02
CLIMATE CHANGE – INTEGRATING POLICY, PRACTICE AND EDUCATION
Poonam Saini1 and Aarti Grover2
Head
Department of Landscape Architecture, School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi, India
Email: poonamsaini.ska@gmail.com, a.grover@spa.ac.in
1Visiting Faculty and Research Scholar, 2

How to cite this paper:
Saini Poonam and Grover
Aarti (2023) Climate Change– Integrating Policy, Practiceand Education, Journal of
Global Resources, Vol. 09
(02)
DOI:
10.46587/JGR.2023.v09i02.002

Received: 11 April 2023
Reviewed: 09 May 2023
Final Accepted: 29 June 2023

Abstract: Growing up in the age of rapid climate change isthe biggest health threat that the humanity is facing today. The
Earth’s climate is getting altered fast by the increased
emissions of heat-trapping greenhouse gases. IPCC
(Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) report on
Climate Vulnerability Index (CVI) has clearly indicated thatIndia’s geographic and socio-economic susceptibilities are thehighest among all other nations. The mapping of all sensitive
areas, industries and population concentrations at a local level
can help to take appropriate action in order to adapt toconditions posed by climatic crisis which will help tostrengthen resilience in future. Higher Education Institutions(HEI) can play a major role in bringing a paradigm shift of how
and how much we teach about climate change related issues
and their mitigation measures. India’s National Education
Policy 2020 aims at imparting a holistic and multidisciplinary
education with flexible and innovative curricula. To bridge thegaps through education and awareness, this study analyses
the nuances of current education system and puts forward aframework for understanding the methods to mitigate theimpacts of climate change by integrating ‘National Goals’ into
‘Education Policy of HEI’ through a multi-disciplinary
approach that considers the new technology and traditional
knowledge.
Key words: Climate Change, Emissions, Health, Policy

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Introduction
Climate change is the key issue of contemporary times and we are at a critical standpoint. Earth
has a greenhouse effect in the absence of which the global temperature would be below thefreezing point of water. However, the existing trends in emissions and atmospheric greenhousegases, if not addressed in time, would give rise to an alarming situation of extreme catastrophic
events likely to occur by 2040. The principal energy sources of our present industrial
establishments are fossil fuels, when burnt they release CO2 into the atmosphere. In the burningof fossil fuels, sulphuric acid is also getting added to the atmosphere. Like Venus, ourstratosphere now has a substantial mist of tiny sulphuric acid droplets which suggest that our
major cities are polluted with noxious molecules (Sagan, 1985). From shifting weather patterns
that threatened food production to rising sea levels that increase the risk of calamitous flooding,the impacts of climate change are global in scope and unprecedented in scale (Adedeji, 2014).
Health professionals worldwide are responding to the harms caused by this unfolding crisis.
According to the 2015 Paris Agreement (COP21), to avert catastrophic health impacts andprevent millions of climate change related deaths, the world must reduce the greenhouseemissions to limit temperature rise under 1.5°C. Major alterations of landscape due to manmade and natural processes has transmuted the existing landscape and climate of Earth but
intelligent life can help reversing the serious effects of environmental changes by adopting
strategies to mitigate the same. While mitigation goals target the root causes of climate change,
adaptation goals target its effects. This is done by making changes to natural or human systems
in response to observed or anticipated climate stimuli.
India’s geographical location makes it one of the most vulnerable nations which has
experienced extreme climatic events like droughts, floods, cyclones with erratic rainfall patternin the past two decades. Hence, it becomes even more important now to talk about changing
weather patterns leading to food insecurity, increased health problems and heat-related deaths
and act on how businesses need to change through professional education by considering thechanging climate events. To find answers to these existential questions, we have conducted ananalytical study to understand the potential areas in policy, practice and education to explore
the possibilities of aligning the climate related education in higher education institutes to India’s
Intended Nationally Determined Contribution (INDC) towards climate justice.
CLIMATE CHANGE: A GLOBAL CONCERN
The Climate Conventions through History
It has taken 50 years from Stockholm to COP 27 for environmental concerns to gain prominenceon the global agenda for climate change to progress within this framework (Figure 01).
Stockholm Conference 1972, the first United Nations Conference on Human Environment(UNCHE) with motto ‘Only One Earth’ for entire humanity, placed the environment at theforefront and marked the start of a dialogue between industrialized and developing countries on
the link between economic growth, pollution of air, water, and oceans and the well-being ofpeople around the world (UNCHE, 1972). Eight years later in 1980, World Climate Research
Programme (WCRP) was established under the joint sponsorship of the International Science
Council (ISC) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) with an aim to monitor,
simulate and project global climate with unprecedented accuracy, and provide climate
information for use in governance, decision-making and in support of a wide range of practical
end-user applications. Further in the year 1988, with a mandate to assess information related
to climate change, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) was jointly
established by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the United Nations
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Environment Programme (UNEP). Organization’s major responsibilities were to prepare
assessment reports to evaluate the environmental and socio-economic consequences ofclimate change and to formulate realistic response strategies.
The Earth Summit 1992, titled ‘Our Common Future’, held at Rio de Janeiro also known as
UN Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) adopted Rio Declaration andAgenda 21 and concluded that all people worldwide should pursue the idea of sustainable
development on a local, regional, national and international scale. To meet our demands andprotect human life, it also recognized the need of integrating and balancing economic, social,and environmental factors. This concept which was revolutionary at the time, sparked acontentious debate about how to ensure sustainability for development both inside governments
and between governments & their constituents (UNCED, 1992).
The Kyoto Protocol in 1997 (popularly known as UNFCCC), commits developed nations andemerging markets to reduce their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in line with pre-determined
individual objectives (Kyoto Protocol, 1997). This agreement has given rise to and unsaid
conflict between developed and developing economies where rich countries were unwilling tocompromise on their lifestyles and poor countries were unwilling to limit their cap on basic
development (Narain, 2009). After 18 years, Paris Agreement in 2015 proposed a cycle of global
climate action lasting five years that steadily increases in scope where each nation must submit
an updated Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC), also known as a national climate action
plan, every five years. The Agreement established long-term objectives to serve as a roadmap
for all countries as they work to combat climate change by lowering greenhouse gas emissions(GHG) to keep the increase in global temperature to 1.5 degrees. It also suggests that countries
shall evaluate their agreement commitments every five years, and they may be eligible forfunding to assist them in achieving these objectives of mitigating climate change, strengthen
resilience and enhance abilities to adapt to climate impacts.
Figure 01: Last 50 years as Major Sign Posts on Global Climate Change

