….
In truth, education on climate change or the lack thereof seems to be another obstacle to climate activism in the region, according to a study from Princeton University in the US. The study found education to be the biggest factor in dictating the public’s concern with climate change in the Middle East and North Africa.
“Concerns with environmental issues – climate change, air quality, water pollution, and trash – are greater for individuals with higher levels of education, as compared to individuals with lower levels of education,” lead researcher on the study, Dr. Jeremy Green, told The New Arab.
“People need to be educated on this topic. I only started getting involved when I received the education about how bad the environmental situation was when I travelled abroad,” confirmed Arzoumanian
In Dr. Green’s study, Lebanon was the country with the highest percentage of people concerned about the climate emergency in MENA, with more than half of the survey respondents in Lebanon, 51 percent, say that climate change is a “very serious” problem. However, in comparison with UK Polls the number is not very high – surveys by pollsters, MORI, Opinium, BEIS, say as much as 80% of the UK public are now “fairly” or “very” concerned.
Education infrastructure in the MENA region is one of the many public services that has been affected by the region’s conflicts and political instability. As a result, one in every five children in MENA is not in school, according to UNICEF.
Around 8,850 education facilities in Syria, Iraq, Yemen and Libya have been destroyed because of the conflicts in those countries, whilst “two-thirds of youth in the Levant feel that the education system is not preparing them for their future”. Gender inequalities are also exacerbated by conflicts and crises, leading to many young girls dropping out of education.
Many children the same age as Ike will thus not have the ability to go to school and could never be educated about climate change…
Read full article at The New Arab
