Level Of Climate Change Awareness Research Articles

The Level of Climate Change Awareness among Citizens of Bitung City, Indonesia

Knowledge about citizen’s climate change awareness level is needed to establish an appropriate policy to cope with climate change hazard, particularly in a highly vulnerable country like Indonesia. However, research regarding climate change awareness among citizens in Indonesian cities is limited. This research aims to investigate the level of climate change awareness among the citizens in Bitung City, a medium-sized city in the eastern part of Indonesia. The survey method is used in the research by analyzing questionnaires collected from the citizens. Three variables for measuring the awareness level include public concerns on climate variability, the causes of climate change, and the impacts of climate change. The findings show that the citizens of Bitung have a ”quite strong” awareness level. This contributes to the recognition of citizens’ characteristics toward climate change useful to climate change policy formulation in Indonesia, particularly the Bitung City Government. Some recommendations for the government include the incorporation of climate change issue to the citizens’ daily life and development programs by establishing a special task force of climate change at the city level.

Kesedaran terhadap Perubahan Iklim dan Adaptasi di Kalangan Komuniti Petani dan Penternak di Central Sokoto Close-Settle Zone, Barat-laut Nigeria

General consensus almost exists amongst scholars across many fields that climate change is a reality, its impacts are already with us and no part of the world or group of people are immune from its impacts. In facts, during recent decades scholars are busy assessing its impact now and in the foreseeable future. Within the fragile dryland ecosystem of Sokoto in the North-western part of Nigeria, some of the immediate impacts of climate change includes declining rainfall, increasing temperature and extreme weather events such as droughts, severe windstorms, heat waves and flooding among others. These presents some serious threats to both the natural ecosystem and people depending on the ecosystem for their livelihood particularly crop farmers and livestock pastoralists that constitutes over 70% of the inhabitant of the area. Under this kind of situation, the need for increasing awareness about the causes, impacts, mitigation and adaptation to climate change cannot be over emphasised particularly among farmers and herdsmen due to the high sensitivity of their livelihood sources to climate change. Using a semi-structured questionnaire with both open and close ended questions and simple statistical techniques, this research tries to investigate the level of climate change awareness and adaptation strategies among farmers and herdsmen in the Sokoto Close-settled Zone of North-western Nigeria. The result revealed a fair level of awareness of climate change particularly amongst the youth in the area. Some climate change adaptation strategies in the area and their implications were also discussed while recommendations on the way forward provided.

Determinants of farmers' awareness of climate change

ABSTRACTStudies have found that farmers' awareness of climatic variations is the preliminary step for adaptation and mitigation in agriculture. Thus, the main aim of this article is to investigate the determinants of farmers' awareness of climate change. A multistage random sampling technique was used to collect primary data from Central and Southern Punjab, Pakistan through a structured questionnaire. Descriptive statistics were used to indicate the farmers' awareness level of climate change, whereas the binary logit model was applied to determine the factors affecting the farmers' level of awareness. The results showed that farmers were aware of prevailing temperature and rainfall patterns, but there is still a considerable potential for public perception to be shaped by relevant stakeholders. Further, it was found that farmers' level of awareness is determined by the environmental communication network, such as socioeconomic, institutional, and geographic factors.

Determinants of climate change awareness level in upper Nyakach Division, Kisumu County, Kenya.

Improving the understanding of climate change awareness is one of the top priorities in climate change research. While the African continent is among the regions with the highest vulnerability to climate change, research on climate knowledge and awareness is lacking. Kenya is already grappling with the impacts of climate change, which are projected to increase in a non-linear and non-predictable manner. This study sought to determine climate change awareness levels among households residing in Upper Nyakach Division, Kisumu County, Kenya using common climate change markers viz heavy rainfall, floods, droughts and temperature. A cross-sectional survey design was adopted in which 384 household heads were selected as respondents from 11 sub-locations; all located within Upper Nyakach Division. A questionnaire was used to collect data. Most (90.9 %) respondents had observed changes in the overall climate. Awareness level of climate change varied significantly across the 11 sub-locations. To further gain insight unto which variables were the most significant determinant of climate change awareness in upper Nyakach division, Kisumu county, a Generalized Linear Model (GLM) with Poisson error distribution was built. The model indicated that sex of the household head, education level and age significantly influenced respondents’ awareness to climate change markers. Most (87 %) households reported rising temperatures over the past 20 years. Over half (55.2 %) the respondents had observed declining rains, with significant differences being observed across age groups. Up to 75 % of the respondents reported increased droughts frequency over the last 20 years, with significant differences observed across gender. Most (86.7 %) respondents reported having observed changes in water sources with significant differences reported across age groups. The respondents reported an increased prevalence of malaria with significant differences being observed among the education levels and households’ main livelihoods. The general population of the Upper Nyakach Divison is aware of changing global climate. However, more effort is required in mitigating climate change as per the local settings. Awareness campaign aimed at increasing knowledge of climate change markers among community members is recommended.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s40064-016-2699-y) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Smallholder Farmers Perception of Climate Change and Variability Impact and Their Adaptation Strategies in the Upper and Lower Niger River Basin Development Authority Areas, Nigeria