Source: Author

Climate Change – Action Plans and Policies
The growth and development of any country can be associated with the health and well-beingof its young population. At the same time, this is the population which is most affected and prone15

to the harmful effects of environmental degradation. As per Climate Change and Environmental
Sustainability report by UNICEF, climate change immediately jeopardizes a child's ability toendure, grow, and prosper. While being the group least responsible for the environment's
alteration, roughly 90 percent children under the age of five endure the burden of illness related
to climate change. Each year, air pollution-related causes claim the natural lives of more than
500,000 children under the age of five. Even more, will suffer irreparable damage to theirdeveloping lungs and brains. Due to climate change and environmental deterioration, thepresent generation of youngsters will experience living in a world that is significantly morehazardous and uncertain. The United Nations Climate Action Plan defines the Net Zero coalitionas “cutting greenhouse gas emissions to as close to zero as possible, with any remaining
emissions re-absorbed from the atmosphere, by oceans and forests for instance” (UN DESA,
2021). SDG - 13 aims to combat climate change and its impacts by taking urgent action. Climatechange and environmental degradation are equity issues that undermine the rights of every
child, especially the most disadvantaged. The realization of children’s rights as embedded
throughout the SDGs is contingent on taking action to address and adapt to Climate change(United Nation Sustainable Development Goals, 2015). As an urgent response to combat
Climate Change and its impacts, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) – 13 focuses on:••••

Strengthening resilience and adaptive capacity to climate-related disasterIntegrating climate change measures into policies and planning
Building knowledge and capacity to meet climate change
Implementing the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change

The recent 27th Conference of Parties held in Egypt in 2022 welcomed the below mentioned
strategies to mitigate climate change and bridging the gaps:
•
•
•
•
•
•

Loss and Damage Funding
Attention on structural reform of the financial system
Innovative mechanisms that support nature and climate outcomes at National andEcosystem levels
Climate Resilient Diets
Climate Response for Sustaining Peace
Reversing Forest Loss

