awareness of the seriousness of climate change are low in South Africa (Figure 2). Although one might expect perceptions to correlate with socio-economic status (assessed using Living Standards Measure in this survey) there was no clear trend in the SASAS results. 
When asked about how serious a threat people considered global warming to be for themselves and their families, the majority (55%) felt the threat to be ‘very serious' or ‘somewhat serious'. There was little difference in overall attitude to whether the perceived threat was seen as personal, as in affecting their ‘own family' (55%) or more distant, as in affecting ‘people in other countries' (54%). Beliefs about potential impact Given that most of the effects of climate change are predicted for the future, it was interesting to see what people thought might happen over the next 50 years. Although 14% were uncertain, the concerns identified by other respondents showed that they were reasonably well-informed. Respondents said that climate change would have an impact on food security (15%), temperature (13%), disease (13%) and the standard of living (11%). The more frequent responses form a cluster of concerns about personal and immediate threats. The more distant or abstract consequences of climate change, such as storms, floods and loss of biodiversity were reported slightly less frequently (8% and less). Need and responsibility for action A set of three questions was used to assess people's willingness to act. The first question referred to climate change as still being an uncertain threat, the second implied that it is real but gradual in effect, and the third implied a ‘serious and pressing problem'. Fifty five percent of respondents felt that action was required even if there were costs involved and half of these agreed with the statement ‘We should begin taking steps now, even if this involves significant costs'. The majority of respondents (48%) felt that government, in its various forms, should take responsibility for action to prevent further climate change. Large companies were also regarded as having a role to play by 14% of respondents, with a range of responses suggesting that there is potential for participation in managing climate change by national government, through provincial and local bodies to households and individuals. The next step was to enquire whether people felt that the South African government was doing enough about climate change. Whereas 33% were satisfied with the government's response, 29% were dissatisfied, but the most frequent response was ‘cannot choose' or ‘don't know' (Table 2), which may indicate a general lack of awareness about what the government is in fact doing.
Public support for climate change interventions Taking this aspect further, questions were asked about people's support for various potential government interventions. Perhaps predictably, interventions which might lead to reduced costs for the average consumer, received support. For example, the great majority of respondents were in favour of government expenditure being used to develop wind farms or make energy saving devices cheaper (73% and 72%, respectively). Conversely, increasing prices of gas, electricity, or petrol, in order to reduce consumption, was very unpopular, as was increased tax to improve public transport. The time to act is now Whilst there appears to be a reasonable awareness of climate change as an issue likely to impact on future generations, many people remain uninformed about it or, at least, unwilling to venture an opinion. One of the great challenges with an issue like climate change is that distant threats tend to be ignored when the demands of day-to-day living seem so much more important. But the time to act is now because the longer we delay, the harder and more expensive the remedies become. Although the data suggests that awareness has increased over the past few years, greater efforts will be required to increase general awareness and to ‘catch up' with public opinion in other countries. The real challenge is to provide information that allows people to take control of the situation, recognising that individuals can make a difference. On the positive side, people appear to appreciate that climate change requires action on many fronts and this bodes well for the multifaceted responses that are likely to be necessary for dealing with this challenge. Professor John Seager is a research director in the Social Aspects of HIV/ AIDS and Health programme
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