As a developing nation, and in reality, a relatively underdeveloped one, our awareness of climate change at the elite level only emerged a few years ago, spurred by intense weather events like devastating floods and scorching heat waves. Before this, our environmental discourse was largely rhetorical, while environmental degradation continued unabated.
Now, we're repeating the same approach we took when we belatedly recognized environmental pollution as a serious issue. Our focus remains primarily on sporadic awareness campaigns, resulting in uncoordinated and directionless responses from various stakeholders. We haphazardly emerge from our complacency, loudly proclaiming commitments to mitigation and adaptation without any clear plan or strategy.
This approach is doomed to fail, just as it did in the environmental sector, where pollution continues to spiral out of control. It's widely accepted that raising awareness is crucial to sensitise the public to the dangers of an issue. However, empowering people to combat the effects and control the root cause of an issue demands a strategic approach to awareness. Simply making people realise that climate change is a problem is insufficient. To truly engage them as part of the solution, we need to provide proper climate education. Unfortunately, even at the policy level, we lack a clear understanding of how to effectively deliver this education.
The consequence is a constant barrage of awareness campaigns about climate change, which we see everywhere. Yet, these campaigns rarely empower individuals to become active participants in addressing the issue. Advocates for these random awareness campaigns argue that educating those outside of formal education systems on climate change presents a significant challenge. They are correct, but what if an issue is so critical, so universally threatening, that it demands action from everyone, regardless of age? For our very survival, don't we need climate champions across all generations to effectively combat this crisis? In this age of rapid technological advancement, it's naive to consider age as an insurmountable barrier to re-engaging in the learning process.
We cannot afford to compromise by attempting both education and awareness simultaneously. This time, history will not grant us any leniency, as the impacts of climate change are indiscriminate and do not recognise excuses or delays
There's a growing concern among informed individuals in our nation that we'll once again blur the lines between awareness and education when it comes to climate change. This could lead to even well-educated people using these terms interchangeably. We must remember that we've already made this mistake with environmental awareness and education, both in our policies and how we implement them. Understanding the reasons behind this past misstep is crucial to avoid repeating it.
Roughly two and a half decades ago, a foreign-funded NGO headquartered in Karachi embarked on a mission to integrate environmental education into our primary and secondary school curriculums. In their characteristic approach, they organised a series of meetings with government agencies responsible for education and environmental matters. Both sectors exhibited their typical bureaucratic inertia. Instead of offering constructive input or making concrete commitments, they bombarded the NGO with a barrage of questions, seemingly intent on demonstrating the impracticality of the initiative. Ultimately, the proposal languished in the green-color files of both sectors' main departments and eventually faded away, with no signs of progress.
Fortunately, the same foreign-funded NOG had conducted extensive research and developed a comprehensive strategy paper on climate change curriculum, outlining development priorities, methodologies, and target audiences. However, facing a lack of support from educational and environmental authorities, NOG adapted their work as a foundation for broader environmental education initiatives. Collaborating with various private sector organisations, NOG began conducting a series of teacher workshops. They assisted the government environment sector of Sindh in establishing school environmental clubs and issued guidelines for their effective operation. This project proved highly successful, prompting the then Director General of SEPA to take a personal interest and establish nearly 700 school environmental clubs in Karachi alone.
Accordingly, we interpreted environmental education as simply raising awareness among students. We've been implementing this approach for a considerable period. However, the outcome is that we have, no doubt, a highly skilled workforce across various sectors of the economy, yet most individuals barely recall the occasional, informal environmental awareness messages they encountered during their education.
Conversely, we have a limited pool of professionals with degrees in environmental science or engineering. These individuals primarily work in the health, safety, and environmental departments of companies or organisations. They often face significant resistance when advocating for eco-friendly projects due to a widespread lack of environmental understanding within their respective organisations.
Despite sincere efforts from civil society, an environmental curriculum previously failed to materialise due to a lack of vision within the government sector. Consequently, environmental education was often limited to awareness campaigns within educational institutions. The crucial question is whether a similar fate awaits the development of a climate curriculum due to the same government inertia. However, the answer this time is a resounding 'no.' A prominent NGO has successfully developed a comprehensive curriculum for introducing climate education in Pakistan, and it has already been issued and warmly received by the government sector.
However, a significant concern remains: the responsibility for implementing a well-developed climate curriculum currently rests solely with the government sector, as the educational regulator in the country. Since the 18th Amendment, this task has become more challenging, as we now face the hurdle of integrating climate education into the curricula of all provinces and federally administered areas. At this juncture, any lack of vision or commitment during implementation would be unacceptable. We cannot afford to compromise by attempting both education and awareness simultaneously. This time, history will not grant us any leniency, as the impacts of climate change are indiscriminate and do not recognise excuses or delays.