Fiji: Climate Change Adaption and Education

Oceania/Fiji/22 de Julio de 2016/Fuente: Fiji Sun Online

RESUMEN: La conferencia sobre Actualización del Pacífico en la Universidad del Pacífico Sur (USP) en Laucala dedicó una sesión para discutir la Adaptación del  Cambio Climático y la  Educación. El Dr. Tess Martin habló sobre la Enseñanza Técnica en la Unión Europea y el  Proyecto de Formación del Pacífico (UE PacTVET). El propósito del proyecto es la ampliación de la  capacidad regional y nacional y la experiencia técnica para responder  al Cambio Climático (CCA) y los desafíos de la energía sostenible (SE). Al explicar la razón de ser del proyecto, el Dr. Martin dijo que había una necesidad de incluir el cambio climático y la energía sostenible en el plan de estudios de la FTP y construir sistemas de educación y formación sostenibles. «En la actualidad existen proyectos o programas para incluir el cambio climático, la gestión del riesgo de desastres y la energía sostenible en los programas escolares de primaria y secundaria,» dijo.

The 2016 Pacific Update conference at The University of the South Pacific (USP) in Laucala dedicated a session to discuss Climate Change Adaptation and Education.

USP senior lecturer, Dr Tess Martin talked about the European Union Pacific Technical Vocational Education and Training (EU PacTVET) project, while speaking on Quality Assured TVET Qualifications in Resilience for the Pacific Islands Region.

The purpose of the project is to create regional and national capacity and technical expertise to respond to Climate Change Adaptation (CCA) and Sustainable Energy (SE) challenges.

While explaining the project rationale, Dr Martin said there was a need to include climate change and sustainable energy in TVET curriculum and build sustainable education and training systems.

“At present there are projects or programmes to include climate change, disaster risk management and sustainable energy in primary and secondary school curricula,” she said.

“There are also university programmes on climate change, disaster risk management and sustainable energy in the region.”

Head of Department of Crop Production at the Fiji National University, Hirdesh Sachan who spoke on Information Needs for Climate Change Adaptation among Farmers in Fiji, said agriculture was referred to as the backbone of Fiji, however, the sector was not immune to obscurity and faced many challenges.

Two such challenges, he said, were the lack of agricultural information being disseminated to farmers and traditional negative stereotype towards agriculture and adapting to climate change.

“Climate change poses a direct and growing threat to the livelihoods of people in agriculture.

“Poor rural households, whose livelihood depend predominantly on agriculture and natural resources, will bear a disproportionate burden of adverse impacts of climate change and thus should be adaptations in interventions,” Mr Sachan said.

He said that the Pacific islands were the most vulnerable to climate change due to its geographical remoteness and size.

Other topics discussed included building future climate leaders and policy initiatives to promote climate smart production systems.

Fuente: http://fijisun.com.fj/2016/07/22/climate-change-adaption-and-education/