Education as climate change response

• Main Author: De Guzman, Francis Ron C.
• Format: text
• Published: Animo Repository 2014
• Subjects: Climate change mitigation—Philippines; Climatic changes; Climatic change—Study and teaching—Philippines; Education; Environmental Studies
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/faculty_research/5728
• Institution: De La Salle University

The Philippines is ranked as one of the most vulnerable countries to the impacts of climate change. Extreme weather events attributed to climate change, like droughts, typhoons, extreme rains and related natural hazards, such as flood and landslides have severely impacted the country in recent years. The Philippines is party to climate change relevant international policy instruments such as the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Hyogo Framework of Action for Disaster Reduction and Management Law. Both international and domestic policies have identified education as a powerful mechanism for climate change adaption. These Philippine policies complement the Environmental Education and Awareness Act, which mandates the mainstreaming of environment related concepts and practices in the Philippine basic education system. With one of the highest literacy rates among developing countries, the Philippine school system has the potential to effectively promote climate change resilience and disaster risk reduction. The presentation will discuss basic concepts of climate change vulnerability and disaster risk and the role of education in promoting resilience. It will showcase several domestic best practices as cases and comparative examples from similarly situated developing countries in the Asia-Pacific Region.