The work attempted to analyze vulnerabilities and adaptation responses of smallholder farmers in the Upper and Lower Niger River Basin Development Authority areas (U & LNRBDA). Qualitative data was used in this study. The qualitative data was collected using questionnaire method. One thousand and two hundred questionnaires (1200) were administered out of which one thousand and one hundred and twenty-four (1124) were returned for analysis. The research findings revealed that there is high level of climate change awareness in the study area. A significant number of the smallholder farmers attested to the fact that they were aware of the changing climate-increasing temperatures, unpredictable, erratic, heavy and increasing rainfall, late onset and early retreat of rains. This is validated by the various empirical studies in the region. Smallholder farmers in the study areas really possess knowledge of the impacts of climate change and variability which helped them to cope with climate change and variability. They were able to identify their areas of vulnerability and appropriate adaptation options in their own capacity. It is recommended that the government needs to build on their capacity, knowledge and practices to enhance resilience of the smallholder farmers and for sustainability of adaptation strategies to climate change and variability.

College of Teacher Education Students’ Level of Awareness on Climate Change, Impacts and Mitigation Practices

The Cagayan State University at Sanchez Mira is one of the agencies commissioned by the Department of Science and Technology to implement projects for the abatement of the ill effects of climate change. This study determined the level of awareness of the students on climate change, its impacts and their mitigation practices, making use of a descriptive research design with open and closed-ended statements administered to 500 randomly chosen College of Teacher Education students of CSU during the S.Y. 2012-2013. Data elicited from the questionnaire were analyzed using frequency counts, percentages, and weighted means. The respondents have a low level of climate change awareness, and reported impacts include changes in rainfall patterns in the locality, excessive heat and lower incidence of strong typhoons during the past few years. Proper waste disposal, tree planting, inclusion of climate change topics in the school subjects and wider researches along adaptation practices are among the popular mitigation practices identified. This study concludes that the impacts of climate change are not always negative. The change has led the people to adopt new technologies, crops and livestock that gave them even a higher income. New cropping patterns and production technologies must be studied to suit to the new weather condition.Keywords: Ecology and conservation, climate change awareness, descriptive-survey design, Philippines

Climate Stress, Behavioral Adaptation and Subjective Well Being in Coastal Cities of India

India has been identified as one amongst 27 countries which are most vulnerable to the impacts of global warming related accelerated SLR (UNEP,1989). There is a perceived potential threat to coastal India owing to the vast sea-side development and huge populations in the vicinity of the coast. Therefore, there is a pressing need to address issues related to climate stress, adaptation, vulnerability and coping in coastal cities of India, especially from the psychological perspective. Climate change in coastal areas is associated much with flooding, SLR, land inundation, storms, cyclones etc. Coping with and adapting to climate stress are therefore issues of concern for experts worldwide. If environmental stressors persist chronically, they may lead to inner conflicts that can be psychologically disturbing for individuals and may even give rise to physiological, emotional, cognitive and behavioral changes. The established fact that anthropogenic factors account for one of the major contributors to climate change makes it necessary to probe into behavioral facets as in spite of the best possible efforts around the globe to combat climate change, it is felt that people are still not as seriously aware/ alarmed of the expected future risk as they should be. In view of above background, the present behavioral study to assess the cognitive understanding of climate change, climate stress and actions and reactions of coastal people with a special focus on behavioral adaptation and subjective well being was undertaken. The study was conducted on a sample of 150 males and female respondents mainly in four coastal cities of India namely Mumbai, Chennai, Daman and Pondicherry keeping in mind the coastal hazards and vulnerability issues associated with Indian coastal cities (TERI,1996). Especially designed Climate change perception Inventory (CCPI) based on a four-point Likert type rating scale format was used to assess the respondents’ Climate Change Awareness (CCA), Climate Stress and Emotional Concern (CSEC), Coping/Adaptation, Institutional Accountability (IA), and Coastal Subjective Well Being (CSWB). Results indicated a good level of CCA and subjective well being among coastal people. Respondents were found to be experiencing a moderate amount of climate stress and were unable to fully cope with it. They expected more efforts on the part of government and environmental institutions for adapting with climate change in coastal cities and suggested various adaptive strategies in this regard. Results were interpreted in line with article 6 of New Delhi Work Program of UNFCCC (2007) in which special effort to foster psychological/behavioral change has been stressed through public awareness.