Supported by G7, ‘Global Shield’ aims to rapidly provide insurance and disasterprotection funding in the event of floods, drought and other climate calamities in climatevulnerable nations. This is being developed in collaboration with the Vulnerable Twenty (V20)
group of 58 climate vulnerable economies (COP 27, 2022). At the UN Climate Change
Conference in Glasgow (COP 26), the Honourable Prime Minister of India asserted that thenation is meeting all its Climate Change commitments under the Paris Agreement. It has beenhighlighted that India, which accounts for 17 percent of the global population, is responsible for
only about 5 percent of total emissions. As a proposed strategy to mitigate climate change, afive-point agenda or the five ‘amrit tattva’ were proposed which focused on the adoption of asustainable lifestyle, the importance of climate finance, and technology transfer whilecommitting towards achieving net zero energy by the year 2070 as part of Nationally Determined
Contributions (NDC) pledge to meet 50 percent of its energy needs from renewable sources by2030 (COP 26, 2021). India’s National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC) 2008, identifies
a range of priority areas for coordinated intervention at the National and State levels. NAPCC
focuses on inclusive and sustainable development programs into action through connections
with civic society, local government institutions and public-private partnerships. While taking
climate change into account, the poor and vulnerable elements of society are protected.
Achieving National growth goals through an improvement in ecological sustainability results ingreater reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, developing management solutions that are
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efficient and affordable. Use of appropriate technologies for both adaptation and mitigation ofgreenhouse gases emissions, engineering new and innovative forms of market mechanisms forsustainable development and implementation of programmes through public-private partnership
are the main highlights of the plan.
Finance Related to Climate Change
For those who live in developed nations, the effects of climate change entail building taller
bridges and spending more for a bowl of meal. Other factors include greater temperatures,catastrophic flooding and longer droughts. However, climate change is another roadblock in theway of growth and development for individuals living in low-income nations. The type of climatechange anticipated for a nation determines ‘exposure.’ Although there is broad consensus thatanthropogenic climate change will result in greater average global surface temperatures andprecipitation over the coming decades, global models have less agreement on changes fornations or areas. As a result, there is a great deal of ambiguity in how much a country is exposed
to climate change. Change in the global economy, such as the pace of population and economic
development and the advent of new technologies are hard to anticipate with any degree of
accuracy. Variation in policy assumptions, demographic and economic patterns result indifferent quantities of greenhouse gases (GHG) in the future. Even if GHGs are anticipated withaccuracy, there are still discrepancies in how climate models represent the link between theplanet and the atmosphere. This causes a wide range of climate change forecasts for the entire
world as well as for certain nations and areas. Evidence shows that climate science andeconomics account for almost equal amounts of the uncertainty around climate change (Arndt,
2012).
The above facts lead to conclusion that local/national communities are contributing
disproportionately to greenhouse gas emissions, people living in rich neighbourhoods and highincome nations may have a bigger responsibility in terms of mitigation. In contrast, individuals
in low-income regions and nations may need to put out more effort in terms of adaptation
because their populations are more likely to be disproportionately affected by the negative
effects of climate change and have fewer resources available. Table 01 shows the carbon
emissions of the whole world (Figure 02). Despite this, the demands of economic expansion at
any costs are equally significant in low-income nations, and the effects of climate change will
be felt worldwide, necessitating both ‘adaptation’ and ‘mitigation’ in all situations. India
expressed its needs in the COP27 as an estimated figure of $1 trillion to be invested over nextten years to $10 trillion needed to achieve net-zero by 2070. However, it was pointed out in theconference that the yearly $100 billion promise by the developed nations to developing nations
was not being delivered and the target was missed. Experts expect that the efforts shall befinally realised by 2023 to help achieving the said target.

Country
China
United States
EU27
India
RussiaJapan
IranSouth Korea
Indonesia

Table 01: Global Carbon Emissions, 2021
Share in Global
Country
Share in Global
Emissions 2021 (in %)Emissions 2021 (in %)32.9
Saudi Arbia
1.5
12.6
Canada1.5
7.3
Brazil1.3
7.0
South Africa
1.2
5.1
Turkey1.2
2.9
Mexico1.1
1.9
Australia
1.0
1.7International Aviation
1.0
1.6
International Shipping
1.8

Source: JRC Science for Policy Report, 202217Figure 02: Global Carbon Emissions – Developed Countries as main Contributors

