Climate change poses challenges for education but education also provides ways to respond to climate change. Developing countries will be hardest hit by climate impacts like drought, flooding, sea level rise and intense cyclones. This can negatively impact health, nutrition, education and development progress by disrupting livelihoods and food security. Impacts include decreased school enrollment and performance due to issues like water scarcity, food insecurity, disease burden and gender inequality. Education systems can help address climate change by increasing scientific literacy, adapting curriculums and infrastructure, and promoting sustainable development and low-carbon technologies.

1. Climate
Change &
EDUCATION
c-bangay@dfid.gov.uk:
While climate change presents new
challenges to education – education
provides a powerful means through which
to respond.

2. Climate change –
current reality not future threat
Over
95%
probability
climate
change
caused by
Humans
(IPCC V)

3. Climate change impacts - drought, flooding, sea
level rise, intense cyclones will hit the tropics
hardest. Developing countries are ill equipped
to respond.

4. Climate Change
„Looking to the future, the danger is
that it will stall and then reverse
progress built-up over generations
not just in cutting extreme poverty,
but in health, nutrition, education and
other areas.‟
(UNDP 2007: Human Development Report)

5. Flooding
Average Sea
Level - Rise 1520cm in the 20
century
India has an
estimated 100
people million
living in its
coastal zone
(TERI, 2010).

6. Water Shortage
By the 2080’s 43-50% of
people will be living in
water scarce countries
compared with 28%
today

7. Food Production
75% of Africa’s agriculture is rain fed. With a
4oc rise 35% of will become unsuitable for
cultivation

8. Temperature rise and acidification
destroy coral.
50% loss of live coral on the Great
Barrier Reef since 1985
Coral reefs support over 500 million people
world wide

9. Environmental Impacts and
Education
Loss of livelihoods and income and
worsening food security affects health and
school attendance.
Research in Côte d‟Ivoire shows in regions
experiencing greater than usual weather
variability, school enrolment rates declined
by 20 percent.

10. Health and
Learning
People exposed to drought
and civil strife in Zimbabwe
during early childhood
suffered a height loss of 3.4
centimetres, close to 1 fewer
years of schooling, and a sixmonth delay in starting
school.
Estimated
effect on lifetime
earnings = 14%

11. “
… children who suffer
from protein-energy malnutrition,
hunger, or … who carry a burden
of diseases such as malaria,
diarrhoea or worms … are
more likely to repeat grades,
drop out early and fail to learn
adequately due to poor
attention, low motivation
and poor cognitive function.
”
Loss of human potential is estimated to
lead to a 20% decrease in adult income.

12. Gender
Girls disproportionately
bear the burden of
deteriorating livelihoods collecting clean water, fuel
and caring for the sick.
Girls enrolment and
school performance
suffers.

13. Climate Change ‘… the biggest global
health threat of the 21st century’
The Lancet –
2009
Climate change will alter the range of vector-borne diseases
such as malaria, dengue fever and water-borne infections.

14. malaria
In Kenya,
accounts for the annual
loss of 11% of school days for primary students
and 4.3% in secondary.
The cumulative
effect of absences
impacts on
learning
Malaria also
deprives students
of their teachers …

15. Cost
Extreme weather events will damage
education and health infrastructure and
disrupt service provision.
Reconstruction efforts will mean
funding is focused on maintaining
basic provision rather than investing
in systems improvement.

16. Education for Action
Strong performance in science
and awareness of global
environmental problems tend
to go hand in hand, and both
are associated with a sense of
responsibility supporting
sustainable environmental
management..
2009 EFA Global Monitoring
Report

17. “Fostering a shared
understanding of the nature of
climate change, and it
consequences is critical in
shaping behaviour, as well as
in underpinning national and
international action…
Educating those currently at
school about climate change
will help shape and sustain
future policy making, and a
broad public and international
debate will support today’s
policy-makers in taking strong
action ”
Stern Review

18. Education - What Can be done ?
Short
School location risk
assessment
Climate ‘proofed’ school
design
Medium
Capacity to respond to new
migration streams
Demand side interventions
e.g. conditional cash transfers
Adapting to seasonality
changes (school year, exam Integrated school / health
calendar, textbook
interventions that protect
distribution)
cognitive development
Disaster preparedness
Curriculum, assessment,
capacity e.g. to respond to teacher education reform e.g.
internally displaced children localised curriculum
/ minimize disruption of
components
schooling
Internationally portable
Increased ‘scientific
qualifications (especially for
literacy’ e.g. higher
small island states)
education capacity to
Research
facilitate technological
transfer
Long
Pedagogy and
assessment systems
that promote ‘higher
order thinking’ in
support of
sustainable
livelihoods
Orientation
towards new ‘low
carbon’ technologies
& sustainable
futures
Mitigation

19. “Educating young
women may be
one of the best
climate change
disaster
prevention
investments in
addition to high
social rates of
return in overall
sustainable
development.”
goals.”
World Bank Policy Research Working Paper 5342
Adaptation to Climate Extremes