Author: Aleena Shaikh
Climate Change and Adaptation Strategies for Human Health
The Science of Climate Change
Abstract
Climate Change 1995 is the second full report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a body established by the World Meteorological Organisation and the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) to assess information on climate change and its impacts and to consider response strategies. Like the original report (IPcc 1990), it will become a standard reference for researchers and policy makers in climate-change-related areas. The report is in three volumes, each the product of an individual Working Group with dozens of authors and hundreds of contributors representative of the international climate science community. The volumes (hereafter referred to in terms of the working groups) are concerned with: the science of the global climate system, climate variability and change, and projections of future climate (WG I); impacts of climate change on terrestrial and aquatic systems, society, health, and the economy, and adaptations and mitigation options (WG II); policy options, decision making, and cost-benefit analysis (WG Ill). A point of confusion in usage is addressed in the WG I summary, which takes ‘climate change’ to mean ‘any change in climate over time whether due to natural variability or not’ in contrast to an exclusively anthropogenic causal sense, as appears in the WG II and WG Ill reports and in policy documents such as the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.
Summary:
Most readers will be aware that the iPcc has concluded in this report ‘… that the observed trend in global mean temperature over the past 100 years is unlikely to be entirely natural in origin. More importantly, there is evidence of an emerging pattern of climate response to forcings by greenhouse gases and sulphate aerosols in the observed climate record. This evidence comes from the geographical, seasonal and vertical patterns of temperature change. Taken together, these results point towards a human influence on global climate…’ (WG I, p. 412). Cautiously worded as it is, this conclusion was criticized by some (Singer 1996) as having been taken further for political motives than was warranted by the science, a charge strongly rebutted by the senior editor (Houghton 1996), among others. A consensus of experts falls short of certitude and, as there are areas of uncertainty in terms of observations, models, predicted impacts, and mitigation, there will continue to be sceptics.
Emphasis in the main conclusion is on the convincing degree of agreement between observation and models of the spatial patterns of climate change expected from human influences, particularly when the effects of anthropogenic aerosols are included. It is evident that late20th century climate change is complex: there are large regional differences in magnitude and sign. For example, the recent cooling observed in the northwest Atlantic is not necessarily inconsistent with ‘global warming’ scenarios. In the ongoing effort to understand this complexity, it seems self-evident that continued monitoring of relevant systems and variables is essential, despite a trend in many countries (including Canada) toward reduced observational effort (WG II, 355).
Notwithstanding the uncertainties, the combined iPcc report is a valuable reference for research and teaching. There is a wealth of information on the problem of global climate change, with ample bibliographic support. Not surprisingly, there is some overlap between volumes, particularly I and II; however, the thrust and substance differ according to the objectives of each working group. Related elements of the global system, such as sea level and glaciers, are treated in response and feedback terms in WG I, and in terms of change and impacts in WG II. One can start in the WG II volume with a subject such as hydrology and learn how the uncertainties of predicting catchment-scale impacts are compounded in downscaling from coarse regional climate model simulations to the scale of the catchment. Conversely, WG I identifies inadequate treatment of the hydrologic components (soil moisture and runoff) as a major deficiency in the GCMS. This circularity is but one of many problem areas raised but not yet resolved by the research. The report is therefore a rich source of research ideas (‘research needs’ is an explicit section in each chapter of the WG II volume).
Climate Change 1995 represents a major stage in an ongoing research, review, and publication effort. This process can be followed on the UNEP Website (http:// www.unep.ch/ipcc/), where the summaries for policy makers contained in the three volumes are available for viewing and downloading and there is information about subsequent reports and links to related information sources and bibliographic databases. Given strong indications that `aggregate net damage’ to social and economic systems will ensue from predicted anthropogenic change in a matter of decades (WG Ill, 10), the subject of these reports will increasingly occupy geographers, regardless of specialization.
It’s time to (climate) change the way we teach
Abstract:
This article outlines pedagogical practices and methodologies for increasing student engagement in the classroom and in the broader community on the topic of climate change. The emphases are placed on (1) preliminary assessments of student understanding and emotional responses to the topic of climate change, (2) assignments that enable student groups to assess and increase campus-wide awareness of various aspects of climate change, and (3) public engagement and service-learning opportunities that allow students to expand their impact beyond the local campus and into their broader community. These practices have proven effective, for large format lecture courses as well as smaller seminar-style courses, in encouraging student participation, overcoming apathy and motivating student effort and action far beyond what can be stimulated by traditional classroom assignments and assessments.
Summary:
For years at the large state university where I teach, I watched groups of students present to their peers information and research on specific aspects of climate change. Topics ranging from CO2 emissions to Coral Bleaching, Climate Refugees and Environmental Justice. Each week of each semester as different groups wrapped up their presentation, they would attempt to motivate behaviour changes among their peers. ‘Here’s what you can do to help’, they exclaimed before rattling off a list almost identical to the one presented the week before and inevitably, the week following: ‘Recycle, carpool, take shorter showers, walk more, unplug your electronics . . .’. And week after week I would ask myself how we have managed to instil such an incomplete message to our students about the reality of their role in global climate change. Is it important to recycle, carpool, unplug, etc.? Of course it is. Students in my courses are urged to follow the mantra: ‘Lead by example – It’s contagious!’ because everything each of us can do matters and models climatefriendly behaviours to those around us. But that being said, how did this generation of undergraduates come to see themselves as the bad guy? The committing party? The generation responsible for solutions? And what must be the cumulative emotional impact of such environmental guilt and grief? Some will misinterpret what I am saying and assume that I am letting these students off the hook or that I am dismissing their motivation for change. On the contrary, I think the message they are receiving is incomplete and their efforts, energy, and aspiration to mitigate climate change are largely being thwarted. As educators, peers, parents, and global citizens, it is pertinent that we allow ourselves and our students to see the extent to which this ‘rhetoric of recycling’ acts as a blinder that narrows our vision and distracts us from acknowledging the true extent to which greenhouse gas emissions and their impacts are the product of multinational corporations, wealthy conglomerates and private companies; and, just as importantly, distracts us from the ways our consumption habits subsidise corporate pollution and increases their wealth, while we, and our increasingly climate-weary students, shoulder the blame and responsibility for environmental damage and repair. Although many aspects of the science of climate change can be observed and/or calculated, understanding the root causes of human behaviour and worse yet, how potentially to modify culturally rooted practices that tie notions of success and wealth to material production and consumption are wicked problems without formulaic solutions. Although methods for understanding the causes of climate change can be taught, the absence of a clean solution can leave students, as it can anybody, feeling overwhelmed, impotent and ultimately ambivalent (Anderson 2013). Thus, teaching climate change in the social sciences today is not effective as a presentation of dispassionate acts, models or statistics. In the majority of cases, we are no longer in the business of converting deniers or ‘sceptics’ into ‘believers’ (McKeown and Hopkins 2010). Lecturing, examination, and traditional, rote assignments can aid students’ memorisation, but the topic of anthropogenic climate change requires a different level of immediate action and engagement – not simply because all life is in peril, but because emotionally and intellectually, students desire and respond to opportunities to take effective action in the name of mitigating climate change (Anderson 2013; Ariely et al. 2008; Chalofsky and Krishna 2009; Pink 2011; Seraphin et al. 2019).
Linking Climate Change Awareness, Climate Change Perceptions and Subsequent Adaptation Options among Farmers
Abstract:
Climate change is a fact, and it has already left negative signs in every field of life. Observational evidence indicated variations in temperature and rainfall reliability in Southeast Asian countries, particularly Pakistan [1]. In addition to existing challenges, the impacts of climate change are making farm households more vulnerable. It can impact millions of people in the country [2]. Unfortunately, most developing and under-developing countries are still in the denial stage of climate change grief [3,4]. Farmers of such countries take changes to the climate as the result of a natural cycle, and hence, they feel less obliged to develop any management strategies [5]. Therefore, this study aims to assess the farmers’ climate change awareness (CCA).
Summary:
Perception and awareness of climate change are two different terms that, unfortunately, are used interchangeably in the literature. For instance, Simpson et al. [6] reported that confusion between concepts of CCA and climate change perception has also hindered understanding of the importance of different predictors of climate change knowledge. Similarly, Madhuri and Sharma [7] are of the opinion that there is a nuanced relationship between farmers’ perceptions and climate change information and their associated determinants. Awareness is something you know through knowledge or perception of a situation or fact. Climate change is a fact, and most developing countries, including Pakistan, are still in the denial stage of climate change. Therefore, awareness of climate change is a better term than climate change fact. On the other hand, perception is the way in which something is regarded, understood or interpreted through the ability to see, hear or become aware of something through the senses. Perceptions can be changed over time, while awareness about a fact does not change.
The growing impacts of extreme weather events posted by climatic variations on every field of life have generated rich contributions to the literature on the general public’s CCA in the last few years [8,9]. However, the literature on farmers’ CCA is rather limited and under-researched. Few efforts have been made in this area that is primarily based on farmers’ perceptions of climate change [1,6,10,11]. Awareness is the first step in any perception being created [7]. The reason behind this is that sometimes farmers do not perceive climate change as it takes time to be visible. For instance, Maddison [12] finds that farmers hardly detect immediate climate changes as changes in atmospheric conditions are a long-term process. Therefore, climate change is a slow process that can only be observed with meteorological instruments, and the farmers rely on a short-term experience based on their past memories while reporting climate-related information [13]. In such circumstances, it is quite vague to find the farmers’ perception of climate change, particularly in a dichotomous fashion [14]. For instance, Hasan and Kumar [15] find no evidence of whether farmers of Bangladesh perceive climate change properly. Thus, CCA can better address climate-related issues and associated adaptation practices.
There are many theories (e.g., information deficit, nudging, circuit model and binding communication theory) about why CCA does not inspire the kind of behavior changes it should [8,16,17,18,19]. Providing more or better information is necessary for communication to be effective in terms of raising awareness and promoting adaptation to climate change. The most important question pertaining to climate change perception is either do they match reality. The extent to which perceptions match the real-world data on changes in climate would lead to better communication [7]. This can be performed by combining field and laboratory research with real-world, observed data [17]. Otherwise, effective communication would fail. The perception of people is very important in behavioural changes, such as an adaptation to risk (climate change) [9]. When people have a positive attitude about the environment, coupled with strong CCA, it translates to effective adaptation strategies [20]. People’s CCA becomes more salient and vivid when they perceive and experience climate-related hazards [21]. Therefore, the study in hand is designed to check the farmers’ CCA, how they perceive climate change and subsequent adaption strategies.
Many farmers are aware of climate change, but the extent to which farmers are aware of climatic vagaries (unpredictable or erratic rainfall and temperature) is unclear [22]. Apparently, this is because of how farmers experience the impacts of climate change, their understanding of the reasons, how they respond, and the costs to them vary [23,24]. Conversely, climatic variations are generally perceived as being unimportant by some farmers, and hence they believe changes to the climate were not human-induced [25]. Therefore, they feel less motivated to apply coping and adaptation strategies [5]. Some farmers may not notice or care about climatic variations and perceive that changes in climate are natural processes [26,27]. For example, Hamilton and Keim [28] find an inverse relationship between age and CCA level of respondents in nine U.S. states. Similarly, low education levels, illiteracy and lack of experience may decrease CCA [29,30]. Another study found that farm size significantly increases the CCA of farmers’ and large farmers perceive more climatic shocks as compared to small farmers [31,32].
Farmers who are involved in non-farming activities may have a great deal of climatic awareness. For instance, if farmers have non-agricultural income, their awareness level may increase [31,33]. For instance, Das and Gosh [26] find that CCA knowledge significantly improves by income from non-farming activities. Many farmers take changes in climate in a religious manner, while others have a scientific perspective [34], and their CCA depends on farmers’ access to climate-related information, education level and their local long-term climate change observation [35].
