Abstract
Climate change poses a serious threat to the ocean on which the Seychelles economy depends for resources and services. To address this concern, the Seychelles National Climate Change Response Strategy recommends education about climate change in all levels of the education system to nurture young people with the capacity to address climate change impacts. This quantitative, descriptive, cross-sectional survey measures the level of climate change science literacy among teachers in Seychelles on a five-point summated scale (Extremely Low, Low, Medium, High, and Extremely High). Data was collected with a 15-item Climate Change Science Literacy Questionnaire (CCSLQ) from 572 participants representing 42.62% of the population of teachers in public schools at the time of the survey. Ethical considerations relating to access, informed consent, anonymity, and confidentiality were fulfilled. Collected data was analysed statistically with descriptive techniques (percentage, means, standard error of measurement and confidence interval) and inferential technique with the Fisher’s Exact Chi-Square test. Statistical operation was performed with the Statistical Package for the Social Science (SPSS). Results indicate that the majority of the participants (37.4%, n=214) have medium literacy regarding climate change science with misconceptions on all three domains of climate change science: causes, impacts, and solutions. Educational interventions to enhance teachers’ knowledge and understanding of climate change are recommended; otherwise the teachers will transfer inaccurate concepts to the learners. Without young Seychellois with the capacity to take action on climate change, it may be wearisome for Seychelles to achieve a smooth transition to a blue economy.
Highlights
There is a consensus among climate scientists that climate change in this century is mostly the consequence of global warming [1, 2]
More than half of the oxygen in the atmosphere originates from oceanic sources
About onethird of the annual emissions of carbon dioxide produced by anthropogenic activity and over ninety per cent of global warming occurring since the 1950s are absorbed by the oceans
Summary
There is a consensus among climate scientists that climate change in this century is mostly the consequence of global warming [1, 2]. Going by the principles of geophysics, a warming Earth would experience sea-level rise, ocean acidification, extreme weather events, including increased ocean heat content These changes affect society in many different ways including food insecurity, water shortage, destruction of marine environment, and loss of species. About onethird of the annual emissions of carbon dioxide produced by anthropogenic activity and over ninety per cent of global warming occurring since the 1950s are absorbed by the oceans Economic activities such as fishing, transportation, mining and tourism rely on the oceans for resources and services. In some island and coastal communities the ocean is the main source of dietary proteins Cognizant of these vital functions of the oceans, the United Nations has incorporated the conservation and sustainable use of oceans and marine resources, and climate change mitigation and adaptation into the list of international sustainable development goals. It is anticipated that achieving these goals will help to eradicate poverty, protect our planet, and ensure prosperity for all [6,7,8,9]
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