Source: Prepared by Author

Climate-Gender Association and Decision-Making Role of Women“Climate impacts, especially extreme weather events, are affecting the roles of women and men
around the world, particularly in rural areas” (Fleur Newman, UN Climate Change). Genderbased violence is prevalent in areas of conflict that are also more at risk of experiencing
catastrophic weather events. For example, women and girls in Colombia, Mali and Yemen are
particularly at risk of experiencing gender-based violence owing to the combination of climatechange impacts, environmental degradation and conflict (Bonn, 2022). The available sourcesin this domain have put forth the emerging issues as a by-product of climate related concerns
as many communities have looked to child marriage, which is considered a form of genderbased violence, as a means of surviving a disaster. For instance, child marriage is a way forpeople in Bangladesh, Ethiopia, and Kenya to secure money or assets and make up for losses
caused by climatically related disasters like drought, frequent flooding and more intense storms.
The ability of women and girls to carry out daily tasks is disproportionately impacted by extreme
weather events brought on by climate change, which is a key factor in dropping out of school
among young girls. Due to the negative effects of climate change, it is now necessary for womenand girls in certain countries to go farther from their houses in order to collect firewood andwater for their family. These chores have historically been carried out by women and girls. Their
exposure to gender-based violence outside the house is thus increased by the lengthier travels(UN Women, 2022).
The above statements lead to conclusion that being gender-responsive when creatingclimate policy is essential because responding to climate change can provide women theopportunity to access more resources and participate in decision-making owing to altering
gender norms. It has also been demonstrated that inclusive governance, supported byinternational organisations and national governments, can produce durable and useful climateresilient policies that enhance social equity generally and gender equality specifically by
involving more women and marginalised groups in decision-making.
Bridging Gaps Through Education – Nurturing Environmental Consciousness
The inclusion of environmental education and awareness among students from a young age
helps them make better choices in their everyday life and encourages students to conserve theenvironment. Globally, the field of Architecture is charged with conceiving the built environmentthat should adapt to the natural biodiversity through environmentally friendly plans. The global18

education development agenda reflected in Goal 4 (SDG4) seeks to “ensure inclusive andequitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all” by 2030 and was
adopted by India in 2015. Internationally, various researchers have been engaged in analysing
the actions and impacts of universities on sustainability and climate change. In order to study
these impacts, McCowan’s (2020) framework conceptualized the universities as having fiveprincipal modalities: education, knowledge production, service delivery, public debate andinstitutional operations and found that the ‘bridging actors’ are central in disseminating theinformation to society as well as feedback from environment to university. The course curriculaof Higher Education Institutes can be redesigned to accommodate the rising needs ofenvironmental studies related to climate change to cater to all ages and socio-professionalgroups in the population (Figure 03). Creating awareness, imparting knowledge, having a rightattitude, skill development, evaluation ability and participation towards resolution ofenvironmental problems should be the main objectives of any educational institute. Institutes
should start building programs to motivate students for active participation in environmental
improvement and protection by acting individually and collectively to solve various
environmental problems.
Institutions of higher education generally have an environment that can facilitate amultidisciplinary approach – by incorporation of new technology with Traditional Local
Knowledge (TLK) – Artificial intelligence and satellite-based imagery can be used in many ways
in architecture and planning fields. 1) GIS mapping for watershed and biodiversity studies canbe integrated with local knowledge of geology and traditional water systems in order to find
improved solutions to the climate generated issues, 2) Geotagging in agriculture can be widelyused as a tool for asset management that will enable farmers to create more efficient andeffective farming techniques and monitor crop fields, 3) Machine learning a subset of AI,
facilitates the analysis of large data sets is very useful tool in research and the outcomes canhelp predict patterns which can then be used in decision-making for environmental issues.
Figure 03: The Role of Universities on Climate Related AwarenessSource: Prepared by Author

The National Education Policy of India was reconfigured in 2020 with a vision totransform India sustainably into an equitable and vibrant society by providing high-quality
19education to all through the development of a conscious awareness of one’s roles andresponsibilities in a changing world by academic institutions. National Education Policy aims at
Imparting holistic and multidisciplinary education with flexible and innovative curricula focusing
on community engagement and services, Environmental Education, Value based education andcatalysing Quality Academic Research through the National Research Foundation to become
leaders in the realm of climate change.
Conclusion
Quoting Nelson Mandela “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change
the world.” Undoubtedly, education plays a significant role in encouraging a sustainablemindset, which will accelerate the achievement of the SDGs. Aligning National Education Policy
with climate agenda of the country can aid to mitigate the effects of climate change and meeting
the NDC goals of each country. A comprehensive strategy that addresses the fundamental
obstacles to a zero-carbon, climate-resilient future will be possible with a deeper and morethorough knowledge of the effective links between Education, Policy, Profession, NDCs andSDGs. This analysis shows that the key question is no longer whether the sustainable
development and climate change agendas can coexist. Instead, to maximise any potential
outcomes, countries will need additional assistance to accomplish these objectives in a way that
promotes coherence, encourages collaboration, and maximises outcomes. Even though there
is still work left to be done and lessons to be learnt from early implementation, the researchundertaken for this study reveals that the alignment of education system with climate agenda
has a very good possibility of working jointly.

Acknowledgements
The acknowledgements are due to Ms. Shweta Vaishnav.
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