Climate knowledge has been considered the main factor for any adaptation and mitigation strategies, particularly in farming systems. Ng’ombe et al. [36] were of the opinion that the success of adaptation and mitigation efforts to climate change mainly depends on the farmers’ CCA. Farmers’ climatic information provides multiple solutions and practices that can reduce environmental risks [37,38]. For instance, raising CCA is essential for increasing environmentally-friendly farming practices [39]. It ensures that farmers undertake appropriate management strategies to mitigate the adverse impacts of climatic vagaries [37]. The CCA empowers farming communities for sustainable use of natural resources [40,41]. It helps farmers to be actively involved in agri-environmental programs [40,42]. The CCA is imperative to develop a sense of ownership among the farmers [43].
Research reported in the empirical literature suggests a strong association between CCA and its impact on adaptation [44,45]. How farmers receive knowledge of climate change impacts how they handle it. This knowledge would ultimately lead to adaptation techniques and processes involved in it [44]. On the other hand, any misconception or poor planning about CCA and its associated risks may cause an adaptation deficit or no adaptation, thus exacerbating the inevitable impacts of climate change [46]. Therefore, knowing the extent of farmers’ CCA is very important in terms of understanding their adaptation behaviours. This knowledge is also extremely important in shaping national adaptation and mitigation policies. The previous literature has determined farmers’ CCA, yet most of the studies failed to consider the effects of CCA on adaptation practices [31,47]. Moreover, very little is known about the factors affecting farmers’ CCA.
Pakistan is the sixth most populous country in the world and is among the top ten countries that could be severely affected by climate change [48]. The mass community of the country who are very poor is highly susceptible to the negative impacts of climatic variations. The agriculture sector of Pakistan grew by 4.4%, with a 22.7% contribution to GDP and a 37.4% share in the total labour force; thus, any adverse consequence posed by climatic variations might negatively impact the livelihoods of millions of the population [2]. For instance, crop simulation model-based studies reported 21 percent and 40 percent reductions in wheat yields in the case of RCP 8.5 for the 2020s and 2080s, respectively, in various parts of Pakistan. Till now, Pakistan has not devoted much of its efforts to curtailing the emissions from agriculture due to limited awareness and low confidence in monitoring/estimation of these emissions [2], p. 307. In the countries where rates of CCA are high, particularly the Global North, research has mainly focused on risk perception, opinion or belief, climate change perception, awareness and whether these perceptions and awareness correlate with adaptation [49,50,51,52]. In contrast, in Southeast Asian countries, studies suggest that the perception of meteorological change is high [1,53,54], but very little is known about CCA and its relation with adaptation strategies. Against this backdrop, this research was conducted to assess farmers’ views of climate change and the factors affecting it in Punjab, Pakistan. It is expected that it would contribute to a deeper understanding of farmers’ CCA and its consistency with adaptation. The findings of this study identify the factors that can be used by policymakers and practitioners to support climate change knowledge and agricultural adaptation to climate change.
STRATEGIES USED BY SECONDARY TEACHERS IN INTEGRATING CLIMATE CHANGE EDUCATION IN THEIR LESSSONS: TOWARD A FRAMEWORK FOR COMBATING CLIMATE CHANGE THROUGH EDUCATION
Abstract:
Climate change is a worldwide phenomenon and it is a great concern to all countries as it brings about a warming climate system that affects human behavior. South Africa like other countries is severely affected by climate change. Although attempts are increasingly made to integrate climate change into school curricula, teachers have challenges in preparing and implementing climate change lessons. This study, therefore, seeks to review literature related to the integration of climate change education in the school curriculum to identify the strategies teachers face when integrating climate change education in teaching and learning. The study adopted a literature review approach and a comprehensive electronic search for relevant literature was done using the google search and springer which led to the discovery of research article suitable for the study. The study also aims at suggesting a model that could be used by teachers to integrate climate change in their lessons. This will be done by reviewing the existing literature about climate change education in different countries and its integration in teaching and learning in the classroom.
Summary:
Climate change is wreaking havoc on all of the world’s countries, and it is a major source of concern for all of them since it causes a warming climate system, which has an impact on human behavior (United Nations 2014 and Apollo & Mbah, 2021). Climate change is wreaking havoc on South Africa, as it is on other countries (Vogel, Schwaibold & Misser, 2015). Although most countries are progressively attempting to integrate climate change education into their school curricula, teachers face difficulties in planning and executing climate change education in their courses (Anderson, 2010, Stevenson, Nicholls & Whitehouse, 2017 SezenBarrie, Miller-Rushing & Hufnagel, 2020). Furthermore, climate change education is not aligned with current scientific and policy approaches. As a result, the purpose of this study was to examine the literature on the integration of climate change education into teaching and learning in the classroom. The study also attempted to propose strategies that instructors may follow when attempting to incorporate climate change into their lessons. A literature evaluation of climate change education in three nations, including South Africa, was conducted.
Climate change is a global issue that all governments are seeking to address to mitigate its consequences on humans and other living things. Extreme weather and increasing sea levels are both consequences of climate change (NASA, 2016). Nation-states have banded together to assess the dangers and consequences of human-caused climate change. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which represents the majority of countries on the planet, is emphasizing the dangers and consequences of climate change (Sezen-Barrie, Miller-Rushing & Hufnagel, 2020). Wildfires, flooding, and environmental changes appear to be increasing in frequency at an alarming rate (Sizen-Barrie et al., 2020). This suggests that rapid action on climate change is required. This necessitates governments’ commitment to implement initiatives aimed at raising awareness of climate change and combatting its consequences on the environment in general and human life in particular.
Since there appears to be a growing interest in studying climate change education and developing programs to integrate climate change into environmental and science education curricula (Anderson 2012), the South African education system must adjust its pace to keep up with other countries in its efforts to integrate climate change into the school curriculum.
Climate change is having a disruptive effect, and it is happening quicker than any time in the last 2,000 years (Amanchukwu, Amadi-Ali, & Ololube, 2015). Rising levels of carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases in the atmosphere have warmed the earth, resulting in a variety of effects such as rising sea levels, melting snow and ice, more extreme heat events, fires and drought, and more extreme storms, rainfall, and floods, as previously mentioned (Amanchukwu et al. 2015). The need to act quickly on climate change has become a political issue, with the UN Secretary-General (Ban Ki-moon) informing world leaders that the world’s glaciers are melting faster than the climate negotiations in New York (Amanchukwu et al., 2015).
Climate change is wreaking havoc on South Africa, as it is on the rest of the world (Vogel, Schwaibold & Misser, 2015). The complexity of climate as an interrelated system, which includes earth and socio-ecological systems, as well as ‘deeper’ thinking, necessitates serious concentrated efforts and tactics, critical research, and reflexive and transformative educational approaches (Vogel et al., 2015). For the South African government, climate change is causing multiple stressors, including a large proportion of the population living in abject poverty, food insecurity, biodiversity degradation, and killer diseases such as tuberculosis and human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immune deficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) (Anyanwu, Le Grange & Peter Ziervogel 2015). The South African National Climate Change Response Policy White Paper advises teaching climate change concepts and related topics at all levels of formal education to address the country’s vulnerability (Department of Environmental Affairs, Republic of South Africa, 2011). In South Africa, this appears to be a welcome development to dealing with climate change.
Since climate change is a universal challenge, and it appears that all governments are willing to embark on climate change education and integrate it into school curricula, teachers must have up-to-date knowledge of the fundamentals of climate change science to present concepts in ways that stimulate learners’ interest and develop a deeper understanding (Anyanwu, Le Grange & Peter Ziervogel, 2015). According to Anyanwu et al., (2015), there is a growing interest in developing-country teachers’ knowledge and awareness of climate change. This effort is a welcomed strategy and must be stepped up to get the desired result.
Nwankwo and Unachukwu (2012) found that instructors in Nigeria lacked adequate knowledge of the causes and impacts of climate change, as well as the necessary techniques for managing climate change instruction. Science teachers, according to Ekpoh and Ekpoh (2011), have limited knowledge and awareness of climate change. Instructors’ knowledge, attitudes, and comprehension of climate change are right to some level in South Africa (Vijovic, 2013) but only a few teachers have a deeper scientific understanding of climate change dangers. Furthermore, the majority of the teachers had assumptions regarding effective climate change mitigation techniques. There appears to be a scarcity of literature focusing on teachers’ strategies in incorporating climate change education into their teaching and learning. Thus, the purpose of this study was to look into the strategies employed by secondary school teachers in South Africa to incorporate climate change education into their lessons as it appears that there are no curriculum aligned pedagogical practices of integrating climate change (Bofferding and Kloser (2015).
Farmers beliefs and concerns about climate change
Abstract:
Climate change threatens the existence of humankind on the planet Earth. Owing to its arid climate and poor natural resources base, Saudi Arabia is particularly susceptible to the negative impact of ongoing climate change. Farmers’ understanding of this global phenomenon is extremely important as it may help determine their adaptation behavior. This study was designed to analyze farmers’ beliefs and concerns about climate change as well as their views about adaptation different obstacles. Data were collected from 80 randomly farmers of the Al-Ahsa region in Eastern Province using structured interviews. The findings revealed that farmers believed that climate change is mainly occurring due to anthropogenic activities. Drought, insects, crop diseases, and heat stress were their main concerns regarding adverse impacts of climate change. Lack of knowledge about adaptation practices, and poor government and financial support are perceived as the major obstacles to adaptation. The results of non-parametric analysis identified no significant differences in farmers’ climate change beliefs and concerns, and their views about obstacles to adaptation in relation to their demographic characteristics. Based on the findings, we suggest that capacity building programs should be undertaken by the government for enhancing the adaptive capacity of the farmers as well the provision of financial incentives wherever deemed necessary for promoting the adoption of sustainable agricultural practices and building a resilient national food system.
Summary:
Across the globe, climate change has emerged as a serious issue with significant implications for various domains of human life [1–3]. It poses a serious threat to the economies and societies of the world [4]. Owing to changes in the climate, global warming as well as a change in precipitation patterns is predicted. By the end of 2100, global average temperatures may rise by 1.4–5.8 degree Celsius [5]. Across different regions of the world, shifts in seasonal water availability throughout the year are also likely to be induced [6]. The frequency and intensity of extreme weather events like flooding and drought may also increase [7–9].
Aa a result of changes in the climate, global agricultural production systems and food security are threatened [3,10–13]. The productivity of both irrigated and rain-fed agriculture will be considerably affected. Majority of the world’s population is anticipated to experience the potential negative impacts of climate change. It is anticipated that in many regions, there will be a decrease in crop productivity [14–16]. Climate change is likely to enhance the impact of both biotic and abiotic stresses on agriculture [17]. According to the WHO projections, around 540–590 million people will be undernourished at a warming of 2 degree Celsius [18]. Climate-induced water scarcity may cause some parts of the world to lose their up to 6% of their national Gross Domestic Product (GDP) [19]. The most serious impacts will be in those regions that are already vulnerable to food insecurity and rural poverty [20].
Saudi Arabia is characterized by an arid climate [5,21]. In some parts, temperatures can be more than 50 degree Celsius [5]. Rainfall is extremely limited; long-term average precipitation is around 100 mm per annum. However, in Western parts of the Kingdom, rainfall can rise up to 500 mm per annum [5]. Intense and frequent precipitation events are rare [22]. Over the last 50 years, a 1.9 degree Celsius increase in average temperature was observed [23]. The rate of increase was faster (0.72 degrees C per decade) in the dry season as compared to the wet season (0.51 degrees C per decade) [24]. Several studies predict a 2–4 degree Celsius increase in the average temperature in the Kingdom by the end of 2100 due to ongoing climatic changes [25–27]. Although significant change in rainfall has not been observed during last 50 years [23], future precipitation projections however suggest a decrease in rainfall in many parts of Saudi Arabia [27,28]. The Kingdom lacks recurrent rivers and permanent water bodies. Saudi Arabia, along with other countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) has been classified as water-scarce nations by the United Nations [29]. According to Water Resources Institute, 14 out of 33 countries that are most likely to be water-stressed in 2040 would be in the Middle East, and among them, Saudi Arabia has been ranked at 9th position [30]. Water scarcity increases vulnerability of the region to the impacts of climate change [31].
