Ascertainment Of Students’ Understanding Of, And Reaction To Climate Change In Ghana (Case Study Of University Of Cape Coast, Ghana)

Ascertainment Of Students’ Understanding Of, And Reaction To Climate Change In Ghana (Case Study Of University Of Cape Coast, Ghana)

Chapter One

Preface

Background Of The Study

Climate change has come an environmentally threatening miracle. An effective strategy which can help attack the issue is the concern and action by the mortal beings who are noted to be the main cause and affected by the problem. Public conduct can only be likely where the tendency to bear and response is made more vibrant. still, the presence of poor understanding of climate change poses much further difficulty in explaining and inspiring people’s anticipated action and concern to the issue. This can weaken and annul sweats towards adaption and mitigation.

The World Health Organization( WHO, 2003), has indicated that” climate change has come a distinctive and signi cant addition to the range of environmental hazards encountered by humankind”. The United Nations( UN, 2010) also observes that global pursuit for sustainable development is under serious trouble because of the impact of climate change. There are adding substantiation that suggests that utmost places in the world will be converted and lost through the impacts of a changing climate( Adger, Dessai, Marisa, Goulden, Hulme, Lorenzoni, Nelson, Naess, Wolf, Wreford, 2009). critical action is therefore anticipated of humanity to attack this peril( IPCC, 2014).

Climate change connotes a change in climate over a period of time, generally a decade or further due to nature and/ or mortal conditioning( UNFCCC 2007, IPCC 2007). utmost scientists similar as Eboh( 2009); Anyadike( 2009);

Hönisch, Ridgwell, Schmidt, Thomas, Samantha, Gibbs,, Williams( 2012); Ashton( 2002) and scientific exploration institutions( Pew Centreon Global Climate Change PCGCC( 2009), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association, NOAA( 2007)etc. have also offered analogous meaning.

” There are a lot of exploration findings and prognostications which supports the incarnation of climate change. For case, the International Panel of Climate Change”( IPCC, 2013) has revealed that global temperature has increased by about2.0 Degree Celsius over the last 100 times; ocean situations are rising and extreme events similar as heat swells, heavy downfall and shrinking Artic ocean ice are all being. The panel has also prognosticated more caliginous times ahead as well. These findings and prognostications have been conceded by utmost scientists( see Hönisch etal. 2012, National Research Council 2013, NOAA 2013).

The Anthropogenic Global Warming( AGW) and Human Induced propositions of climate change all attributes climate change to mortal conditioning( Blasts 2010). therefore, demanding significant sweats from mortal beings on its affiliated issues similar as water stress, species extermination, low productivity, cataracts, food instability, conditions and numerous others( WHO 2003, IPCC 2014). The formerly beingnon-climate change convinced underdevelopment of Africa is decreasingly being worsened by the impacts of climate change( UNFCCC 2007). Africa is largely susceptible to the impacts of climate change due to high poverty and reliance on rain- fed husbandry( Dixon, Smith & Guill( 2013),” ignorance, weak institutions, limited structure, limited technology and information, poor access to coffers, low operation capabilities, land declination, overexploitation of natural coffers,over-population and numerous others”( UN 2010).

The goods of climate change in Africa has manifested in the intimidating rate of conditions( Guernier, Hochberg, & Guegan2004; WHO 2004), water failure and stress( Ashton 2002), hunger( Fischer 2002) conflicts and wars( Harrus & Baneth, 2005; Ashton, 2002), failure and flooding( Many, Ahern, Matthies, & Kovats 2004; Nicholls 2004; McMichael etal. 2008 and Christensen etal. 2007), migration( Adger et al 2009), and shortage( Boko, Niang, Nyong, Vogel, Githeko, Medany, Osman- Elasha, Tabo & Yanda, 2007).

