Determinants of the Public Environmental Issues and Concerns: A Case Study in Rafsanjan, Iran

Introduction: This study aimed to evaluate the most important public environmental issues and concerns, the public knowledge about these issues, as well as the quality of environmental issues in Rafsanjan, Iran. Materials and Methods: In this descriptive-analytical study, 384 people were randomly selected from Rafsanjan City and their public environmental issues and concerns were evaluated. The data were collected using a researcher-made questionnaire, with confirmed validity and reliability. The data were analyzed by Mann-Whitney and Kruskal-Wallis statistical tests using SPSS-18 software. Results: The findings showed that the most important environmental concerns in Rafsanjan included water quality and quantity, pesticides in agriculture, and air pollution, respectively. However, the quality of drinking water and water resources were not appropriate from the public’s view point. The mean score of environmental knowledge and environmental issues’ quality level were 5.91 ± 2.53 and 36.07 ± 7.21, respectively.  Knowledge level and environmental quality level had a statistically significant relationship with education, occupation, and level of using public transportation (P <0.05). Conclusion: It can be concluded that improving the quality of drinking water, promoting the farmer’s knowledge and behavior about application of pesticides, as well as monitoring and controlling air pollution were among the most important needs and demands of Rafsanjan citizens. So, authorities should consider these issues attentively.