Citation: Bangay, C. and Blum, N. (2010) Education Responses to Climate Change and Quality: Two
Parts of the Same Agenda? International Journal of Educational Development 30(4): 335-450.
A further concern associated with deteriorating livelihoods is the impact this will have on
nutrition and parasitic burden. Estimates already suggest that 200 million children under the
age of five fail to reach their potential cognitive development because of poor health and
nutrition. These children predominantly live in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa - the
regions to be hit most hard by climate change. For example, research on under fives in
Ethiopia and Kenya suggests they are 36% (Ethiopia) and 50% (Kenya) more likely to be
malnourished if they were born during a drought (UNDP 2007). Recent research further
notes:
„...there is strong evidence to suggest that school-aged children who suffer from
protein-energy malnutrition, hunger, or who lack certain micronutrients in their diet
(particularly iron, iodine or vitamin A) or who carry a burden of diseases such as
malaria, diarrhoea or worms do not have the same potential for learning as healthy
and well-nourished children, and that they are more likely to repeat grades, drop out
early and fail to learn adequately due to poor attention, low motivation and poor
cognitive function.’ (CREATE 2008)
This loss of human potential is estimated to lead to a 20% decrease in adult income and also
has broader implications for national development (Granther-McGregor et al 2007, op cit
CREATE 2008).
In addition to impeding cognitive development, poor nutrition undoubtedly lowers resistance
to disease. Recent multi-disciplinary research published within The Lancet describes climate
change as „. the biggest global health threat of the 21st century' (Costello et al 2009:
1693). As Table 1 notes, climate change is set to alter the range of vector-borne diseases
such as malaria, dengue fever and water-borne infections. Studies cited by Jukes, Drake
and Bundy (2008) indicate malaria has a significant impact upon school attendance. Malaria
reportedly accounts for a loss of 11% of school days for primary and 4.3% of secondary
students in Kenya, while in Senegal malaria accounted for 36% of all absence during the
high transmission season (Jukes, Drake and Bundy 2008: 41-42). Clearly malaria is not
confined to students alone, with the disease also impacting on teacher attendance.
Moreover, as Jukes et al (2008) suggest the impact of malaria on learning is likely to be
amplified by the cumulative effect of absences which result from repeated bouts of the
disease over several years. The potential impacts of malaria on learning alone are brought
into sharp focus by the IPCC’s estimate that the global additional population at risk of
malarial infection as a result of climate change is between 220 and 400 million.
4. Education - A Critical Element in the Response to the Challenges of Climate
Change
While there is emerging awareness of the current and potential impacts of climate/
environmental change on education provision and learning, it is also clear that education -
formal and non-formal, from primary through to tertiary and adult education - has an
important role to play in addressing this change.
Since the 1960s, a large body of research has sought to understand the links between
increasing knowledge of environmental and development concerns and both social and
environmental change3. This includes work carried out using various terms and definitions,
including „development education’, „environmental education’, „education for sustainable
development’ and many others (cf. Bourn 2008a, Scott and Vare 2008, Palmer 1998,
3 Notably, much of this work has been carried out in industrialised countries and drawing on largely
Western approaches to education; more research which draws on and explores Southern
perspectives is needed in the future.