Abstract:
Climate change has become a contemporary environmental problem affecting
human survival and development gains. It is expected that the human being
whom the issue is affecting should understand and be ready to respond by
engaging adaptive and mitigation measures. Tertiary students are expected to
be instruments of change in this knowledge driven society. This study thus set
out to assess the understanding of and responses to climate change by students
at the University of Cape Coast in the Central Region of Ghana. A sample of
283 respondents was selected. Data were collected from this sample, analysed
and presented with the aid of tables, percentages and chi-square tests of
independence. The study found that the students generally do not understand
basic concepts of climate change. It, however, established that most of the
students have high perception that climate change is happening because of
their experiences with certain environmental changes. They were found to
have generally accepted and assimilated climate change and do not think the
issue is a myth. However, the research realised that behavioural responses,
which is very crucial to deal with the effects of climate change are lacking.
They do not know the effective remedy to tackle climate change and that
reflected also in their responses to actual action engagements. There is a gap
between their perceptions, knowledge and action. In addition, the students are
indifferent to the source of climate change information. Nonetheless, they
expect scientists to do more of communication. The research recommends that
stakeholders should intensify education by connecting scientific facts to
people’s experiences, perceptions, beliefs and values.
