Levels of Climate Change Awareness in the United Arab Emirates

Abstract

<p>Any country’s ability to mitigate or adapt to climate change and global warming depends, to a large extent, on the availability of freely public information, knowledge, wide public awareness and information dissemination sources. Policies and actions initiated by environmental agencies to mitigate or adapt to climate change require the support of the general public and major stakeholders to be successful and effective. The aim of this cross-sectional study is to determine the level of public awareness with climate change and its spatial distribution among the population of the United Arab Emirates (UAE). A questionnaire was used to collect data, and a total of 4000 surveys were distributed throughout the seven emirates of the UAE using a systematic random sampling procedure. The study develops a climate change awareness index for the UAE based on the sample size overall awareness and the awareness of the anthropogenic causes of climate change. The results show an overall awareness level of approximately 57% indicating that more than 40% of the population lack knowledge and awareness with climate change and its impacts on the UAE society, economy and urban development. Furthermore, the Chi-Square results revealed that awareness about CCGW is lower among females in comparison to males. However, The Chi-Square results indicate that the level of awareness is almost uniform among the different emirates of the UAE, indicating that geography, economic activities and income has no significant impact on awareness levels. The study suggests that educational climate change programs and public awareness campaigns are highly needed to address the low awareness levels.</p><p><strong><em>Keyword</em></strong><em>s</em>: Climate change, Global warming, Public awareness, Education, Survey</p>