The Natura 2000 network is a system of managed natural areas exclusively designed to protect Europe's most valuable and threatened species and habitats and covers 18.6% of its land area, and 8.9% of its marine territory. Repeated Eurobarometer public opinion surveys show that European citizens are unaware of this broad network. Awareness is a prerequisite to successful participatory planning. The present work addresses two issues. First, it reflects on the presumed “low” level of Natura 2000 recognition among Europeans using the citizens' knowledge of similar concepts as a yardstick. Second, it explores whether aware and non-aware citizens are systematically and characteristically different from each other regarding their human capital, social and economic attributes. Data are sourced from publicly available Eurobarometer surveys summing up to a large dataset of 52,000 respondents across all EU countries and regions. The statistical analysis utilises a random intercept, multilevel ordered logistic, regression model that considers the ordinal nature of the Natura 2000 awareness dependent variable and the fact that European respondents cluster in regions and countries. The results highlight that a higher awareness level is related to more privileged citizens and reveal a substantial gender issue, a cognitive rural-urban separation and, possibly, a generational predisposition. Findings also disclose the complex and obscure geography of awareness. The revealed “biased awareness” is a threat to successful public participation. Environmental policy must be proactive about testing new ways to support higher awareness levels and rise to the challenge of providing an improved and inclusive awareness-raising strategy.

Natura 2000 网络是一个管理自然区域系统，专门用于保护欧洲最有价值和受威胁的物种和栖息地，覆盖其陆地面积的 18.6% 和海洋领土的 8.9%。Eurobarometer 反复进行的民意调查显示，欧洲公民并不了解这个广泛的网络。意识是成功参与式规划的先决条件。目前的工作解决了两个问题。首先，它以公民对类似概念的知识作为衡量标准，反映了欧洲人对 Natura 2000 的假定“低”认可度。其次，它探讨了有意识和无意识的公民在人力资本、社会和经济属性方面是否在系统上和特征上彼此不同。数据来自公开可用的 Eurobarometer 调查，这些调查汇总了所有欧盟国家和地区的 52,000 名受访者的大型数据集。统计分析利用随机截距、多级有序逻辑回归模型，该模型考虑了 Natura 2000 意识因变量的序数性质以及欧洲受访者聚集在地区和国家的事实。结果强调，更高的意识水平与更多特权公民相关，并揭示了一个实质性的性别问题、认知上的城乡分离以及可能的代际倾向。调查结果还揭示了复杂而模糊的意识地理。显露的“偏见意识”对成功的公众参与构成威胁。