The arid climate of the Kingdom makes it highly vulnerable to the potential negative impacts of climate change. Variations in temperature and rainfall severely affect food production. Several studies have reported significant impacts of climate change on agriculture [32–34]. Date palm production in the Kingdom is predicted to decline significantly owing to unfavorable climatic conditions [34]. A 3–5 degree Celsius rise in temperature would pose serious challenges for the agriculture and other economic sectors in the Kingdom [21,34]. Reduction in crop yields may range between 5–25% by just one-degree Celsius increase in temperature [23]. At 1 and 5 degree Celsius increase in temperature, irrigation water requirements of various crop would increase by 602 and 3,122 million Cusic meters, respectively [35]. Global warming could increase agricultural water demand around 5–15% to sustain current levels of agricultural production [26]. As 90% of agriculture in Saudi Arabia is irrigated, yields will be significantly reduced due to water scarcity [36]. About 70% of the annual water use is consumed by the agricultural sector [23]. A change in abundance and distribution of diurnal desert animals may also happen due to global warming [25].
A decrease in local food production will affect the national food security; food prices at the domestic level will be on rise, and it would also lead to higher food imports, increasing dependency of the Kingdom on other countries for its food security [37]. Therefore, the Kingdom is serious undertaking climate change adaptation and mitigation measures by employing various institutional options as well as facilitations of different stakeholders for combating this global problem [23]. Farmers are key stakeholders in this regard as they are not only directly affected by climate change, but their actions can also contribute towards climate change.
Globally, there is a consensus among different nations about the ongoing issue of climate change and its underlying causes. This paved the way toward the formulation of an international climate agreement in 2015 under the aegis of United Nations, commonly known as Paris Agreement. The agreement recognizes climate change as a global problem and therefore encourages all the countries to undertake collective actions to combat this issue by considerably reducing their carbon footprint [38]. At individual level, however, people may hold different beliefs about climate change and its causes. Farmers’ climate change beliefs refer to their acceptance and trust on various explanations of ongoing climate change. Such explanations include the ideas that climate change is either happening mainly due to human-induced activities or as a natural phenomenon or both. It also includes the ideas that there is insufficient evidence about climate change or climate change is not happening at all [39,40]. Understanding farmers’ beliefs about climate change is of considerable importance as they can influence their decisions to adopt certain appropriate climate change adaptation and mitigations measures. Moreover, it can help us predict their adaptation behavior and can assist in formulating effective extension and outreach initiatives for developing resilient food production systems [39–41]. Farmers’ concerns refer to the feelings of worry about the observed and potential impacts of climate change that can negatively affect agriculture and farm income. A huge body of literature is there that documents various observed and potential impacts associated with climatic changes [3,5,7,10,13,42–45]. The main impacts include drought, heat stress, flooding, increased incidence of crop diseases, insects and pests, higher weed infestations and invasive weeds, reduction in soil fertility etc. Farmers also confront various obstacles that can restrict their ability to effectively implement climate change adaptation and mitigation strategies. The exact nature and extent of theses may vary from region to region and farmer to farmer [42,46].
Across the globe, many studies attempted to analyze farmers’ views and responses to climate change in different countries [47–53]. In Saudi Arabia, majority of the research conducted about climate change and its likely impacts during the last decade followed a top-down approach and is attempted to predict the consequences of climate change on local scale. Only a few studies [41,54] directed targeted the farmers in the Northern region of Saudi Arabia. The present study was intended to fill these gaps and was carried out in the Eastern region that is a rather neglected part of the Kingdom in this regard. The study was carried out to achieve the following research objectives:
- To identify farmers’ beliefs about climatechange
- To identify farmers’ concerns about impacts of climatechange
- To identify farmers’ views regarding various obstacles to adaptation
- To determine differences in farmers’ beliefs, concerns and views about obstacles to adaptationdue to demographic characteristics
At the intersection of mind and climate change
Abstract:
Dominant policy approaches have failed to generate action at anywhere near the rate, scale or depth needed to avert climate change and environmental disaster. In particular, they fail to address the need for a fundamental cultural transformation, which involves a collective shift in mindsets (values, beliefs, worldviews and associated inner human capacities). Whilst scholars and practitioners are increasingly calling for more integrative approaches, knowledge on how the link between our mind and the climate crisis can be best addressed in policy responses is still scarce. Our study addresses this gap. Based on a survey and in-depth interviews with high-level policymakers worldwide, we explore how they perceive the intersection of mind and climate change, how it is reflected in current policymaking and how it could be better considered to support transformation. Our findings show, on the one hand, that the mind is perceived as a victim of increasing climate impacts. On the other hand, it is considered a key driver of the crisis, and a barrier to action, to the detriment of both personal and planetary wellbeing. The resultant vicious cycle of mind and climate change is, however, not reflected in mainstream policymaking, which fails to generate more sustainable pathways. At the same time, there are important lessons from other fields (e.g. education, health, the workplace, policy mainstreaming) that provide insights into how to integrate aspects of mind into climate policies. Our results show that systematic integration into policymaking is a key for improving both climate resilience and climate responsiveness across individual, collective, organisational and system levels and indicate the inner human potential and capacities that support related change. We conclude with some policy recommendations and further research that is needed to move from a vicious to a virtuous cycle of mind and climate change that supports personal and planetary wellbeing.
Summary:
Dominant policy approaches have failed to generate action at anywhere near the rate, scale or depth needed to avert climate change and environmental disaster. In particular, they fail to address the need for a fundamental cultural transformation, which involves a collective shift in mindsets (values, beliefs, worldviews and associated inner human capacities). Whilst scholars and practitioners are increasingly calling for more integrative approaches, knowledge on how the link between our mind and the climate crisis can be best addressed in policy responses is still scarce. Our study addresses this gap. Based on a survey and indepth interviews with high-level policymakers worldwide, we explore how they perceive the intersection of mind and climate change, how it is refected in current policymaking and how it could be better considered to support transformation. Our fndings show, on the one hand, that the mind is perceived as a victim of increasing climate impacts. On the other hand, it is considered a key driver of the crisis, and a barrier to action, to the detriment of both personal and planetary wellbeing. The resultant vicious cycle of mind and climate change is, however, not refected in mainstream policymaking, which fails to generate more sustainable pathways. At the same time, there are important lessons from other felds (e.g. education, health, the workplace, policy mainstreaming) that provide insights into how to integrate aspects of mind into climate policies. Our results show that systematic integration into policymaking is a key for improving both climate resilience and climate responsiveness across individual, collective, organisational and system levels and indicate the inner human potential and capacities that support related change. We conclude with some policy recommendations and further research that is needed to move from a vicious to a virtuous cycle of mind and climate change that supports personal and planetary wellbeing.
A Human Health perspective on Climate Change
Abstract:
The purpose of this paper is to identify research needs for all aspects of the research-to-decision making pathway that will help us understand and mitigate the health effects of climate change, as well as ensure that we choose the healthiest and most efficient approaches to climate change adaptation.
Summary:
Climate change endangers human health, affecting all sectors of society, both domestically and globally. The environmental consequences of climate change, both those already observed and those that are anticipated, such as sea-level rise, changes in precipitation resulting in flooding and drought, heat waves, more intense hurricanes and storms, and degraded air quality, will affect human health both directly and indirectly. Addressing the effects of climate change on human health is especially challenging because both the surrounding environment and the decisions that people make influence health. For example, increases in the frequency and severity of regional heat waves-likely outcomes of climate change-have the potential to harm a lot of people. Certain adverse health effects can probably be avoided if decisions made prior to the heat waves result in such things as identification of vulnerable populations such as children and the elderly and ensured access to preventive measures such as air conditioning. This is a simplified illustration; in real-life situations a host of other factors also come into play in determining vulnerability including biological susceptibility, socioeconomic status, cultural competence, and the built environment. In a world of myriad “what if’ scenarios surrounding climate change, it becomes very complicated to create wise health policies for the future because of the uncertainty of predicting environmental change and human decisions. The need for sound science on which to base such policies becomes more critical than ever.
Recognizing the complexity of this issue, an ad hoc Interagency Working Group on Climate Change and Health (IWGCCH)2 assembled to develop a white paper on relevant federal research and science needs, including research on mitigation and adaptation strategies. Examples of mitigation and adaptation research needs are identified, but a comprehensive discussion of these issues is not included. These research and science needs broadly include basic and applied science, technological innovations and capacities, public health infrastructure, and communication and education. Consideration is also given to the potential structure of a federal climate change and health research agenda and the use of scientific research results for applications and decision making. The purpose of this paper is to identify research critical for understanding the impact of climate change on human health so that we can both mitigate and adapt to the environmental effects of climate change in the healthiest and most efficient ways. Although the group recognizes the global nature of climate change’s impacts on human health, the primary focus of this paper is on the situation in the United States.
This report is organized around 11 broad human health categories likely to be affected by climate change.3 Categories are arranged in alphabetical order, and no prioritization-for instance as to likelihood of occurrence, severity of effects, or depth of current knowledge-is implied. Each category is broken into sections that introduce the topic, explain its relationship to climate change, and identify the basic and applied research needs of that category, as well as crosscutting issues where relevant. Most investigations of climate change and health have relied on environmental and ecological effects to extrapolate potential human health impacts; the IWGCCH deliberately chose to emphasize the need for research on human health outcomes over environmental impacts for this reason: this approach highlights direct links between climate change and federal research priorities that are often disease- or outcome-specific, and a focus on human health outcomes enables a holistic approach to exploring climate change-related health impacts. We recognize that the health consequences identified in this document are not exhaustive, and that because so many climate change effects are prospective, some of the research needs enumerated may be speculative. As more information becomes available, new research needs may be identified and others rejected, but it is our intent that this report may serve as a baseline discussion from which agencies can proceed.
Assessing regional impacts and adaptation strategies for climate change: the Washington Climate Change Impacts Assessment
Abstract:
Climate change in the twenty-first century will strongly affect the processes that define natural and human systems. The Washington Climate Change Impacts Assessment (WACCIA) was intended to identify the nature and effects of climate change on natural and human resources in Washington State over the next century. The assessment focused on eight sectors that were identified as being potentially most climate sensitive: agriculture, energy, salmon, urban stormwater infrastructure, forests, human health, coasts, and water resources. Most of these sectors are sensitive in one way or another to water availability. While water is generally abundant in the state under current climate conditions, its availability is highly variable in space and time, and these variations are expected to change as the climate warms. Here we summarize the results of the WACCIA and identify uncertainties and common mechanisms that relate many of the impacts. We also address cross-sectoral sensitivities, vulnerabilities, and adaptation strategies.
