Reflecting on climate change education (CCE) initiatives for mitigation and adaptation in South Africa

Abstract

South Africa remains the largest emitter of carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas, in Africa. As such despite the glowing government policy documents addressing climate change, efforts towards achieving the targets of the sustainable development goals (especially SDG 13) at grassroots level remain significant. We identified relevant published articles and grey literature on CCE. A thematic analysis of these publications focused on identifying the common CCE initiatives being actioned in SA. The major themes on CCE in respect of mitigation and adaption included: CCE initiatives promoted and articulated through the media, school community projects, the development of the school and higher education curricula for CCE, the development of associated teaching materials and guides. The findings revealed that despite the evidence of robust education initiatives for climate change mitigation and adaptation in published reports, there was greater emphasis on short term responses at the expense of long-term mitigation efforts.

Keywords:

• Climate change
• climate change education (CCE)
• climate change action
• climate change mitigation and adaptation

Disclosure statement

No conflict of interest was reported in this paper.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Arorisoe Sibanda

Dr Arorisoe Sibanda is a PhD holder (Doctor of Philosophy in Social Science Education, UKZN, South Africa). He is currently working on research projects that explore staff and students’ lived experiences at tertiary institutions, environmental education, climate change education, and fracking in South Africa.

Sadhana Manik

Sadhana Manik is an Associate Professor in Geography Education at the University of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa.