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By Elias Ngalame

The role of holistic climate change education, including at tertiary level, to drive long-term climate solutions has been emphasised by academics and environmental experts during COP28, but, highlighted Yasmine Sherif, the director of Education Cannot Wait, the United Nations Global Fund for Education in emergencies and protracted crises, the education sector is also hard hit by climate change.

Speaking at a UN side event on 8 December at COP28, which has been taking place in Dubai, Sherif said the climate crisis has become an education crisis as students at all levels, including higher education, and especially those from Africa, are on the frontline, often first and worst impacted by the climate crisis.

“The climate disrupts students from learning in many parts of Africa, destroys educational infrastructure, and jeopardises the safety and well-being of both students and teachers. It is clear that education is a victim of the climate crisis, but it is also the most essential long-term solution to addressing this urgent and alarming challenge,” she said.

She disclosed that more than 52% of children in climate-hit zones in Africa are forced to stay away from schools, their families having been displaced by erratic weather, floods and landslides. They are bearing the brunt of floods, wildfires, drought, heatwaves, and other extreme weather events, which directly impact on their education.

The UN education expert advocates for the inclusion of sustainability and climate education in the curriculums of all institutions and at all levels.

“We need a long-term sustainability solution to climate change and integrating this [climate education] in school programmes is one of those solutions. In my interactive sessions with students and other youth from Nigeria, South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo [and] Ethiopia, the voices and outcry have been the same: the need for empowerment of the young people in the climate drive. Education is the key to this empowerment,” Sherif said.

According to a 9 December UN news report about COP28, Sherif sent a strong message to countries as she launched an appeal for US$150 million to empower teachers and millions of children affected by climate change.

“Taking 5% of global military expenditures and directing them towards education and the climate crisis would free up US$100 billion a year to respond to climate change,” she recommends in the report.

Driving change

Higher education experts say advocacy and education can drive the necessary shifts in the climate crisis.

According to Dr Precious Moloi-Motsepe, the chancellor of the University of Cape Town, South Africa, the continent’s youth will become the climate champions of the future and, thus, the need to ensure their skills and education are aligned.

“As Africa is expected to experience the worst [consequences] of climate change, Africa’s youth must be informed and supported in their leadership of climate and social justice.

“As we have seen with the software and digital economy, the skills and ideas of the youth can influence change – even within the most established and traditional industries,” she says in a news report in Business Live.

“Environment experts say that, to ensure long-term climate resilience and investments in sensitive sectors, including water, infrastructure, energy and agriculture, Africa needs to build the capacity of the different actors and train experts in these specialities at university level who will be able to draft convincing project proposals to attract funding.

“Africa needs to train the right experts specialised in the different climate challenges.”

A holistic approach

Environment training experts have called on university institutions in Africa to provide technical training support to civil society actors working on climate change so that they can be effective in their advocacy campaigns.

“Not much funding is allocated to African civil society because their proposals are not attractive enough. Universities in Africa have to provide the needed technical support to the civil society organisations to bridge the gap in training, building capacity,” Samuel Nnah Ndobe, an independent environment consultant and part-time lecturer at the University of Dschang, Cameroon, told University World News.

A 2022 academic article by David Ssekamatte titled, ‘The role of the university and institutional support for climate change education interventions at two African universities’, stated that, at higher education level in Africa, some universities have already started climate change education programmes, including study courses, activities, research and innovation interventions as well as community engagement interventions on climate change.

The research report shows that several universities in Africa, such as the University of Cape Town, Stellenbosch University and the University of Venda in South Africa; Eduardo Mondlane University in Mozambique; Sokoine University of Agriculture and the University of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania; the Pan African University Institute for Governance, Human and Social Sciences, Cameroon; the University of Tlemcen in Algeria; the University of Port Harcourt in Nigeria; Makerere University in Uganda and the University of Zimbabwe have all started climate change programmes.

Cameroon also recently introduced the teaching of aspects related to renewable energy in all state universities in the country.

Experts, however, recommend a holistic approach in education about climate change.

UNESCO, in a 9 December article, notes that there are significant gaps globally in how climate change education and sustainability are taught in classrooms.

It emphasised that getting every learner climate-ready requires a holistic approach that involves adapting curricula, training teachers, rethinking schools and empowering communities.

“Climate crisis is very holistic. It is not limited to forest, energy, agriculture and water. It, thus, requires expert knowledge in the different domains,” said Dr Linus Mofor, a senior environmental affairs officer at the African Climate Policy Centre of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa and former lecturer at the University of South Wales in the UK.

According to the article, UNESCO, in its Greening Education Partnership programme, has currently rallied 81 countries and more than 1,100 organisations. So far, 126 countries have committed to addressing climate change through education.

Within the Greening Education Partnership, 60 out of 81 countries plan to review their curriculum and integrate climate change and biodiversity in the next three years. Seventy out of 81 countries plan to provide training to teachers on climate education issues.

“Now, more than ever, it is critical to equip learners with the knowledge, skills, attitudes and behaviours to effectively address the climate crisis,” the document says.

Source

https://www.universityworldnews.com/post.php?story=20231211001543705