Summary:
The focus of this study is on transportation and its effect on climate change. This topic constitutes a new domain with unstudied potential in sustainable transportation to reduce carbon emissions and address climate change globally. Both personal mobility and the transportation of heavy objects have dramatically increased over the last century. This progress has been significantly influenced by the advancement of the internal combustion engine. Engine efficiency has increased, and emissions have decreased significantly. Additional upgrades are needed to comply with local zero-emission regulations and global climate goals. Rapid renewable energy sources are essential for producing clean power and the wide-scale use of sustainable fuels. As every nation has a responsibility, developing countries must learn to reduce their reliance on fossil fuels as their economies expand. They should indeed pursue a sustainable path and swiftly convey crucial insights to gain expertise. Technology evaluations should consider the influence of each life cycle stage rather than just the tailpipe emissions. It would be smart to adopt a fact-driven approach, keep various options open, and build on prior accomplishments, as we consider a wide range of diverse uses across the transportation sector. A variety of low-carbon technologies should be pursued rather than placing all the stakes on one [2]. Research that considers sustainable transportation to reduce carbon emissions have a rich background to address the issue of climate change. For example, Ref. [1] observed that to create low-carbon transportation and land-use policies to address climate change, it is essential to understand the factors affecting climate change with the help of CO2 emissions. They aimed to determine how the built environment (BE) involves CO2 emissions connected to commuting and how it affects climate change. Most studies were conducted in developed countries and evaluated the link between BE and CO2 emissions using conventional modeling, considering the direct effects associated with BE. Predicting the overall impact of BE on commuter CO2 emissions while accounting for the mediating role of GHG technologies is a research gap. This study, therefore, looks at both the direct and indirect effects of BE on CO2 emissions, connected to commuting, that change the climate.
Several authors found that sustainable development promotion with the help of forests reduced the adverse effects of global warming and possibly addressed climate change, GHG emission reduction, and improvement in environmental quality, which is sometimes decreased due to transport-related pollution [3,4,5]. The research addressed regional and local sources of CO2 and other GHG emissions. Globally speaking, 23% of the GHG emissions connected to energy in 2004 were from mobile sources of CO2. In China, mobile sources accounted for 28% of all human caused GHG emissions in 2004 and a whopping 39% of all CO2 emissions. Methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O), and hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) are driving the Earth’s atmosphere’s warming condition. As part of the evaluation, the CO2 emissions for several megacities, the carbon footprint represented in CO2, and the CO2 per capita used as a sustainability scale are all examined to control climate change [6].
There has been increasing research effort and specialization in climate change and transportation factors. An important part of the economy and environment is the transportation industry. However, because of its fast growth, it significantly provides both beneficial and harmful outputs to the economy and the sustainable environment. Thus, it is necessary to assess transportation efficiency in relation to the economy and the sustainable environment. This research contributes to the debate by examining the combined influence of economic and environmental issues, in contrast to other studies that looked at environmental and economic consequences individually. Additionally, the impact of transportation-related climate change mitigation technologies is also examined using three outputs and five inputs for thirty-five nations from 2000 to 2020 [7]. In a nutshell, this paper contributes by examining the predictive impact of transportation and transportation infrastructure on climate change and climate resilience for the Earth’s atmosphere and the mediating role of CO2 and GHG of new technologies and electric rail vehicles. According to the results, the efficiency levels are significantly influenced by technologies for reducing climate change in the transportation sector. Additionally, the combined influence of climate change mitigation technology and environmental research and development has a negative impact on transportation efficiency. Air transportation efficiency is more impacted by climate change mitigation technologies than rail and road transportation. According to these findings, governments should concentrate on the policy ramifications for transportation inputs and the desired and unwanted outcomes [7,8,9]. From the above systematic literature and critical scientific discussion, it has been proven that CO2, a GHG, is released into the atmosphere when fossil fuels such as gasoline and diesel are burned. The increase in GHGs such as CO2, CH4, N2O, and HFCs is warming the Earth’s atmosphere, which is changing the climate to become more hazardous. This is caused by transportation and automobiles.
Using sustainable transportation methods is essential to reduce climate change since the transportation industry is one of the most significant contributors to GHG emissions, which is a big problem for the sustainable environment and climate change. The fight against climate change depends on new and developing technologies, such as electric rail vehicles and buses, zero-carbon energy sources, and the implementation of policies for automobile vehicles. In other words, more severe weather events are being brought on by increased emissions and warming temperatures, which in turn are seriously disrupting transportation and infrastructure. In a similar vein, climate change could be mitigated if transportation infrastructure is updated and transport vehicles are made to be more climate resilient, which demands large expenditures on transportation infrastructure. Therefore, this research aims to examine the effect of rail vehicle transport infrastructure on climate change and offers legislation policy suggestions to persuade people to use more environmentally friendly forms of transportation over their automobiles in China. The remaining portion of this study is organized as follows: Section 2 offers a literature review along with hypotheses, section three gives insights on data and methodology, Section 4 is about results and discussion, while Section 5 concludes the research
Din, A. U., Rahman, I. U., Vega-Muñoz, A., Elahi, E., Salazar-Sepúlveda, G., Contreras-Barraza, N., & Rakan, R. A. (2023). How sustainable transportation can utilize climate change technologies to mitigate climate change. Sustainability, 15(12), 9710. doi:https://doi.org/10.3390/su15129710
What are the consequences of a warming climate for the regional systems we rely upon for our livelihood? To help answer this question, the Washington State legislature passed House Bill 1303 (HB 1303, April 2007), which mandated the preparation of a comprehensive assessment of the impacts of climate change on Washington State. HB 1303 specifically requested that the Washington Departments of Community, Trade, and Economic Development (now called the Department of Commerce) and Ecology work with the University of Washington Climate Impacts Group (in collaboration with Washington State University and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory) to produce a comprehensive assessment.
The Climate Impacts Group formulated the assessments scope and approach in consultation with Washington State to address specific sectoral information needs. This special issue of Climatic Change contains papers that constituted the heart of the resulting Washington Climate Change Impacts Assessment (WACCIA). In this overview paper, we describe briefly the rationale and general results of the assessment, along with a discussion of their relative uncertainty. We also provide an overview of cross-cutting issues and research opportunities suggested by the assessment.
Washington State, and the Pacific Northwest (PNW) in general, contains sufficiently diverse climate and economically important resource sectors that conducting a climate impacts assessment in this region broadly tests the assumptions and methods used in integrated assessment in North America. The WACCIA was structured around climate change impacts on eight sectors: hydrology and water resources, energy, agriculture, salmon, forests, coasts, urban stormwater infrastructure, and human health (Fig. 1). It sought to identify how climate change over the next century may affect each of these areas, which are critical to the economic well being and ecosystems of Washington. In addition, the WACCIA addressed the need for adaptive planning and identified potential adaptation options within each sector. Regardless of mitigation efforts over the next century, adaptation will be desirable because of the duration of climate forcing associated with current emissions (e.g., Solomon et al. 2009). The magnitude of these impacts conceivably could be affected by both mitigation and adaptation efforts.
The general strategy employed in the assessment was to use climate model projections from the IPCC AR4, appropriately downscaled to the domain of Washington State, in conjunction with biophysical models to understand the physical, biological, and human responses to climate that will shape Washingtons future over the next century. As such, the assessment is focused primarily on climate sensitivities and not whole system responses. The WACCIA is the most complete and current evaluation of projected climate change impacts on Washington, providing decision makers and resource managers with information critical to planning for climate change. It is Climatic Change (2010) 102:927 11 Fig. 1 Overview of sectors and project approach. Each of eight research sectors relied on estimates of projected climate change to evaluate likely impacts. Most sectors relied on climate change projections downscaled from GCM simulations archived for the IPCC AR4, while select sectors relied also on projections from regional climate model simulations, and the coastal sector relied primarily on estimates of sea level rise. Each sector identified potential adaptation strategies to help mitigate the effects of climate changetherefore an example of the climate services strategy espoused by Miles et al. (2006) in which regional scientific entities work with stakeholders to define research needs and develop science most useful for decision making.
Climate Change, Public Health and Human Rights
Abstract:
Climate change poses a cataclysmic threat to public health and human rights. Global health is inextricably linked to planetary health, with a changing climate influencing the conditions necessary for human health and safety while undermining a range of human rights. International legal agreements to mitigate emissions—from the 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) through the 2015 Paris Agreement and into the 2021 Glasgow Climate Pact—have faced limitations in ameliorating the public health threats caused by the unfolding climate crisis. These inequitable health threats pose sweeping implications for health-related human rights, especially in low- and middle-income countries, with environmental degradation challenging the most fundamental conditions for human life and the individual rights of the most vulnerable populations. As public health concerns begin to be considered in climate change responses, human rights can provide a legal path to support international mitigation efforts and health system adaptation to address both the direct and indirect public health impacts of climate change. This Special Issue of the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health addresses the dynamic balance between global health and climate justice, bringing together policy analysis and empirical research to examine the public health threats of climate change and consider the human rights advancements necessary to frame policies for mitigation and adaptation.
Summary:
In introducing the Special Issue, this editorial examines the human rights imperative to respond to the public health impacts of climate change. Part 2 introduces the role of international human rights law as a foundation for public health promotion, chronicling the long evolution of the right to health and health-related human rights to advance environmental health while examining the political neglect of public health and human rights in early climate change debates. This neglect provides the basis in Part 3 for delineating the public health threats of a changing climate and the human rights implications of those threats—including rapidly rising temperatures, pervasive air pollution, extreme weather events, infectious disease emergence, food and nutrition security, water and sanitation systems, and mental health promotion. With Part 3 ending by analyzing the human rights foundation for climate change mitigation and health system adaptation, Part 4 examines budding international efforts under the UNFCCC to mainstream human rights obligations in the global climate response. Yet despite evolving recognition of a human right to a healthy environment, international efforts within the UNFCCC Conference of the Parties have reached an impasse, with states unable to develop the legal obligations necessary to meet the catastrophic health implications of climate change. The contributors to this Special Issue grapple with this crossroads in the climate change response, with a focus on the disproportionate impacts confronting the most vulnerable populations. Bringing together international policymakers, academic researchers, and youth advocates, this Special Issue provides concrete policy proposals for future efforts, ensuring that climate change is central to the next generation of the health and human rights movement.
References:
Azeem, M. I., & Bader, A. A. (2023). Farmers’ beliefs and concerns about climate change, and their adaptation behavior to combat climate change in saudi arabia. PLoS One, 18(1) doi
Benjamin, M. M., Bustreo, Fet al. Climate change, public health and human rights. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 19(21), 13744. Doi
Din, A. U., Rahman, I. U., et al. How sustainable transportation can utilize climate change technologies to mitigate climate change. Sustainability, 15(12), 9710. Doi
Jacobs, J. D. (1998). Climate change 1995-the science of climate change: Contribution of working group I to the second assessment report of the intergovernmental panel on climate change / climate change 1995-impacts, adaptations and mitigation of climate change: Scientific-technical analyses: Contrubution of working group II to the second assessment report of the intergovernmental panel on climate change. Canadian Geographer, 42(1), 105-106. Retrieved from https://www.proquest.com/scholarly-journals/climate-change-1995-science-contribution-working/docview/228361952/se-2
Mavuso, M. P., Khalo, Xet al. STRATEGIES USED BY SECONDARY TEACHERS IN INTEGRATING CLIMATE CHANGE EDUCATION IN THEIR LESSSONS: TOWARD A FRAMEWORK FOR COMBATING CLIMATE CHANGE THROUGH EDUCATION. E-BANGI, Suppl.Special Issue: Human, Nature and Society, 19(3), 179-191. Retrieved from https://www.proquest.com/scholarly-journals/strategies-used-secondary-teachers-integrating/docview/2688126357/se-2
Miles, E. L., Elsneret al. Assessing regional impacts and adaptation strategies for climate change: The washington climate change impacts assessment. Climatic Change, 102(1-2), 9-27. Doi
Mustafa, G., Bader, A. A., & et al. Linking climate change awareness, climate change perceptions and subsequent adaptation options among farmers. Agronomy, 13(3), 758. Doi
Portier, C. J., Tart, K. T., Carter et al. A HUMAN HEALTH PERSPECTIVE ON CLIMATE CHANGE: A REPORT OUTLINING THE RESEARCH NEEDS ON THE HUMAN HEALTH EFFECTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE. Journal of Current Issues in Globalization, 6(4), 621-710. Retrieved from
Shoreman-Ouimet, E. (2021). It’s time to (climate) change the way we teach: Addressing anthropogenic climate change in social science classrooms. Learning and Teaching, 14(2), 76-86. Doi
Wamsler, C., & Bristow, J. (2022). At the intersection of mind and climate change: Integrating inner dimensions of climate change into policymaking and practice. Climatic Change, 173(1-2) doi
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Conclusion:
In conclusion, climate change is one of the most pressing and complex challenges of our time. The overwhelming consensus among scientists is that human activities, primarily the emission of greenhouse gases, are driving global temperatures higher and causing a wide range of ecological, economic, and social impacts. While the consequences of climate change are already being felt in the form of extreme weather events, rising sea levels, and disruptions to ecosystems, the severity of these impacts can be mitigated through concerted global efforts.