Analysis of climate change awareness in Nigeria

The science of climate change, its effects and adaptation measures have received much attention but climate change education and awareness are given very little attention. This prompted this study that analyses the level of climate change awareness in Nigeria. 1200 copies of the Questionnaire were administered in the two climatic zones (Tropical Maritime (mT) and Tropical Continental cT) of Nigeria. In mT climatic zone, three states were randomly selected and 4 in cT which summed up to seven states. In each state, the state capital was purposefully selected while a rural area within 100 km radius of the state capital was also randomly selected. The data were analysed using statistical techniques like percentages and Chi-square among others. The results show that majority of the respondents either in the rural or urban areas have limited knowledge about climate change while their sources of information slightly differ. Although aware that the climate is changing, majority are not aware of the impacts of climate change outside their immediate environment. Majority are not aware of the adaptive measures to be taken in the face of climate change impacts. The paper recommended among others that for sustainable development and to reduce the causal factors and effects of climate change, climate change education and awareness campaign must be vigorously pursued by all levels of government and NGOs. Key words: Climate change awareness, environment, climatic zones, Tropical Maritime (mT), Tropical Continental (cT).

English

  Climate change is a phenomenon that is currently in dire need of a wide range of publicity and other measures in order to adapt and mitigate its effect on the society. This study examined the level of climate change awareness among the poor resource farmers in some selected local government areas of Oyo state. A structured questionnaire titled "Climate Change Awareness Questionnaire (CCAQ)" was administered on a sample of 240 households. Data collected were analyzed using descriptive statistical tools such as frequency counts and percentage as well as cross table analysis. Findings indicated that the level of climate change awareness was generally low among the resource poor farmers. Agricultural extentionist can play an important role in educating the farmers about climate change, mitigation and adaptation.   Key words: Climate change, awareness, adaptation strategies, mitigation strategies, rural areas.

Innovative Financial Instruments and mechanisms for financing forest restoration and mitigating climate change: select cases from India

Climate Change (CC) is universal concern. One of the causes for CC is degradation offorest. World over every minute 22 hectares forest is degraded. Reckonings suggests thatUS$ 11880, funds must be invested every minute to restore the forest.In India Atmospheric pollution has severed in 90’s because of increasedautomobiles and electronic goods. Green car congress reported level of NO2concentration in Delhi ranged 70 - 102 microgram per cm, in 2005. It is argued that theconsumers are capable of meeting part of cost of CC mitigation. Recent survey (Teki,2008) in National Capital Region revealed that 40% of sample preferred to compensatethrough tax on petroleum products, 22 % in investing in forestry bonds, 57% favouredcompulsory investment in bonds. Awareness rate about climate change was 92%, and 88%favoured both technology transitions and economic sanctions for mitigating CC. Evolvinginnovative financing instruments and mechanisms to finance forest restoration andmitigating CC is important.Timber was considered important contribution of forests, as 2% GDP comes toexchequer. NTFPs now considered equally important for forest restoration as 25 – 55% offorest living people survival comes from NTFPs. Forests have innovative financialinstruments like Eco-tourism, to finance forest restoration. Self reliance apart from thegovernment funding and the private funding. Mobilisation of savings, bank finance,creating/strengthening global carbon fund effectively and financing the substitute sectorsare important for restoration of ecological integration and productivity and economic valueof deforested or degraded land. Objectives of paper are: a) to assess level and impact offorest degradation and forest restoration in India, b) to translate carbon pollution level intomitigating CC, b) awareness level of CC in NCR c) measure willingness of consumers tocompensate for CC, and d) evolve innovative financial instruments and mechanisms tofinance sustainable forest restoration in India.