Background: In developing countries, the urban environment is deteriorating over time. In the meantime, people's demand for clean and green residential and recreational places has increased. If so, why has it been hard to keep clean and green cities? This paper investigates the level and determinants of environmental awareness in Addis Ababa. From three sub-cities, a three-stage sampling procedure applies to select 293 sample respondents. The data collection applies a structured questionnaire. We applied a five-point Likert scale to classify the levels of awareness. Besides, an ordered logit model was applied to analyze factors that affect the level of awareness.
Results: The result shows that the knowledge of forest degradation is high, while the attitude to reduce the use of glass bottles is medium. The cognitive skill on the cause of acid rain is medium. The probability of low (13%) and medium (26%) levels of environmental awareness increases for the income group of 601 to 1650. Likewise, the likelihood of having low levels of environmental awareness rises by 9%; in contrast, the probability of having a moderate level of environmental awareness increases by 12% for the age of 50 to 59. The TVET educational level has a low chance of having low (8%) and medium (12%) levels of awareness.
Conclusions: An income-generating activity raises employment opportunities and creates a better income, which would influence the environmental mindset. So, improving the living standard assures clean and green cities. Besides, the higher the education, the better would be environmental knowledge, cognitive skills, and attitude. In the meantime, besides formal education, adult education, training, and workshops are alternatives to enhance environmental awareness.