Reply To: Curricula review on Climate Change

[Anonymous]

#6296

What is known about climate change in Southern Africa
The climate change situation is already worse in southern Africa than in most other regions. While the global average air temperature has risen by nearly 1°C since accurate weather records began a little over a century ago, in southern Africa temperatures have risen on average by twice this amount.
Climate change has severely impacted Southern African vegetation over the last decades. Recent studies have shown that limiting the global warming level to well below 2 °C above pre-industrial level may reduce the catastrophic effects of anthropogenic climate change. However, there is limited knowledge on the response of vegetation to climate change at different global warming levels.
Southern African nations must encourage the global community to radically reduce climate change to lower the risks to particularly vulnerable social and ecological systems.
In view of the above, climate change issues have mainly been dealt as cross cutting, and appearing in many courses. However, in the Environmental Education course, this is very core and not cross cutting.
What is not yet known about a topic (in this case, climate change in Southern Africa)
Climate change seems to be relatively new and its effects are not yet comprehended by many countries. To this effect, in many courses, the effects of climate change are not well explained or interpreted with very few practical examples, thereby limiting knowledge on climate change. The implication of this is that many communities fail to prepare for climate change as they are not sure of what needs to be done. Communities are still grappling with causes of floods, droughts, and high temperatures.
How you can review your curriculum to improve it:
In line with what is in the videos, review the issues of climate change to understand them better, then review the current curriculum to consider what should be included to address climate change. In addition, endeavour to integrate climate change in as many course as possible with an increased number of field work to appreciate what is on the ground.