Global sweats to fight climate change can be traced many decades ago. In 1992, the United Nations Framework Convention for Climate Change( UNFCCC) was constituted to unify sweats of individual countries in order to have a global community towards fighting climate change( UNFCCC 2014). Regional commitments have manifested through fiscal, specialized supports and numerous others. The UNFCCC, constituted in 1992, was to consider the strategies to attack climate change. covenants and other proceedings by the UNFCCC redounded in the relinquishment of the Kyoto Protocol in 1995 which fairly binds member countries to emigration reduction targets. The Protocol’s first commitment begun in 2008 to 2012 and is anticipated tore-run through to 2020 which will mark the end of the alternate commitment( UNFCCC, 2014). These developments and numerous others easily indicate that climate change has come a global concern.

Ghana is no exception to the prevalence and pitfalls of climate change. literal climate data for the once many decades show a conspicuous rise in temperature and accompanying variability in downfall throughout the country. Mean periodic temperature has been adding and downfall has been passing significant diminishments over the once many decades( Government of Ghana,

GoG, 2011; McSweeney, New, & Lizcano.(n.d.), temperature is prognosticated to rise to an normal of 2 Degree Celsius and downfall is also prognosticated to drop by further than 11 percent within the coming many decades( GOG 2007). According to Minia( 2008), and Dontwi & Buabeng( 2008), these changes and their worse forms are anticipated to hit the country in the foreseeable future.

The impacts of climate change on the people and the frugality of Ghana have formerly attracted a lot of enterprises. Climate change is putting stress on natural coffers( Dontwi et al 2008), swash, sluice systems and power generational problems( Gyau- Boakye 2001) and contributing to flooding( Brown and Crawford 2008). Other projected impacts include that on water and food instability, power force problems(E-parl 2008, GoG 2007), flooding( Brown & Crawford 2008), migration( Geest & Jeu, 2008), enhancing poverty and health related problems( DANIDA 2008) and eventually on reduced socio- profitable growth and development.

Communication and education on climate change begun, and has been enhancing, since the 1980s when climate change first surfaced on the public docket. Communication serves as a means of adding the cognitive capacity of the existent( Pruneau, Khattabi & Demers 2010), icing lesser public understanding and engagement on climate policy and issues( Ockwell, Whitmarsh & O’neil, 2009; PCGCC 2009 and Leiserowitz, Maibach, Roser- Renouf & Smith, 2010a), diving the current and implicit goods of climate change( Frumkin & McMichael, 2008; Commonwealth Secretariat, 2009) and bridging the gap between wisdom and society( Fischhoff, 2007).

The degree at which a nation can alleviate or acclimatize to climate change largely depends on public engagement( Moser 2008a, see alsoEkman & Amna

2009). It has been observed that early climate change communication mechanisms weren’t effective because they concentrated on scientific findings reports( Weart 2003). Bak( 2001) and Sturgis & Allum( 2004) attribute this to the fact that agents reckoned on the information deficiency model which explains the lack of public engagement to inadequate information and understanding of the people. The model principally advocates for further information and explanation to people in order to evoke action.

Moscovi’s( 1984) Social Representation proposition( SRT) proposes that appreciating public understanding on climate change can be veritably important in the climate change communication and engagement mechanisms. Leiserowitz, Maibach & Roser,( 2008), Shome & Max,( 2009) and Moser( 2010) support this claim by championing for further exploration on public understanding. They add that similar exploration would be more applicable when they’re concentrated on understanding the gests and perception of people. The absence of this will still evoke low public response( Exley and Christie, 2003)

Civic, immature engagement and adaption and mitigation issues can not be bandied in insulation. youthful people are likely to be engaged in social issues if the issues are applicable to their lived gests ( Brady, Dolan, Kearns, Kennan, McGrath, Shaw and Brennan, 2012). Brennan( 2008) reveals that feting youth resiliency is a lesser resource for community and public adaptive capacities and well- being. The World Bank( 2002) adds that scholars play critical places in supporting knowledge- driven profitable growth strategies, public invention system, and the construction of popular, socially cohesive societies and serves as a country’s main informed crowd.

