This paper provides new evidence on the preference for environmental quality among youth in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. Our paper aims to provide insights into the relationship between youth outlooks and characteristics and environmental awareness. We use a unique and nationally representative micro-level dataset extracted from the SAHWA Youth Survey (Barcelona Centre for International Studies (CIDOB), Barcelona, 2016) conducted in five major MENA countries: Algeria, Egypt, Lebanon, Morocco, and Tunisia. The empirical investigation utilizes the ordered probit model to accommodate the ordinal nature of the dependent variable that measures environmental awareness. Our findings indicate that the preference for a better environmental quality increases with individual income, by being female, and with the lack of confidence in government. Moreover, identity factors such as gender equality, the unimportance of traditions and perceiving oneself as a national citizen have a positive effect on environmental awareness. These findings signal a number of potential policy implications. First, they point to the importance of economic growth and modernization in the region as a way of increasing environmental awareness in the future. Second, they reveal a genuine demand for the provision of public goods in the presence of weak governmental actions with respect to environmental quality. Third, the fact that females demand more environmental quality than males allows us to forecast a general increase in such awareness as females across the region participate more in the economy, society and politics leading to what we can call ‘female environmental stewardship’.

本文提供了有关中东和北非（MENA）地区青年对环境质量的偏爱的新证据。本文旨在提供对青年观与特征与环境意识之间关系的见解。我们使用从SAHWA青年调查（巴塞罗那国际研究中心（CIDOB），巴塞罗那，2016年）中提取的独特且在全国范围内具有代表性的微观数据集，该数据是在五个中东和北非国家（阿尔及利亚，埃及，黎巴嫩，摩洛哥和突尼斯）进行的。实证研究利用有序概率模型来适应测量环境意识的因变量的序数性质。我们的研究结果表明，成为女性，并且对政府缺乏信心。此外，诸如性别平等，不重视传统以及将自己视为国民的身份认同因素也对环境意识产生积极影响。这些发现表明了许多潜在的政策含义。首先，他们指出了该地区经济增长和现代化的重要性，以此作为未来提高环境意识的一种方式。其次，它们表明，在政府对环境质量的行动薄弱的情况下，对提供公共物品的真正需求。第三，事实上，女性对环境的要求要高于男性，这使我们可以预测，随着整个区域的女性更多地参与经济活动，这种意识将普遍提高，