Climate Change to be taught in ASEAN schools soon

Climate Change is no longer just an environmentalist’s issue. It has gradually evolved into a problem which requires collective expertise and full support of everyone – down to the youngest members of this generation.

With that, the Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization (SEAMEO) paved the way for the integration of Climate Change as a subject that would be taught in Southeast Asian schools.

SEAMEO is an intergovernmental treaty body founded in 1965 and has been fostering cooperation among its member-nations in the fields of education, science, and culture ever since.

The “Collaborative Project on the Development of a Teachers’ Guide Integrating Climate Change Issues in Southeast Asian Schools” was initially discussed at the 45th annual SEAMEO Council meeting held last January.

At present, the guide books are still being prepared by the organization, and are expected to be printed by August and to be presented to the education ministries of the SEAMEO countries as well as to the eight associate members, namely Australia, Canada, France, Germany, New Zealand, Norway, the Netherlands, and Spain for deliberation and integration as a subject for Southeast Asian schools.

Effect on the youth

The SEAMEO firmly asserted the pushing of this particular project since “the issue of global warming is alarming and the impact of climate change is catastrophic if nothing is done to curtail its effect.”

They even added that the youth of today are the ones who will most likely experience the negative effects of global warming; thus, they should be taught at a young age on how to address this issue.

It is important that the youth will be given knowledge on certain coping mechanisms and some understanding on how they can mitigate this problem, they added.

Part of the whole integration process is the creation of a Knowledge Management Center for Climate Change (KC3) that serves as a knowledge reservoir to help provide the information needs of SEAMEO countries on climate change.

SOURCE: http://www.mb.com.ph

In a report by the Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA) which is based in UP Los Baños, having Climate Change awareness among young Asians would be very beneficial since five countries among the Southeast Asian region (the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, and Cambodia) have been identified as among the most vulnerable to climate change owing to their archipelagic nature and their geography.