Addressing climate change requires a multi-faceted approach that encompasses a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, the transition to renewable and sustainable energy sources, and the implementation of adaptive measures to protect vulnerable communities and ecosystems. Global cooperation and commitment to international agreements, such as the Paris Agreement, are essential in this endeavour.
It is essential that individuals, communities, governments, and businesses all play their part in reducing carbon emissions and adopting sustainable practices. The urgency of the climate crisis demands immediate action, but it also presents an opportunity to create a more sustainable and equitable future for all. By working together, we can mitigate the worst impacts of climate change, protect our planet’s fragile ecosystems, and secure a
Author: Aleena Shaikh
Climate Change and Adaptation Strategies for Human Health
The Science of Climate Change
Abstract
Climate Change 1995 is the second full report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a body established by the World Meteorological Organisation and the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) to assess information on climate change and its impacts and to consider response strategies. Like the original report (IPcc 1990), it will become a standard reference for researchers and policy makers in climate-change-related areas. The report is in three volumes, each the product of an individual Working Group with dozens of authors and hundreds of contributors representative of the international climate science community. The volumes (hereafter referred to in terms of the working groups) are concerned with: the science of the global climate system, climate variability and change, and projections of future climate (WG I); impacts of climate change on terrestrial and aquatic systems, society, health, and the economy, and adaptations and mitigation options (WG II); policy options, decision making, and cost-benefit analysis (WG Ill). A point of confusion in usage is addressed in the WG I summary, which takes ‘climate change’ to mean ‘any change in climate over time whether due to natural variability or not’ in contrast to an exclusively anthropogenic causal sense, as appears in the WG II and WG Ill reports and in policy documents such as the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.
Summary:
Most readers will be aware that the iPcc has concluded in this report ‘… that the observed trend in global mean temperature over the past 100 years is unlikely to be entirely natural in origin. More importantly, there is evidence of an emerging pattern of climate response to forcings by greenhouse gases and sulphate aerosols in the observed climate record. This evidence comes from the geographical, seasonal and vertical patterns of temperature change. Taken together, these results point towards a human influence on global climate…’ (WG I, p. 412). Cautiously worded as it is, this conclusion was criticized by some (Singer 1996) as having been taken further for political motives than was warranted by the science, a charge strongly rebutted by the senior editor (Houghton 1996), among others. A consensus of experts falls short of certitude and, as there are areas of uncertainty in terms of observations, models, predicted impacts, and mitigation, there will continue to be sceptics.
Emphasis in the main conclusion is on the convincing degree of agreement between observation and models of the spatial patterns of climate change expected from human influences, particularly when the effects of anthropogenic aerosols are included. It is evident that late20th century climate change is complex: there are large regional differences in magnitude and sign. For example, the recent cooling observed in the northwest Atlantic is not necessarily inconsistent with ‘global warming’ scenarios. In the ongoing effort to understand this complexity, it seems self-evident that continued monitoring of relevant systems and variables is essential, despite a trend in many countries (including Canada) toward reduced observational effort (WG II, 355).
Notwithstanding the uncertainties, the combined iPcc report is a valuable reference for research and teaching. There is a wealth of information on the problem of global climate change, with ample bibliographic support. Not surprisingly, there is some overlap between volumes, particularly I and II; however, the thrust and substance differ according to the objectives of each working group. Related elements of the global system, such as sea level and glaciers, are treated in response and feedback terms in WG I, and in terms of change and impacts in WG II. One can start in the WG II volume with a subject such as hydrology and learn how the uncertainties of predicting catchment-scale impacts are compounded in downscaling from coarse regional climate model simulations to the scale of the catchment. Conversely, WG I identifies inadequate treatment of the hydrologic components (soil moisture and runoff) as a major deficiency in the GCMS. This circularity is but one of many problem areas raised but not yet resolved by the research. The report is therefore a rich source of research ideas (‘research needs’ is an explicit section in each chapter of the WG II volume).
Climate Change 1995 represents a major stage in an ongoing research, review, and publication effort. This process can be followed on the UNEP Website (http:// www.unep.ch/ipcc/), where the summaries for policy makers contained in the three volumes are available for viewing and downloading and there is information about subsequent reports and links to related information sources and bibliographic databases. Given strong indications that `aggregate net damage’ to social and economic systems will ensue from predicted anthropogenic change in a matter of decades (WG Ill, 10), the subject of these reports will increasingly occupy geographers, regardless of specialization.
It’s time to (climate) change the way we teach
Abstract:
This article outlines pedagogical practices and methodologies for increasing student engagement in the classroom and in the broader community on the topic of climate change. The emphases are placed on (1) preliminary assessments of student understanding and emotional responses to the topic of climate change, (2) assignments that enable student groups to assess and increase campus-wide awareness of various aspects of climate change, and (3) public engagement and service-learning opportunities that allow students to expand their impact beyond the local campus and into their broader community. These practices have proven effective, for large format lecture courses as well as smaller seminar-style courses, in encouraging student participation, overcoming apathy and motivating student effort and action far beyond what can be stimulated by traditional classroom assignments and assessments.
Summary:
For years at the large state university where I teach, I watched groups of students present to their peers information and research on specific aspects of climate change. Topics ranging from CO2 emissions to Coral Bleaching, Climate Refugees and Environmental Justice. Each week of each semester as different groups wrapped up their presentation, they would attempt to motivate behaviour changes among their peers. ‘Here’s what you can do to help’, they exclaimed before rattling off a list almost identical to the one presented the week before and inevitably, the week following: ‘Recycle, carpool, take shorter showers, walk more, unplug your electronics . . .’. And week after week I would ask myself how we have managed to instil such an incomplete message to our students about the reality of their role in global climate change. Is it important to recycle, carpool, unplug, etc.? Of course it is. Students in my courses are urged to follow the mantra: ‘Lead by example – It’s contagious!’ because everything each of us can do matters and models climatefriendly behaviours to those around us. But that being said, how did this generation of undergraduates come to see themselves as the bad guy? The committing party? The generation responsible for solutions? And what must be the cumulative emotional impact of such environmental guilt and grief? Some will misinterpret what I am saying and assume that I am letting these students off the hook or that I am dismissing their motivation for change. On the contrary, I think the message they are receiving is incomplete and their efforts, energy, and aspiration to mitigate climate change are largely being thwarted. As educators, peers, parents, and global citizens, it is pertinent that we allow ourselves and our students to see the extent to which this ‘rhetoric of recycling’ acts as a blinder that narrows our vision and distracts us from acknowledging the true extent to which greenhouse gas emissions and their impacts are the product of multinational corporations, wealthy conglomerates and private companies; and, just as importantly, distracts us from the ways our consumption habits subsidise corporate pollution and increases their wealth, while we, and our increasingly climate-weary students, shoulder the blame and responsibility for environmental damage and repair. Although many aspects of the science of climate change can be observed and/or calculated, understanding the root causes of human behaviour and worse yet, how potentially to modify culturally rooted practices that tie notions of success and wealth to material production and consumption are wicked problems without formulaic solutions. Although methods for understanding the causes of climate change can be taught, the absence of a clean solution can leave students, as it can anybody, feeling overwhelmed, impotent and ultimately ambivalent (Anderson 2013). Thus, teaching climate change in the social sciences today is not effective as a presentation of dispassionate acts, models or statistics. In the majority of cases, we are no longer in the business of converting deniers or ‘sceptics’ into ‘believers’ (McKeown and Hopkins 2010). Lecturing, examination, and traditional, rote assignments can aid students’ memorisation, but the topic of anthropogenic climate change requires a different level of immediate action and engagement – not simply because all life is in peril, but because emotionally and intellectually, students desire and respond to opportunities to take effective action in the name of mitigating climate change (Anderson 2013; Ariely et al. 2008; Chalofsky and Krishna 2009; Pink 2011; Seraphin et al. 2019).
Linking Climate Change Awareness, Climate Change Perceptions and Subsequent Adaptation Options among Farmers
Abstract:
Climate change is a fact, and it has already left negative signs in every field of life. Observational evidence indicated variations in temperature and rainfall reliability in Southeast Asian countries, particularly Pakistan [1]. In addition to existing challenges, the impacts of climate change are making farm households more vulnerable. It can impact millions of people in the country [2]. Unfortunately, most developing and under-developing countries are still in the denial stage of climate change grief [3,4]. Farmers of such countries take changes to the climate as the result of a natural cycle, and hence, they feel less obliged to develop any management strategies [5]. Therefore, this study aims to assess the farmers’ climate change awareness (CCA).
Summary:
Perception and awareness of climate change are two different terms that, unfortunately, are used interchangeably in the literature. For instance, Simpson et al. [6] reported that confusion between concepts of CCA and climate change perception has also hindered understanding of the importance of different predictors of climate change knowledge. Similarly, Madhuri and Sharma [7] are of the opinion that there is a nuanced relationship between farmers’ perceptions and climate change information and their associated determinants. Awareness is something you know through knowledge or perception of a situation or fact. Climate change is a fact, and most developing countries, including Pakistan, are still in the denial stage of climate change. Therefore, awareness of climate change is a better term than climate change fact. On the other hand, perception is the way in which something is regarded, understood or interpreted through the ability to see, hear or become aware of something through the senses. Perceptions can be changed over time, while awareness about a fact does not change.
The growing impacts of extreme weather events posted by climatic variations on every field of life have generated rich contributions to the literature on the general public’s CCA in the last few years [8,9]. However, the literature on farmers’ CCA is rather limited and under-researched. Few efforts have been made in this area that is primarily based on farmers’ perceptions of climate change [1,6,10,11]. Awareness is the first step in any perception being created [7]. The reason behind this is that sometimes farmers do not perceive climate change as it takes time to be visible. For instance, Maddison [12] finds that farmers hardly detect immediate climate changes as changes in atmospheric conditions are a long-term process. Therefore, climate change is a slow process that can only be observed with meteorological instruments, and the farmers rely on a short-term experience based on their past memories while reporting climate-related information [13]. In such circumstances, it is quite vague to find the farmers’ perception of climate change, particularly in a dichotomous fashion [14]. For instance, Hasan and Kumar [15] find no evidence of whether farmers of Bangladesh perceive climate change properly. Thus, CCA can better address climate-related issues and associated adaptation practices.
There are many theories (e.g., information deficit, nudging, circuit model and binding communication theory) about why CCA does not inspire the kind of behavior changes it should [8,16,17,18,19]. Providing more or better information is necessary for communication to be effective in terms of raising awareness and promoting adaptation to climate change. The most important question pertaining to climate change perception is either do they match reality. The extent to which perceptions match the real-world data on changes in climate would lead to better communication [7]. This can be performed by combining field and laboratory research with real-world, observed data [17]. Otherwise, effective communication would fail. The perception of people is very important in behavioural changes, such as an adaptation to risk (climate change) [9]. When people have a positive attitude about the environment, coupled with strong CCA, it translates to effective adaptation strategies [20]. People’s CCA becomes more salient and vivid when they perceive and experience climate-related hazards [21]. Therefore, the study in hand is designed to check the farmers’ CCA, how they perceive climate change and subsequent adaption strategies.
