Do you remember the first time you heard the term “climate changes”? Perhaps you were surprised at that time by the extent of this phenomenon, that besiege our planet, affecting our lives. On the other hand, millions around the world still do not realize the true impact of their practices on the surrounding environment, which experts summarized in the term “climate illiteracy.”
The Arab region, which is one of the most affected regions by the climate change crisis, suffers from the spread of “climate illiteracy” and a decline in environmental awareness among large numbers of its population, in addition to a gap that separates it from other regions of the world in climate education, which the United Nations has considered a fundamental pillar in confronting the crisis.
“Education International”, is an international non-profit organization concerned with education, revealed in its report issued in 2022 that countries of the Middle East and North Africa region recorded lower levels than the global average in terms of climate education ambition. And, all 19 countries included in the analysis failed to reach the percentage set by the organization at 59%.
The organization’s report relied on measuring progress on several indicators, including the quality of climate education, the extent to which educational systems are strengthened, and the ambition of countries’ policies in the region.
The analysis criticized the absence of mandatory climate education within the plans prepared by countries to adapt to the climate crisis and reduce greenhouse gas emissions that it causes. It pointed out the absence of several important elements, such as referring to the role of teachers’ unions, or international cooperation to support climate education, in addition to not paying attention to directing education to this sector.
“Green in Arabic” interviewed a number of Arab experts to talk about the causes of “climate illiteracy” and ways to eliminate it.
In the beginning, Dr. Hatem Abdelmoneam, Professor of Environmental Sociology at Ain Shams University in Egypt, sees the need to return the issue to its roots, stressing that climate and environmental illiteracy is part of the continuation of traditional illiteracy, wondering: Can a person who cannot read or write to get information about this issue?
A shocking statistics
According to the Unified Arab Economic Report issued in 2022, the illiteracy rate among the population of the Arab world in 2020, among ages 15 years and over, reached approximately 25% of the total number of births in this group, ranking first in the illiteracy rate compared to other regions of the world.
The period between 2010 and 2020 also witnessed an increase in illiteracy rates among adults in four Arab countries: "Qatar, Tunisia, Mauritania, and Comoros".
The continued suffering from traditional illiteracy also prevents the digitization of services, at a time when the benefits of digital interaction are numerous at all economic and environmental levels, including facilitating the imposition of a carbon tax on owners of polluting activities, according to the opinion of the professor of environmental sociology. He also pointed to the positive aspects of holding climate conferences for its ability to bring together the largest number of countries, and its contribution to raising awareness of environmental issues through media channels transmit it.
“Abdel Moneim” pointed out that all segments of society are harmed by climate change, which “threatens the right to live and all whole humanity,” but in return, the major industrialized countries benefit from polluting activities.
According to “Abdel Moneim”, the matter is not limited to increasing awareness of the crisis, but there is a need to link the entire education sector to environmental issues. If we want to live on a clean planet, engineering professionals must learn, for example, sustainable city design, environmental architecture, and waste management, while those enrolled in agricultural colleges must study sustainable agriculture.
Arab efforts
In addition to working on developing school curricula, there are several initiatives aimed at enhancing the awareness of those working in the education sector to transfer this awareness to younger generations.
In 2022, the Faculty of Education of Princess Noura bint Abdul Rahman University of Saudi Arabia launched the "Green Education" initiative, which aimed at spreading environmental awareness among female students, encouraging them to practice more sustainable habits and providing them with the necessary training.
According to the university's official website, the initiative's projects varied between agriculture and afforestation, sustainable energy consumption, recycling, reducing consumption, and others.
In the same year, in Egypt, the initiative “Green Minds” has been launched in cooperation between several parties. It aimed at educating students, of 6 to 18 years old of different school stages, the goals of sustainable development, besides training teachers, focusing on water issues, hunger issues, rationalizing consumption, and climate action.
The role of civil society organizations
Dr. Ahmed Al-Shraideh, President of the Jordanian Development Association of Human and Environment, stressed the need for environmental awareness to begin in schools, because “education at a young age is like engraving on stone,” pointing to the necessity of having a subject on climate change within academic school curricula, and for extracurricular activities (cultural and artistic) to focus on this issue, in addition to allocating scientific trips to determine the impact of this phenomenon on the Arab world.
“Climate education” does not have to take place only through traditional educational institutions. “Al-Shraida” believes that environmental initiatives should go out to rural areas in order to communicate with those who are in direct contact with environmental, agricultural and health issues. He criticized the idea of focusing on the educated group, which does not need this awareness.
The association, headed by “Al-Shraida”, is interested in providing environmental awareness lectures to school students in Irbid Governorate, Jordan, and organizing trips to a number of environmental landmarks, in addition to giving lectures on the issue of climate change in a number of universities.
“Al-Shraida” touched on the stages that the climate change crisis has gone through in the region. The beginning was denial, then came the stage of ignoring during the eighties and nineties of the last century, when those concerned with these issues were seen as luxurious people, and then we have now reached the stage of recognition.
The president of the Jordanian Development Association of Human and Environment explained that there has become awareness of the issue of climate change, after the normal citizen felt its impact on the economic, social and health aspects of life, especially after what we have experienced during the past periods. The whole world has experienced climate extremes due to the steady rise in temperatures, and the issues related to floods, desertification and pollution, in addition to environmental migration.
But “Al-Shraida” believes that, up to the present time, there are those who deny the climate change crisis and consider it part of the Western conspiracy theory against Third World countries. They consider what is happening to be a natural condition that the Earth is going through.
Huge media responsibility
Journalist Ahmed Al-Shamiri, head of the Arab Network of Science Journalism, believes that climate illiteracy is widespread among most of the peoples of the world, especially countries in the Arab world, and that health awareness is more present. He pointed out that countries witnessing conflicts suffer, to a large degree, from low awareness about environmental and climate issues, in a time when they need it most urgently; because of the natural variables they face, such as pollution.
In countries that enjoy stability, “Al-Shamiri” believes that there are groups that suffer a greater share of the damage, namely the people of rural areas who constitute a huge population burden in some countries, such as the countries of the Arab Maghreb and Egypt.
The head of the Arab Network for Science Journalism stressed that the media has a huge responsibility to confront climate illiteracy and enhance climate awareness among the public. It has many tools that can be activated, starting with the qualification of media professionals who prepare media materials in a correct manner, until the message is received, and the goal is achieved.
Journalist Ahmed Al-Shamiri believes that the media at the present time is a “new media” that is closer to the citizen. And, media institutions must give climate issues sufficient space to enhance climate culture among their audiences, in addition to encouraging emerging initiatives.
He added that media institutions and civil society organizations should launch awareness initiatives by visiting schools and universities, and focusing on various public places.
Al-Shamiri concluded his talk about the position of the issue of environmental awareness in the climate talks, pointing out that the issue was largely ignored in the past. And, although there are currently many awareness initiatives, they are not sufficient to confront this real danger, adding that a funding portion must be allocated to raise climate awareness, which is one of the most important solutions to spread environmental friendly practices.
