Abstract
This study aimed to determine the perceptions of climate change of undergraduate students at Vietnam National University of Agriculture (VNUA). The study employed quantitative and descriptive methods using a five-point Likert scale instrument. The respondents were composed of 276 undergraduate students from three faculties, viz. the Faculty of Environmental Sciences (FES), the Faculty of Agronomy (FA), and the Faculty of Economics and Rural Development (FERD). The results showed that students were generally well aware of the causes of climate change, the effects of climate change, and actions to mitigate climate change (average value > 3.5). However, students were mostly well aware of the causes and impacts that are common and direct. Students did not have a good understanding of the causes related to food production and consumption. Students also did not know how climate change can affect social issues such as conflict and war issues, or inequality in income and gender. Among the three faculties, students of the FES had a better awareness of the causes and impacts of climate change but were less aware of the actions to mitigate climate change. Internet and television/radio were the main sources of information about climate change for students (88% and 61%, respectively). This study showed that it is necessary to increase the provision of information related to climate change through the media as well as to integrate climate change knowledge into training programs at all levels from high school to university to improve the students' perceptions of climate change.
Highlights
Climate change is one of the biggest environmental concerns at a global scale in this century
Note: The mean was measured on a five-point scale with ascending magnitude from strongly disagree (1) to strongly agree (5) except for statement 10 with descending magnitude from strongly disagree (5) to strongly agree (1); the higher the mean value, the better the knowledge of the causes of climate change
When we look in more detail at each of the statements about the impacts of climate change, we can see that there was a difference in awareness level for each statement group (Figure 2)
Summary
Climate change is one of the biggest environmental concerns at a global scale in this century. The observed changes in climate since the early 20th century are primarily caused by the increase in the concentration of greenhouse gases (GHGs) in the atmosphere from human activities, fossil fuel burning (IPCC, 2007). This report showed “that continued emission of greenhouse gases will cause further warming and longlasting changes in all components of the climate system, increasing the likelihood of severe, pervasive, and irreversible impacts for people and ecosystems. In order to obtain this goal, global net emissions of carbon dioxide from human activities need to fall by about 45 percent from 2010 levels by 2030, reaching ‘net zero’ by 2050. This would require “rapid and far-reaching” transitions in land, energy, industry, buildings, transport, and cities
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