Many farmers are aware of climate change, but the extent to which farmers are aware of climatic vagaries (unpredictable or erratic rainfall and temperature) is unclear [22]. Apparently, this is because of how farmers experience the impacts of climate change, their understanding of the reasons, how they respond, and the costs to them vary [23,24]. Conversely, climatic variations are generally perceived as being unimportant by some farmers, and hence they believe changes to the climate were not human-induced [25]. Therefore, they feel less motivated to apply coping and adaptation strategies [5]. Some farmers may not notice or care about climatic variations and perceive that changes in climate are natural processes [26,27]. For example, Hamilton and Keim [28] find an inverse relationship between age and CCA level of respondents in nine U.S. states. Similarly, low education levels, illiteracy and lack of experience may decrease CCA [29,30]. Another study found that farm size significantly increases the CCA of farmers’ and large farmers perceive more climatic shocks as compared to small farmers [31,32].
Farmers who are involved in non-farming activities may have a great deal of climatic awareness. For instance, if farmers have non-agricultural income, their awareness level may increase [31,33]. For instance, Das and Gosh [26] find that CCA knowledge significantly improves by income from non-farming activities. Many farmers take changes in climate in a religious manner, while others have a scientific perspective [34], and their CCA depends on farmers’ access to climate-related information, education level and their local long-term climate change observation [35].
Climate knowledge has been considered the main factor for any adaptation and mitigation strategies, particularly in farming systems. Ng’ombe et al. [36] were of the opinion that the success of adaptation and mitigation efforts to climate change mainly depends on the farmers’ CCA. Farmers’ climatic information provides multiple solutions and practices that can reduce environmental risks [37,38]. For instance, raising CCA is essential for increasing environmentally-friendly farming practices [39]. It ensures that farmers undertake appropriate management strategies to mitigate the adverse impacts of climatic vagaries [37]. The CCA empowers farming communities for sustainable use of natural resources [40,41]. It helps farmers to be actively involved in agri-environmental programs [40,42]. The CCA is imperative to develop a sense of ownership among the farmers [43].
Research reported in the empirical literature suggests a strong association between CCA and its impact on adaptation [44,45]. How farmers receive knowledge of climate change impacts how they handle it. This knowledge would ultimately lead to adaptation techniques and processes involved in it [44]. On the other hand, any misconception or poor planning about CCA and its associated risks may cause an adaptation deficit or no adaptation, thus exacerbating the inevitable impacts of climate change [46]. Therefore, knowing the extent of farmers’ CCA is very important in terms of understanding their adaptation behaviours. This knowledge is also extremely important in shaping national adaptation and mitigation policies. The previous literature has determined farmers’ CCA, yet most of the studies failed to consider the effects of CCA on adaptation practices [31,47]. Moreover, very little is known about the factors affecting farmers’ CCA.
Pakistan is the sixth most populous country in the world and is among the top ten countries that could be severely affected by climate change [48]. The mass community of the country who are very poor is highly susceptible to the negative impacts of climatic variations. The agriculture sector of Pakistan grew by 4.4%, with a 22.7% contribution to GDP and a 37.4% share in the total labour force; thus, any adverse consequence posed by climatic variations might negatively impact the livelihoods of millions of the population [2]. For instance, crop simulation model-based studies reported 21 percent and 40 percent reductions in wheat yields in the case of RCP 8.5 for the 2020s and 2080s, respectively, in various parts of Pakistan. Till now, Pakistan has not devoted much of its efforts to curtailing the emissions from agriculture due to limited awareness and low confidence in monitoring/estimation of these emissions [2], p. 307. In the countries where rates of CCA are high, particularly the Global North, research has mainly focused on risk perception, opinion or belief, climate change perception, awareness and whether these perceptions and awareness correlate with adaptation [49,50,51,52]. In contrast, in Southeast Asian countries, studies suggest that the perception of meteorological change is high [1,53,54], but very little is known about CCA and its relation with adaptation strategies. Against this backdrop, this research was conducted to assess farmers’ views of climate change and the factors affecting it in Punjab, Pakistan. It is expected that it would contribute to a deeper understanding of farmers’ CCA and its consistency with adaptation. The findings of this study identify the factors that can be used by policymakers and practitioners to support climate change knowledge and agricultural adaptation to climate change.
STRATEGIES USED BY SECONDARY TEACHERS IN INTEGRATING CLIMATE CHANGE EDUCATION IN THEIR LESSSONS: TOWARD A FRAMEWORK FOR COMBATING CLIMATE CHANGE THROUGH EDUCATION
Abstract:
Climate change is a worldwide phenomenon and it is a great concern to all countries as it brings about a warming climate system that affects human behavior. South Africa like other countries is severely affected by climate change. Although attempts are increasingly made to integrate climate change into school curricula, teachers have challenges in preparing and implementing climate change lessons. This study, therefore, seeks to review literature related to the integration of climate change education in the school curriculum to identify the strategies teachers face when integrating climate change education in teaching and learning. The study adopted a literature review approach and a comprehensive electronic search for relevant literature was done using the google search and springer which led to the discovery of research article suitable for the study. The study also aims at suggesting a model that could be used by teachers to integrate climate change in their lessons. This will be done by reviewing the existing literature about climate change education in different countries and its integration in teaching and learning in the classroom.
Summary:
Climate change is wreaking havoc on all of the world’s countries, and it is a major source of concern for all of them since it causes a warming climate system, which has an impact on human behavior (United Nations 2014 and Apollo & Mbah, 2021). Climate change is wreaking havoc on South Africa, as it is on other countries (Vogel, Schwaibold & Misser, 2015). Although most countries are progressively attempting to integrate climate change education into their school curricula, teachers face difficulties in planning and executing climate change education in their courses (Anderson, 2010, Stevenson, Nicholls & Whitehouse, 2017 SezenBarrie, Miller-Rushing & Hufnagel, 2020). Furthermore, climate change education is not aligned with current scientific and policy approaches. As a result, the purpose of this study was to examine the literature on the integration of climate change education into teaching and learning in the classroom. The study also attempted to propose strategies that instructors may follow when attempting to incorporate climate change into their lessons. A literature evaluation of climate change education in three nations, including South Africa, was conducted.
Climate change is a global issue that all governments are seeking to address to mitigate its consequences on humans and other living things. Extreme weather and increasing sea levels are both consequences of climate change (NASA, 2016). Nation-states have banded together to assess the dangers and consequences of human-caused climate change. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which represents the majority of countries on the planet, is emphasizing the dangers and consequences of climate change (Sezen-Barrie, Miller-Rushing & Hufnagel, 2020). Wildfires, flooding, and environmental changes appear to be increasing in frequency at an alarming rate (Sizen-Barrie et al., 2020). This suggests that rapid action on climate change is required. This necessitates governments’ commitment to implement initiatives aimed at raising awareness of climate change and combatting its consequences on the environment in general and human life in particular.
Since there appears to be a growing interest in studying climate change education and developing programs to integrate climate change into environmental and science education curricula (Anderson 2012), the South African education system must adjust its pace to keep up with other countries in its efforts to integrate climate change into the school curriculum.
Climate change is having a disruptive effect, and it is happening quicker than any time in the last 2,000 years (Amanchukwu, Amadi-Ali, & Ololube, 2015). Rising levels of carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases in the atmosphere have warmed the earth, resulting in a variety of effects such as rising sea levels, melting snow and ice, more extreme heat events, fires and drought, and more extreme storms, rainfall, and floods, as previously mentioned (Amanchukwu et al. 2015). The need to act quickly on climate change has become a political issue, with the UN Secretary-General (Ban Ki-moon) informing world leaders that the world’s glaciers are melting faster than the climate negotiations in New York (Amanchukwu et al., 2015).
Climate change is wreaking havoc on South Africa, as it is on the rest of the world (Vogel, Schwaibold & Misser, 2015). The complexity of climate as an interrelated system, which includes earth and socio-ecological systems, as well as ‘deeper’ thinking, necessitates serious concentrated efforts and tactics, critical research, and reflexive and transformative educational approaches (Vogel et al., 2015). For the South African government, climate change is causing multiple stressors, including a large proportion of the population living in abject poverty, food insecurity, biodiversity degradation, and killer diseases such as tuberculosis and human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immune deficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) (Anyanwu, Le Grange & Peter Ziervogel 2015). The South African National Climate Change Response Policy White Paper advises teaching climate change concepts and related topics at all levels of formal education to address the country’s vulnerability (Department of Environmental Affairs, Republic of South Africa, 2011). In South Africa, this appears to be a welcome development to dealing with climate change.
Since climate change is a universal challenge, and it appears that all governments are willing to embark on climate change education and integrate it into school curricula, teachers must have up-to-date knowledge of the fundamentals of climate change science to present concepts in ways that stimulate learners’ interest and develop a deeper understanding (Anyanwu, Le Grange & Peter Ziervogel, 2015). According to Anyanwu et al., (2015), there is a growing interest in developing-country teachers’ knowledge and awareness of climate change. This effort is a welcomed strategy and must be stepped up to get the desired result.
Nwankwo and Unachukwu (2012) found that instructors in Nigeria lacked adequate knowledge of the causes and impacts of climate change, as well as the necessary techniques for managing climate change instruction. Science teachers, according to Ekpoh and Ekpoh (2011), have limited knowledge and awareness of climate change. Instructors’ knowledge, attitudes, and comprehension of climate change are right to some level in South Africa (Vijovic, 2013) but only a few teachers have a deeper scientific understanding of climate change dangers. Furthermore, the majority of the teachers had assumptions regarding effective climate change mitigation techniques. There appears to be a scarcity of literature focusing on teachers’ strategies in incorporating climate change education into their teaching and learning. Thus, the purpose of this study was to look into the strategies employed by secondary school teachers in South Africa to incorporate climate change education into their lessons as it appears that there are no curriculum aligned pedagogical practices of integrating climate change (Bofferding and Kloser (2015).
Farmers beliefs and concerns about climate change
Abstract:
Climate change threatens the existence of humankind on the planet Earth. Owing to its arid climate and poor natural resources base, Saudi Arabia is particularly susceptible to the negative impact of ongoing climate change. Farmers’ understanding of this global phenomenon is extremely important as it may help determine their adaptation behavior. This study was designed to analyze farmers’ beliefs and concerns about climate change as well as their views about adaptation different obstacles. Data were collected from 80 randomly farmers of the Al-Ahsa region in Eastern Province using structured interviews. The findings revealed that farmers believed that climate change is mainly occurring due to anthropogenic activities. Drought, insects, crop diseases, and heat stress were their main concerns regarding adverse impacts of climate change. Lack of knowledge about adaptation practices, and poor government and financial support are perceived as the major obstacles to adaptation. The results of non-parametric analysis identified no significant differences in farmers’ climate change beliefs and concerns, and their views about obstacles to adaptation in relation to their demographic characteristics. Based on the findings, we suggest that capacity building programs should be undertaken by the government for enhancing the adaptive capacity of the farmers as well the provision of financial incentives wherever deemed necessary for promoting the adoption of sustainable agricultural practices and building a resilient national food system.
Summary:
Across the globe, climate change has emerged as a serious issue with significant implications for various domains of human life [1–3]. It poses a serious threat to the economies and societies of the world [4]. Owing to changes in the climate, global warming as well as a change in precipitation patterns is predicted. By the end of 2100, global average temperatures may rise by 1.4–5.8 degree Celsius [5]. Across different regions of the world, shifts in seasonal water availability throughout the year are also likely to be induced [6]. The frequency and intensity of extreme weather events like flooding and drought may also increase [7–9].
