University students ’ perceptions of climate change: the case study of the University of the South Paci ﬁ c-Fiji Islands

Purpose – Higher education plays a vital role in educating citizens about climate change and promoting pro-environment behavior. Based on this statement, this study aims to analyze and evaluate students ’ perception of climate change at the University of the South Paci ﬁ c in Fiji. The study aims to understand the main ideas and concepts of climate change by analyzing information habits and individual opinions on the causes of climate change as perceived by the students of two student organizations aimed at environmental protection. Design/methodology/approach – A qualitative approach was used to gather data on students ’ perceptions and information habits toward climate change. The data were collected through a questionnaire to characterize students from the socio-demography and their perceptions, information habits and knowledge relating to climate change. This paper uses the case study method to examine students ’ climate change perceptions at two different student organizations at the same university. The research study involved a focus group technique. Two focus groups at the University of the South Paci ﬁ c were administered. The focus groups ’ selection in this study took into account the aims and objectives of the students ’ organizationtoward climate change awareness, adaptation,mitigation andenvironmentprotection. Findings – The focus groups participants believe that climate change is a serious problem in the South Paci ﬁ c region. Results suggest signi ﬁ cant differences in climate change perception at the two students ’ organizations chosen for this study. Students at the Econesian society nicknamed climate change as a nuclear weapon for the South Paci ﬁ c responsible for changes in the habitat, coral bleaching, lifestyle changes, mother of all other environmental problems and the introduction of invasive species into Fiji. Students at Wantok Moana-related climate change to drastic weather changes, lack of ﬁ sh feed and additional toxins in the sea. The results also showed that students at the Econesian society have a better understanding of climate change than thestudents of WantokMoana. paper It also shows how climate change perception varies within the same university. This implies the need to integrate climate change into the higher educationcurriculumandmore researchonthis topic. Originality/value – This paper is the ﬁ rst to compare and contrast university students ’ climate change perception in Fiji. The results make an essential contribution to the extant climate change literature by identifying and categorizing climate change perception and the factors that shape students ’ perception of climate change from theuniversitystudents ’ perspectivein Fiji. the results obtained by analyzing data on climate change knowledge and causes: The results show that most of the respondents sampled had heard about climate change. A negligible number of respondents (9%) claimed to have never heard about climate change. Those that have heard about climate change quoted Social media (52%), television (32%) and radio (10%) as the primary source of information. The rest had heard about climate change through other sources, including newspapers, talkback shows and peers. Climate change is also widely accepted in Singapore at the institutional level, including political leadership, civil society, the public and schools. Within the national Singapore curriculum, climate change education is undertaken mainly at the secondary school level within geography. The curriculum approaches climate change as a pressing problem with anthropogenic causes and students are required to learn about climate change science, the impacts of climate change. They assess the responses to climate change at di ﬀ erent levels (Seow and Ho, 2017). The majority of Singaporeans personally perceive climate change as moderate to high risk and correspondingly ascribed the adaptation to potential climatic risks as necessary. Among the di ﬀ erent demographic groups, respondents with higher education levels considered the importance of adapting to climate change more signi ﬁ cant than their counterparts (Yousefpour et al. , 2019).