Feeling homesick when you see your surroundings changing in ways that make you anxious. This feeling caused by climate change, called solastalgia, is suffered by the vast majority of young people in developing countries, according to a World Bank report published today. But at the same time, the climate crisis is taking away one of the most powerful tools to act and overcome this anxiety: education. More than 400 million students around the world saw their schools temporarily closed between 2022 and June of this year due to extreme weather events, with an average loss of 28 school days per student.
“If this year is like the last three, many schools around the world will have to close due to some kind of phenomenon, be it a heat wave or a flood, and this will leave millions of children without access to basic services that are critical for the professional, economic and personal development of students,” says Sergio Venegas Marín, an economist at the World Bank and one of the authors of the report. Choosing our future: education for climate action, presented this Wednesday, which analyzes the impact of climate change on education and possible responses.
In an interview via video call from Washington, Venegas cites examples such as Bangladesh and the Philippines, where a heat wave affected more than 36 million students in May. Adding these cases, as well as school closures due to floods and storms collected in 81 countries, 63 of them in the Global South, there are 404 million affected students, although the institution itself warns that the real figure is probably much higher, since there is no official data or exhaustive monitoring. And what is worse, the prospect is that these closures will increase, as the climate crisis worsens. Thus, one in five children in the world lives in areas that experience at least twice as many days of extreme heat each year than in the 1960s, according to a UNICEF analysis.
Students in low-income countries missed 45 days of school, compared to just 6 days in higher-income countries
Sergio Venegas Marín, economist and co-author of the report
These 81 countries “lost an average of 28 days of school, but what is most worrying is that this average hides an incredible inequality, since low-income countries are the ones that have less responsibility for this crisis, but are the most affected,” says Venegas. “Students in low-income countries lost 45 days of school, compared to only 6 days in higher-income countries,” he explains. A very valuable time: “It takes 18 days to learn to add whole numbers, so in 45 days they will lose the opportunity to learn very basic skills.”
Even when schools remain open, climate change affects student attendance and performance. A student from the poorest 50% of Brazilian municipalities could lose up to half a year of learning due to rising temperatures, according to the report. “They learn less, they can’t concentrate, they go to school less frequently…” explains the economist, who also adds indirect effects: “We know that climate change impacts their health, their nutrition, the economic stability of their homes, even the security of their communities.”
Adaptation of educational systems
“Education, the most powerful tool we have to combat poverty in the world, is seriously threatened by climate change,” insists Venegas. The report warns that “climate phenomena and extreme temperatures are already eroding hard-won progress in schooling and learning. Climate change is causing an increase in school dropouts and learning losses, which will translate into intergenerational income losses in the long term.” For this reason, the World Bank urges: “Education systems must adapt to a changing climate. Education must be protected from climate change.”
The institution proposes several “adaptation packages” with different measures to control the temperature, improve the resistance of buildings and maintain teaching in case of school closures. The cheapest package, which includes installing fans, painting roofs in a reflective colour, planting trees, using permeable pavement that absorbs water, a remote learning system and teacher training, would cost about $18.51 (16.72 euros) per student. The most expensive, $101.97, includes air conditioning, retaining walls and individual online tutoring. For reference, low-income countries spend an average of $51.80 per student per year, compared to $8,400 for high-income countries.
Education to act
It is not just schools that need to adapt. Education, the report stresses, “is particularly critical for behavioural change related to climate change adaptation” in countries in the Global South, which are home to 85% of the world’s children. People with a higher level of education are better prepared and react better to disasters, suffer fewer adverse effects and recover more quickly. They also adapt better “thanks to access to greater employment and income opportunities”, as each year of learning generates approximately 10% more annual income.
Not only that. An additional year of education increases climate awareness by 8.6%, according to data from 96 countries. As an example, the text cites Brazil, where 84% of people with secondary or higher education say that climate change is a major threat, compared to 62% of people with less education. The World Bank also highlights the importance of educating children about climate, as they pass on the message to their parents.
Among the main obstacles to climate education, the institution includes the lack of basic knowledge in a large part of children in these countries, essential to build deeper learning. Thus, in 2022, the percentage of 10-year-old children who could not understand a simple text in low- and middle-income countries was 70%, a decline from 57% before the pandemicIn sub-Saharan Africa, the proportion rose to 89%, and in Latin America and the Caribbean, to 79%.
Social injustice
Climate-related knowledge and skills “can help young people take action today. It can help them overcome a sense of paralysis, channelling their climate anxiety in positive and productive ways. Education empowers young people to act, and action is the best antidote to anxiety.”
Climate anxiety, or solastalgia, is an increasingly common stressor among young people. Among 7,500 respondents aged 17 to 35 in eight developing countries, 83% said they feel “terrified of the future” due to climate change, with the highest number in Bangladesh (95%), followed by Kazakhstan (91%) and India (85%). Almost 79% believe their country is facing a climate emergency.
Until now, Venegas explains, “it was believed that this was a phenomenon that only occurred in developed countries, where we see students like Greta Thunberg who, through their protests, draw attention to this type of problem. (… ) Through this survey we have found out that there are many students in the world who are experiencing this type of anxiety because they perceive that not enough is being done to solve the crisis.”
“Young people see climate as a matter of social justice, not just between different countries and groups, but also between different generations,” says the economist. “For example, 60% of the young people in these countries we interviewed say that their governments are betraying them and future generations. It’s not just frustration, worry, anxiety, there’s also an element of anger, and we see that in protests with young people.”
According to Venegas, young people “w
ant to act, but in many cases they lack the tools to do so.” The report cites Bangladesh as an example, where 88% of secondary school students want to do something about climate change, but only 32% can correctly answer a question about greenhouse gases.
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