Aa a result of changes in the climate, global agricultural production systems and food security are threatened [3,10–13]. The productivity of both irrigated and rain-fed agriculture will be considerably affected. Majority of the world’s population is anticipated to experience the potential negative impacts of climate change. It is anticipated that in many regions, there will be a decrease in crop productivity [14–16]. Climate change is likely to enhance the impact of both biotic and abiotic stresses on agriculture [17]. According to the WHO projections, around 540–590 million people will be undernourished at a warming of 2 degree Celsius [18]. Climate-induced water scarcity may cause some parts of the world to lose their up to 6% of their national Gross Domestic Product (GDP) [19]. The most serious impacts will be in those regions that are already vulnerable to food insecurity and rural poverty [20].
Saudi Arabia is characterized by an arid climate [5,21]. In some parts, temperatures can be more than 50 degree Celsius [5]. Rainfall is extremely limited; long-term average precipitation is around 100 mm per annum. However, in Western parts of the Kingdom, rainfall can rise up to 500 mm per annum [5]. Intense and frequent precipitation events are rare [22]. Over the last 50 years, a 1.9 degree Celsius increase in average temperature was observed [23]. The rate of increase was faster (0.72 degrees C per decade) in the dry season as compared to the wet season (0.51 degrees C per decade) [24]. Several studies predict a 2–4 degree Celsius increase in the average temperature in the Kingdom by the end of 2100 due to ongoing climatic changes [25–27]. Although significant change in rainfall has not been observed during last 50 years [23], future precipitation projections however suggest a decrease in rainfall in many parts of Saudi Arabia [27,28]. The Kingdom lacks recurrent rivers and permanent water bodies. Saudi Arabia, along with other countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) has been classified as water-scarce nations by the United Nations [29]. According to Water Resources Institute, 14 out of 33 countries that are most likely to be water-stressed in 2040 would be in the Middle East, and among them, Saudi Arabia has been ranked at 9th position [30]. Water scarcity increases vulnerability of the region to the impacts of climate change [31].
The arid climate of the Kingdom makes it highly vulnerable to the potential negative impacts of climate change. Variations in temperature and rainfall severely affect food production. Several studies have reported significant impacts of climate change on agriculture [32–34]. Date palm production in the Kingdom is predicted to decline significantly owing to unfavorable climatic conditions [34]. A 3–5 degree Celsius rise in temperature would pose serious challenges for the agriculture and other economic sectors in the Kingdom [21,34]. Reduction in crop yields may range between 5–25% by just one-degree Celsius increase in temperature [23]. At 1 and 5 degree Celsius increase in temperature, irrigation water requirements of various crop would increase by 602 and 3,122 million Cusic meters, respectively [35]. Global warming could increase agricultural water demand around 5–15% to sustain current levels of agricultural production [26]. As 90% of agriculture in Saudi Arabia is irrigated, yields will be significantly reduced due to water scarcity [36]. About 70% of the annual water use is consumed by the agricultural sector [23]. A change in abundance and distribution of diurnal desert animals may also happen due to global warming [25].
A decrease in local food production will affect the national food security; food prices at the domestic level will be on rise, and it would also lead to higher food imports, increasing dependency of the Kingdom on other countries for its food security [37]. Therefore, the Kingdom is serious undertaking climate change adaptation and mitigation measures by employing various institutional options as well as facilitations of different stakeholders for combating this global problem [23]. Farmers are key stakeholders in this regard as they are not only directly affected by climate change, but their actions can also contribute towards climate change.
Globally, there is a consensus among different nations about the ongoing issue of climate change and its underlying causes. This paved the way toward the formulation of an international climate agreement in 2015 under the aegis of United Nations, commonly known as Paris Agreement. The agreement recognizes climate change as a global problem and therefore encourages all the countries to undertake collective actions to combat this issue by considerably reducing their carbon footprint [38]. At individual level, however, people may hold different beliefs about climate change and its causes. Farmers’ climate change beliefs refer to their acceptance and trust on various explanations of ongoing climate change. Such explanations include the ideas that climate change is either happening mainly due to human-induced activities or as a natural phenomenon or both. It also includes the ideas that there is insufficient evidence about climate change or climate change is not happening at all [39,40]. Understanding farmers’ beliefs about climate change is of considerable importance as they can influence their decisions to adopt certain appropriate climate change adaptation and mitigations measures. Moreover, it can help us predict their adaptation behavior and can assist in formulating effective extension and outreach initiatives for developing resilient food production systems [39–41]. Farmers’ concerns refer to the feelings of worry about the observed and potential impacts of climate change that can negatively affect agriculture and farm income. A huge body of literature is there that documents various observed and potential impacts associated with climatic changes [3,5,7,10,13,42–45]. The main impacts include drought, heat stress, flooding, increased incidence of crop diseases, insects and pests, higher weed infestations and invasive weeds, reduction in soil fertility etc. Farmers also confront various obstacles that can restrict their ability to effectively implement climate change adaptation and mitigation strategies. The exact nature and extent of theses may vary from region to region and farmer to farmer [42,46].
Across the globe, many studies attempted to analyze farmers’ views and responses to climate change in different countries [47–53]. In Saudi Arabia, majority of the research conducted about climate change and its likely impacts during the last decade followed a top-down approach and is attempted to predict the consequences of climate change on local scale. Only a few studies [41,54] directed targeted the farmers in the Northern region of Saudi Arabia. The present study was intended to fill these gaps and was carried out in the Eastern region that is a rather neglected part of the Kingdom in this regard. The study was carried out to achieve the following research objectives:
- To identify farmers’ beliefs about climatechange
- To identify farmers’ concerns about impacts of climatechange
- To identify farmers’ views regarding various obstacles to adaptation
- To determine differences in farmers’ beliefs, concerns and views about obstacles to adaptationdue to demographic characteristics
At the intersection of mind and climate change
Abstract:
Dominant policy approaches have failed to generate action at anywhere near the rate, scale or depth needed to avert climate change and environmental disaster. In particular, they fail to address the need for a fundamental cultural transformation, which involves a collective shift in mindsets (values, beliefs, worldviews and associated inner human capacities). Whilst scholars and practitioners are increasingly calling for more integrative approaches, knowledge on how the link between our mind and the climate crisis can be best addressed in policy responses is still scarce. Our study addresses this gap. Based on a survey and in-depth interviews with high-level policymakers worldwide, we explore how they perceive the intersection of mind and climate change, how it is reflected in current policymaking and how it could be better considered to support transformation. Our findings show, on the one hand, that the mind is perceived as a victim of increasing climate impacts. On the other hand, it is considered a key driver of the crisis, and a barrier to action, to the detriment of both personal and planetary wellbeing. The resultant vicious cycle of mind and climate change is, however, not reflected in mainstream policymaking, which fails to generate more sustainable pathways. At the same time, there are important lessons from other fields (e.g. education, health, the workplace, policy mainstreaming) that provide insights into how to integrate aspects of mind into climate policies. Our results show that systematic integration into policymaking is a key for improving both climate resilience and climate responsiveness across individual, collective, organisational and system levels and indicate the inner human potential and capacities that support related change. We conclude with some policy recommendations and further research that is needed to move from a vicious to a virtuous cycle of mind and climate change that supports personal and planetary wellbeing.
Summary:
Dominant policy approaches have failed to generate action at anywhere near the rate, scale or depth needed to avert climate change and environmental disaster. In particular, they fail to address the need for a fundamental cultural transformation, which involves a collective shift in mindsets (values, beliefs, worldviews and associated inner human capacities). Whilst scholars and practitioners are increasingly calling for more integrative approaches, knowledge on how the link between our mind and the climate crisis can be best addressed in policy responses is still scarce. Our study addresses this gap. Based on a survey and indepth interviews with high-level policymakers worldwide, we explore how they perceive the intersection of mind and climate change, how it is refected in current policymaking and how it could be better considered to support transformation. Our fndings show, on the one hand, that the mind is perceived as a victim of increasing climate impacts. On the other hand, it is considered a key driver of the crisis, and a barrier to action, to the detriment of both personal and planetary wellbeing. The resultant vicious cycle of mind and climate change is, however, not refected in mainstream policymaking, which fails to generate more sustainable pathways. At the same time, there are important lessons from other felds (e.g. education, health, the workplace, policy mainstreaming) that provide insights into how to integrate aspects of mind into climate policies. Our results show that systematic integration into policymaking is a key for improving both climate resilience and climate responsiveness across individual, collective, organisational and system levels and indicate the inner human potential and capacities that support related change. We conclude with some policy recommendations and further research that is needed to move from a vicious to a virtuous cycle of mind and climate change that supports personal and planetary wellbeing.
A Human Health perspective on Climate Change
Abstract:
The purpose of this paper is to identify research needs for all aspects of the research-to-decision making pathway that will help us understand and mitigate the health effects of climate change, as well as ensure that we choose the healthiest and most efficient approaches to climate change adaptation.
Summary:
Climate change endangers human health, affecting all sectors of society, both domestically and globally. The environmental consequences of climate change, both those already observed and those that are anticipated, such as sea-level rise, changes in precipitation resulting in flooding and drought, heat waves, more intense hurricanes and storms, and degraded air quality, will affect human health both directly and indirectly. Addressing the effects of climate change on human health is especially challenging because both the surrounding environment and the decisions that people make influence health. For example, increases in the frequency and severity of regional heat waves-likely outcomes of climate change-have the potential to harm a lot of people. Certain adverse health effects can probably be avoided if decisions made prior to the heat waves result in such things as identification of vulnerable populations such as children and the elderly and ensured access to preventive measures such as air conditioning. This is a simplified illustration; in real-life situations a host of other factors also come into play in determining vulnerability including biological susceptibility, socioeconomic status, cultural competence, and the built environment. In a world of myriad “what if’ scenarios surrounding climate change, it becomes very complicated to create wise health policies for the future because of the uncertainty of predicting environmental change and human decisions. The need for sound science on which to base such policies becomes more critical than ever.
Recognizing the complexity of this issue, an ad hoc Interagency Working Group on Climate Change and Health (IWGCCH)2 assembled to develop a white paper on relevant federal research and science needs, including research on mitigation and adaptation strategies. Examples of mitigation and adaptation research needs are identified, but a comprehensive discussion of these issues is not included. These research and science needs broadly include basic and applied science, technological innovations and capacities, public health infrastructure, and communication and education. Consideration is also given to the potential structure of a federal climate change and health research agenda and the use of scientific research results for applications and decision making. The purpose of this paper is to identify research critical for understanding the impact of climate change on human health so that we can both mitigate and adapt to the environmental effects of climate change in the healthiest and most efficient ways. Although the group recognizes the global nature of climate change’s impacts on human health, the primary focus of this paper is on the situation in the United States.
This report is organized around 11 broad human health categories likely to be affected by climate change.3 Categories are arranged in alphabetical order, and no prioritization-for instance as to likelihood of occurrence, severity of effects, or depth of current knowledge-is implied. Each category is broken into sections that introduce the topic, explain its relationship to climate change, and identify the basic and applied research needs of that category, as well as crosscutting issues where relevant. Most investigations of climate change and health have relied on environmental and ecological effects to extrapolate potential human health impacts; the IWGCCH deliberately chose to emphasize the need for research on human health outcomes over environmental impacts for this reason: this approach highlights direct links between climate change and federal research priorities that are often disease- or outcome-specific, and a focus on human health outcomes enables a holistic approach to exploring climate change-related health impacts. We recognize that the health consequences identified in this document are not exhaustive, and that because so many climate change effects are prospective, some of the research needs enumerated may be speculative. As more information becomes available, new research needs may be identified and others rejected, but it is our intent that this report may serve as a baseline discussion from which agencies can proceed.