In the hunt to achieve sustainable development, University scholars are linked as a nation’s stylish stopgap and utmost effective resource( Weehen, 2000). They’re implicit change makers, policy device and effective tools for making strategic public opinions( Gellin 2003). It’ll therefore be veritably prudent to uncover the disposition of University scholars on climate change issues in Ghana.

Statement Of The Problem

Public understanding, knowledge and exploration are noted as critical tools to attack mortal- convinced climate change( Moser 2010). Public resistance to changing applicable behaviours remains a crucial issue for exploration, especially given apparent increases in public mindfulness of the scientific arguments( Exley & Christie, 2003).

Public responses and engagement to climate change remains noticeably deficient in Ghana. Leiserowitz, Maibach & Roser,( 2008) and Shome & Max,( 2009) suggest that exploration should concentrate on understanding the views, stations and beliefs of the original people for effective communication( see also Crompton & Kasser, 2010). still according to Jaspal et al( 2014), that isn’t the being practice. There’s little empirical substantiation to support the efficacity of communication and public understanding of climate change( Pidgeon & Fischhoff 2011).

The many available inquiries have been largely concentrated on the western world and marginalised vulnerable African countries like Ghana( BBC 2009, Shahadu, 2012, Leiserowitz 2007). Though former inquiries have indicated that he Ghanaian public don’t understand climate change that can not justify that for University scholars. University scholars are special groups with important exposure to knowledge and information sources. In addition, earlier exploration in Ghana has not given emphasis to how people’s understandings are restated to responses. It’s in this regard that a exploration into the understanding of and responses to climate change of University scholars with emphasis on gests and beliefs has come imperative.

Ideal Of The Study

The end of this study is to assess scholars ’ understanding and response to climate change, therefore, the following objects;

1. Examine scholars ’ understanding and knowledge of Climate Change.

2. Determine scholars ’ position of assimilation and acceptance of climate change as an environmental issue.

3. Describe the scholars ’ responses to climate change dispatches, adaption and mitigation issues.

Exploration Questions

The following questions guide this study;

1. What are the situations of the scholars ’ understanding and knowledge on climate change?

2. To what extent have the scholars assimilated and accepted climate change as an environmental problem?

3. How are the scholars responding to demands for adaption and mitigation and geste change?

Significance Of The Study

The significance of this exploration can not be undervalued. This exploration will contribute to being but limited literature or knowledge on climate change particularly within the social wisdom discipline. It’ll also help colorful stakeholders to understand and appreciate how the public, particularly, knowledgeable and intellectualists are responding to the issue. The findings from the study will

also help to develop better and strategic communicative tools to evoke anticipated responses. It’ll be a feasible tool to make recommendations to University and Education authorities to consider effecting certain classes andco-curricular variations. It’s anticipated that this study will ameliorate adaption and mitigation sweats and bring about sustainable living. Most importantly, the study will identify the position of responses of the scholars towards climate change that are important to policy and environmental sustainability.

Compass Of The Study

The study was limited to University scholars at the University of Cape Coast located within the Cape Coast megalopolis in the Central Region of Ghana. The study conceded the pressing and the critical need for contemporary Ghana and the world at large to find results to a serious environmental problem like climate change. The study was specifically interested in adaption and mitigation action responses to climate change. It argues that perception and understanding of an issue doesn’t inescapably guarantee action. Due to the ideal of the exploration, the study was limited to the understanding and responses among scholars. Understanding and knowledge was measured in terms of comparison with internationally accepted description whiles assimilation and responses were measured using their agreement to issues and practice ofpro-climate change conditioning.

Limitation Of The Study

The exploration acknowledges the fact that University scholars in Ghana are spread out in nearly every region of the country, and that indeed within the University of Cape Coast, the courses and programmes are multitudinous and different, resource constraints and time didn’t allow all of them to be included in the study. Because the exploration was concentrated on gathering data on large repliers, bearing in mind the limitedness of time, data collection instruments was limited to questionnaire administration.

Description Of Terms

CLIMATE CHANGE Climate change includes both global warming driven by mortal- convinced emigrations of hothouse feasts and the performing large- scale shifts in rainfall patterns.