Recognition and perception of risks and Environmental hazards on the part of the student population in the Republic of Macedonia

The subject of quantitative research in this paper is analysis of the knowledge and the perceptions of students from seven different faculties in different years of study.  The authors used quantitative survey method to identify and describe the knowledge and the perceptions about the possible risk and disasters. 382 students from all years of study were examined. The results show that the respondents have a high level of knowledge on natural disasters and that there is a significant difference among students depending mostly on the year of study. There is also a difference in some perceptions between the students from “nonsecurity” and from “security” studies. The limitation of the research refers to the fact that the investigation is based only on students willing to participate in the answering of the questionnaire. Considering the evident lack of risks and hazards related to the Environment in Macedonia, the survey results can be used when creating the strategy of educational programs, which would contribute to improving the safety of youth culture. The research results can also be used for the improvement of existing knowledge and preparedness for responding to risks and hazards related to the еnvironment.

Keywords: risks and hazards, students, knowledge, perception, environment.

CONCLUSIONS

     The environment represents a field that comprises the interest of many scientific disciplines and as a result of such interest different scientific instruments are being created. In general, it can be observed both as an interest of the natural and as an interest of social sciences. In the social sciences of particular importance is the connection between the economics and the sociology on one hand and the technical and the natural laws on another. This, of course, results in the creation of the concept of sustainable development.

                   The relationship between the Security and the Risks is established and it is of visible or of latent nature. The space for scientific research in this area is "unlimited". Risks today represent part of modern society, or as Beck calls it - " A risk society". Within these general conditions the environment and their media directly associated with it, as well as the closely related issues, are going to increasingly gain impportance. As a result, more and more people will be changing their perception of the security. In this sense, the subjective feeling of security among people, the variable "environment" will become increasingly important.

    On behalf of the risks and the threats contrary to the doctrine of the Liberal Thinking, all the states will be  strengthening their position and "maneuvering space" to restrict the rights and the freedoms of the people.Therefore, the risks despite having objective potential for endangering,  are subject to additional "shaping" most often from the state authorities and the holders of information activities. The holders of information activities acquire a global dimension with incredible speed, and the state authorities usually cannot follow this progress.

About the differences arising on individual level on risk perception the cultural context, as well as the objective reality have crucial importance.The students in terms on threats to the environment on the first place put  the endangerment of the air and the water. Half of them believe that the soil is  being subject to threat. The perception that the air is the most endangered is due to the fact that all respondents are living in Skopje. The students also consider that the threat to the water is strong, but at the same time do not think that Republic of Macedonia would have a problem with shortage of water. Among the students  the tradition, the religion and the religious feelings are values which in most cases are evaluated differently, i.e. the answers are ranging with substantial variations in the value of the standard deviation. The ethnic hate has the highest value in terms of the assessment of its security relevance. The perception among the students  about the risks and dangers to the environment at the global level is based on speculation and incomplete informations. There are significant differences in these responses and large scattering of opinions. The participants have built a perception that the environment in the country is not being protected. At the same time, they are not contributing towards its threat. The respondents as individuals are significantly contributing to its protection (defined by four control issues). There is no statistically significant difference in the perception on the risks and dangers of the students of the Faculty of Security Skopje and the students  of the Institute for Defense and Peace. That speaks for a relatively same perception towards  the risks and the dangers. According to the authors this is due to the development of a safety culture and the acquired knowledge during the studies and in general the attitude towards the risks and hazards associated with the security.There is a difference in the perception of the value of security issues among the students  from the first and the third years of study. The students in the third year of study have a higher developed sense for security culture. Secondly, among the students  from the first  year we can see incompleted attitudes towards some security matters that can be especially illustrated by the values of the deviations to the standard deviation in the assessment of the security challenge in the cases: "existence of classical military threat", "terrorism", "trafficking people "and" human organ trafficking ". In addition, the performed t - test showed statistical significance of differences between these two groups among the questions: "human organ trafficking" and the "terrorism". There is a statistically significant difference between the attitudes of the students  from the Faculty of Security Skopje and the Faculty of Law "Iustinianus Primus" in terms of the range of danger of risks associated with the spread of tropical diseases to the north and the south of the equator as well as pollution of the oceans due to the release of a carbon dioxide.This is due to a higher degree of the build security culture rather  based on the familiarity with the real facts and data.Macedonia is vulnerable to risks and dangers from different nature and the overall processes are not in favor of existence of an optimal level of handling and management of these risks.

The existence of the consequences for the human health over the last decades of the 20th - century have created social interest groups that enabled the creation of a system for Environmental protection, which is not completely finished e.i is not yet utterly functional and operational.

For citations: Ivanov, A., Cvetković, V., & Sudar, S. . (2015). Recognition and perception of risks and environmental hazards on the part of the student population in the republic of Macedonia. In Z. Ž. i. O. Bacanović (Ed.), International scientific conference - Researching security - approaches, concepts and policies. Skopje: University “St. Kliment Ohridski” - Bitola Faculty of Security.