Assessing regional impacts and adaptation strategies for climate change: the Washington Climate Change Impacts Assessment
Abstract:
Climate change in the twenty-first century will strongly affect the processes that define natural and human systems. The Washington Climate Change Impacts Assessment (WACCIA) was intended to identify the nature and effects of climate change on natural and human resources in Washington State over the next century. The assessment focused on eight sectors that were identified as being potentially most climate sensitive: agriculture, energy, salmon, urban stormwater infrastructure, forests, human health, coasts, and water resources. Most of these sectors are sensitive in one way or another to water availability. While water is generally abundant in the state under current climate conditions, its availability is highly variable in space and time, and these variations are expected to change as the climate warms. Here we summarize the results of the WACCIA and identify uncertainties and common mechanisms that relate many of the impacts. We also address cross-sectoral sensitivities, vulnerabilities, and adaptation strategies.
Summary:
The focus of this study is on transportation and its effect on climate change. This topic constitutes a new domain with unstudied potential in sustainable transportation to reduce carbon emissions and address climate change globally. Both personal mobility and the transportation of heavy objects have dramatically increased over the last century. This progress has been significantly influenced by the advancement of the internal combustion engine. Engine efficiency has increased, and emissions have decreased significantly. Additional upgrades are needed to comply with local zero-emission regulations and global climate goals. Rapid renewable energy sources are essential for producing clean power and the wide-scale use of sustainable fuels. As every nation has a responsibility, developing countries must learn to reduce their reliance on fossil fuels as their economies expand. They should indeed pursue a sustainable path and swiftly convey crucial insights to gain expertise. Technology evaluations should consider the influence of each life cycle stage rather than just the tailpipe emissions. It would be smart to adopt a fact-driven approach, keep various options open, and build on prior accomplishments, as we consider a wide range of diverse uses across the transportation sector. A variety of low-carbon technologies should be pursued rather than placing all the stakes on one [2]. Research that considers sustainable transportation to reduce carbon emissions have a rich background to address the issue of climate change. For example, Ref. [1] observed that to create low-carbon transportation and land-use policies to address climate change, it is essential to understand the factors affecting climate change with the help of CO2 emissions. They aimed to determine how the built environment (BE) involves CO2 emissions connected to commuting and how it affects climate change. Most studies were conducted in developed countries and evaluated the link between BE and CO2 emissions using conventional modeling, considering the direct effects associated with BE. Predicting the overall impact of BE on commuter CO2 emissions while accounting for the mediating role of GHG technologies is a research gap. This study, therefore, looks at both the direct and indirect effects of BE on CO2 emissions, connected to commuting, that change the climate.
Several authors found that sustainable development promotion with the help of forests reduced the adverse effects of global warming and possibly addressed climate change, GHG emission reduction, and improvement in environmental quality, which is sometimes decreased due to transport-related pollution [3,4,5]. The research addressed regional and local sources of CO2 and other GHG emissions. Globally speaking, 23% of the GHG emissions connected to energy in 2004 were from mobile sources of CO2. In China, mobile sources accounted for 28% of all human caused GHG emissions in 2004 and a whopping 39% of all CO2 emissions. Methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O), and hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) are driving the Earth’s atmosphere’s warming condition. As part of the evaluation, the CO2 emissions for several megacities, the carbon footprint represented in CO2, and the CO2 per capita used as a sustainability scale are all examined to control climate change [6].
There has been increasing research effort and specialization in climate change and transportation factors. An important part of the economy and environment is the transportation industry. However, because of its fast growth, it significantly provides both beneficial and harmful outputs to the economy and the sustainable environment. Thus, it is necessary to assess transportation efficiency in relation to the economy and the sustainable environment. This research contributes to the debate by examining the combined influence of economic and environmental issues, in contrast to other studies that looked at environmental and economic consequences individually. Additionally, the impact of transportation-related climate change mitigation technologies is also examined using three outputs and five inputs for thirty-five nations from 2000 to 2020 [7]. In a nutshell, this paper contributes by examining the predictive impact of transportation and transportation infrastructure on climate change and climate resilience for the Earth’s atmosphere and the mediating role of CO2 and GHG of new technologies and electric rail vehicles. According to the results, the efficiency levels are significantly influenced by technologies for reducing climate change in the transportation sector. Additionally, the combined influence of climate change mitigation technology and environmental research and development has a negative impact on transportation efficiency. Air transportation efficiency is more impacted by climate change mitigation technologies than rail and road transportation. According to these findings, governments should concentrate on the policy ramifications for transportation inputs and the desired and unwanted outcomes [7,8,9]. From the above systematic literature and critical scientific discussion, it has been proven that CO2, a GHG, is released into the atmosphere when fossil fuels such as gasoline and diesel are burned. The increase in GHGs such as CO2, CH4, N2O, and HFCs is warming the Earth’s atmosphere, which is changing the climate to become more hazardous. This is caused by transportation and automobiles.
Using sustainable transportation methods is essential to reduce climate change since the transportation industry is one of the most significant contributors to GHG emissions, which is a big problem for the sustainable environment and climate change. The fight against climate change depends on new and developing technologies, such as electric rail vehicles and buses, zero-carbon energy sources, and the implementation of policies for automobile vehicles. In other words, more severe weather events are being brought on by increased emissions and warming temperatures, which in turn are seriously disrupting transportation and infrastructure. In a similar vein, climate change could be mitigated if transportation infrastructure is updated and transport vehicles are made to be more climate resilient, which demands large expenditures on transportation infrastructure. Therefore, this research aims to examine the effect of rail vehicle transport infrastructure on climate change and offers legislation policy suggestions to persuade people to use more environmentally friendly forms of transportation over their automobiles in China. The remaining portion of this study is organized as follows: Section 2 offers a literature review along with hypotheses, section three gives insights on data and methodology, Section 4 is about results and discussion, while Section 5 concludes the research
Din, A. U., Rahman, I. U., Vega-Muñoz, A., Elahi, E., Salazar-Sepúlveda, G., Contreras-Barraza, N., & Rakan, R. A. (2023). How sustainable transportation can utilize climate change technologies to mitigate climate change. Sustainability, 15(12), 9710. doi:https://doi.org/10.3390/su15129710
What are the consequences of a warming climate for the regional systems we rely upon for our livelihood? To help answer this question, the Washington State legislature passed House Bill 1303 (HB 1303, April 2007), which mandated the preparation of a comprehensive assessment of the impacts of climate change on Washington State. HB 1303 specifically requested that the Washington Departments of Community, Trade, and Economic Development (now called the Department of Commerce) and Ecology work with the University of Washington Climate Impacts Group (in collaboration with Washington State University and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory) to produce a comprehensive assessment.
The Climate Impacts Group formulated the assessments scope and approach in consultation with Washington State to address specific sectoral information needs. This special issue of Climatic Change contains papers that constituted the heart of the resulting Washington Climate Change Impacts Assessment (WACCIA). In this overview paper, we describe briefly the rationale and general results of the assessment, along with a discussion of their relative uncertainty. We also provide an overview of cross-cutting issues and research opportunities suggested by the assessment.
Washington State, and the Pacific Northwest (PNW) in general, contains sufficiently diverse climate and economically important resource sectors that conducting a climate impacts assessment in this region broadly tests the assumptions and methods used in integrated assessment in North America. The WACCIA was structured around climate change impacts on eight sectors: hydrology and water resources, energy, agriculture, salmon, forests, coasts, urban stormwater infrastructure, and human health (Fig. 1). It sought to identify how climate change over the next century may affect each of these areas, which are critical to the economic well being and ecosystems of Washington. In addition, the WACCIA addressed the need for adaptive planning and identified potential adaptation options within each sector. Regardless of mitigation efforts over the next century, adaptation will be desirable because of the duration of climate forcing associated with current emissions (e.g., Solomon et al. 2009). The magnitude of these impacts conceivably could be affected by both mitigation and adaptation efforts.
The general strategy employed in the assessment was to use climate model projections from the IPCC AR4, appropriately downscaled to the domain of Washington State, in conjunction with biophysical models to understand the physical, biological, and human responses to climate that will shape Washingtons future over the next century. As such, the assessment is focused primarily on climate sensitivities and not whole system responses. The WACCIA is the most complete and current evaluation of projected climate change impacts on Washington, providing decision makers and resource managers with information critical to planning for climate change. It is Climatic Change (2010) 102:927 11 Fig. 1 Overview of sectors and project approach. Each of eight research sectors relied on estimates of projected climate change to evaluate likely impacts. Most sectors relied on climate change projections downscaled from GCM simulations archived for the IPCC AR4, while select sectors relied also on projections from regional climate model simulations, and the coastal sector relied primarily on estimates of sea level rise. Each sector identified potential adaptation strategies to help mitigate the effects of climate changetherefore an example of the climate services strategy espoused by Miles et al. (2006) in which regional scientific entities work with stakeholders to define research needs and develop science most useful for decision making.
Climate Change, Public Health and Human Rights
Abstract:
Climate change poses a cataclysmic threat to public health and human rights. Global health is inextricably linked to planetary health, with a changing climate influencing the conditions necessary for human health and safety while undermining a range of human rights. International legal agreements to mitigate emissions—from the 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) through the 2015 Paris Agreement and into the 2021 Glasgow Climate Pact—have faced limitations in ameliorating the public health threats caused by the unfolding climate crisis. These inequitable health threats pose sweeping implications for health-related human rights, especially in low- and middle-income countries, with environmental degradation challenging the most fundamental conditions for human life and the individual rights of the most vulnerable populations. As public health concerns begin to be considered in climate change responses, human rights can provide a legal path to support international mitigation efforts and health system adaptation to address both the direct and indirect public health impacts of climate change. This Special Issue of the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health addresses the dynamic balance between global health and climate justice, bringing together policy analysis and empirical research to examine the public health threats of climate change and consider the human rights advancements necessary to frame policies for mitigation and adaptation.
Summary:
In introducing the Special Issue, this editorial examines the human rights imperative to respond to the public health impacts of climate change. Part 2 introduces the role of international human rights law as a foundation for public health promotion, chronicling the long evolution of the right to health and health-related human rights to advance environmental health while examining the political neglect of public health and human rights in early climate change debates. This neglect provides the basis in Part 3 for delineating the public health threats of a changing climate and the human rights implications of those threats—including rapidly rising temperatures, pervasive air pollution, extreme weather events, infectious disease emergence, food and nutrition security, water and sanitation systems, and mental health promotion. With Part 3 ending by analyzing the human rights foundation for climate change mitigation and health system adaptation, Part 4 examines budding international efforts under the UNFCCC to mainstream human rights obligations in the global climate response. Yet despite evolving recognition of a human right to a healthy environment, international efforts within the UNFCCC Conference of the Parties have reached an impasse, with states unable to develop the legal obligations necessary to meet the catastrophic health implications of climate change. The contributors to this Special Issue grapple with this crossroads in the climate change response, with a focus on the disproportionate impacts confronting the most vulnerable populations. Bringing together international policymakers, academic researchers, and youth advocates, this Special Issue provides concrete policy proposals for future efforts, ensuring that climate change is central to the next generation of the health and human rights movement.
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Conclusion:
In conclusion, climate change is one of the most pressing and complex challenges of our time. The overwhelming consensus among scientists is that human activities, primarily the emission of greenhouse gases, are driving global temperatures higher and causing a wide range of ecological, economic, and social impacts. While the consequences of climate change are already being felt in the form of extreme weather events, rising sea levels, and disruptions to ecosystems, the severity of these impacts can be mitigated through concerted global efforts.
Addressing climate change requires a multi-faceted approach that encompasses a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, the transition to renewable and sustainable energy sources, and the implementation of adaptive measures to protect vulnerable communities and ecosystems. Global cooperation and commitment to international agreements, such as the Paris Agreement, are essential in this endeavour.
It is essential that individuals, communities, governments, and businesses all play their part in reducing carbon emissions and adopting sustainable practices. The urgency of the climate crisis demands immediate action, but it also presents an opportunity to create a more sustainable and equitable future for all. By working together, we can mitigate the worst impacts of climate change, protect our planet’s fragile ecosystems, and secure a
