Level of Knowledge of Agricultural Science Graduate Students about Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation Practices of Agriculture

Nabeel Mohammad Gazzaz,Motasem M Al-Masad

doi:10.5430/wje.v11n6p50

Abstract

Climate change (CC) is a global environmental problem and source of concern. Effective planning and implementation of CC mitigation and adaptation may arise from knowledge of its causes and effects. Therefore, dissemination of knowledge is highly important for ensuring that the knowledge grows and spreads amongst the various stakeholders and that it is turned into action. The students of today are the leaders and policy makers of tomorrow. They will effectively serve as change agents once their knowledge base has been well established. This study provides analysis of graduate students' level of knowledge of CC, its nature, causes, effects, mitigation, and adaptation. The study population was 57 agricultural science master's students in the Faculty of Agricultural Sciences in Jarash University, Jordan, and the sample consisted of 50 of those students. The study used online test as the knowledge assessment and data collection tool. Frequency distribution analysis uncovered that the sample students possess high level of general knowledge of CC, moderate level of knowledge of mitigation of CC, and high level of knowledge of adaptation to CC. As to the three investigated facets of general knowledge of CC, these students have high levels of knowledge of the nature and the effects of CC and moderate level of knowledge of its causes. These findings contribute to understanding of students' knowledge achievements and gaps and of the need for curricular reform in terms of structure and content that can be shared by agricultural science faculties around the World with similar CC graduate programs.

Highlights

1.1 Climate ChangeNature, Causes, and EffectsClimate change (CC) has been defined in varying ways in the literature
The present study found that the sample agricultural science master’s students have limited understanding of CC-related processes and actions that involve complex pathways and that they hold various misconceptions related to CC, in spite of the fact that, on the average, they have high knowledge of the CC nature, causes, effects, and adaptation
This study analyzed the level of knowledge of agricultural science graduate students about CC, with emphasis on mitigation and adaptation practices of agriculture, in an effort to assess the extent to which these students can, and are prepared to, take active role in CC mitigation and adaptation efforts

Summary

Introduction

1.1 Climate ChangeNature, Causes, and EffectsClimate change (CC) has been defined in varying ways in the literature. Fawzy et al (2020) defined it as shift in the climate patterns that is caused mainly by greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from human activities and natural processes In this respect, the GHGs have been defined by Easton and Faulkner (2014) as a "collection of human and naturally derived gases that trap heat within the atmosphere that can both regulate Earth’s climate and contribute to climate change" The principal GHGs emitted by human activities are methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O), and carbon dioxide (CO2) These gases trap the heat in the atmosphere and raise temperature of the Earth steadily above the natural levels (Easton & Faulkner, 2014). Lineman et al (2015) stressed the role of fossil fuels and CO2 in CC and defined it as "a change in global or regional climate

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