By Sherezade Rodriguez
Floridians are willing to sacrifice some rights for the sake of protecting endangered species, a recent UF/IFAS Center for Public Issues Education survey shows.
Results from the PIE Center’s newest public opinion survey show that 82 percent of respondents believe themselves, as individuals, are responsible for protecting endangered species.
That sense of responsibility seems to extend into support for restrictions on landowner rights, according to PIE Center Director Tracy Irani.
Sixty-eight percent of Floridians agreed or strongly agreed that landowners have an obligation to protect endangered species on their property, and 55 percent of the participants agreed or strongly agreed that endangered species protection should interfere with a landowner’s right to develop their property.
Further, 59 percent of Floridians disagreed or strongly disagreed that landowners should be allowed to develop their land regardless of its impacts on endangered species. If a landowner harmed an endangered species, 71 percent of respondents said he or she should be fined.
“We gathered from our data that although there is still favorability toward protective measures, there are always tradeoffs,” Irani said.
The results revealed that 83 percent of Floridians supported or strongly supported imposing fines on those who harm endangered species, and 85 percent were in favor on fining people who damaged habitats.
In general, the majority of respondents supported or strongly supported the regulation and restriction of residential and commercial land development, indicating to PIE Center post-doctoral associate Quisto Settle that Floridians are able to balance their rights against endangered species protection.
“Generally, you might look at the public saying that the environment, natural resources and endangered species are shared resources,” he said. “Even if someone owns the land, at the same time, their decisions affect everybody. It’s not isolated to just their property.”
Although participants felt strongly about protecting endangered species through restrictions on land development, only 18 percent strongly believe they can make a significant difference in conserving habitat for endangered species.
“The respondents of this study don’t feel they have much influence, but they feel policymakers do,” Irani said. “In general with public policy, you find that individual citizens may feel that their efforts are not really going to be significant enough in the big picture.”
The study also showed that Floridians are in support of landowners receiving financial incentives for behaving ethically in regards to endangered species. Fifty-four percent of participants agreed or strongly agreed that a landowner should receive financial compensation when an endangered species prevents full use of their property, while 60 percent indicated that financial incentives should be used to promote proper management of an endangered species.
