Impact of Climate Change on Arab Countries - (IPCC) - Working ...

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CHAPTER 1
ARAB PUBLIC OPINION AND CLIMATE CHANGE
FIGURE 5
90
78
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Health
DO YOU THINK CLIMATE CHANGE WILL AFFECT ANY
ONE OF THE FOLLOWING SECTORS IN YOUR COUNTRY
(YOU MAY SELECT ANY NUMBER OF OPTIONS)
72
Drinking
water
69
Food
TOTAL SAMPLE
53
Coastal
areas
47
III. ARAB PUBLIC OPINION AND CLI-
MATE CHANGE SURVEY: DETAILED
ANALYSIS
1- Do you understand what climate
change is
The majority <strong>of</strong> respondents, 95%, answered
positively, 5% said they did not understand or
did not know. The highest percentage <strong>of</strong> those
who answered ‘yes’ was in Qatar, Oman, Tunis
and Palestine (100%). The highest percentages <strong>of</strong>
those who said they did not understand what climate
change were scored in Syria (11%),
Morocco (8%), Lebanon (7%), Saudi Arabia
(6%), UAE (4%) and Egypt (3%).
While no major differences were observed among
39
Forests Tourism It will not No answer
affect any
sector
1
regional groups (Levant and Egypt, Gulf, North
Africa), variations showed among age groups,
with the highest level <strong>of</strong> ignorance <strong>of</strong> the problem
among those below 30-years old (7.5%)
compared to only 3% among the over 41 group.
Variations also showed within different education
categories, with 10% <strong>of</strong> the below university
level education group pr<strong>of</strong>essing not to understand
what climate change is, compared to 3%
for university level respondents. This reflects the
fact that higher education brings better awareness
<strong>of</strong> environmental challenges. However, we would
have expected higher awareness among younger
generations compared to the older groups, which
showed not to be the case.
2- Do you believe that the climate is
changing
A resounding 98% answered that they believe the
climate is changing. It was remarkable that the
percentage reached 100% in some countries
where the level <strong>of</strong> understanding <strong>of</strong> the climate
change issue was the lowest, such as Syria,
Morocco and Saudi Arabia. Regional group averages
were uniform, and no major disparities were
recorded among different age, education or
income groups. Results show that among the
98% who agreed that the climate is changing,
between 5-10% did not understand why.
3- Is climate change mainly caused by
human activities (industry, transportation,
power generation, urbanization,
etc)
FIGURE 6
IT IS OF A HIGH IMPORTANCE AND BENEFIT THAT MY
COUNTRY PARTICIPATE IN WORLDWIDE ACTION TO
LIMIT CLIMATE CHANGE
Agree 94%
Total Sample
Agree Disagree I don't know
3% Disagree
3% I don't know
89% <strong>of</strong> the total sample agreed that climate
change was primarily caused by human activity.
The highest percentage <strong>of</strong> those who agreed was
in North Africa (93%), followed by the Gulf
countries (89%) and the Levant (86%). It is
remarkable that the highest percentage <strong>of</strong> disagreement
came from Syria (28% disagree, 4%
do not know), followed by Qatar (26% disagree,
3% do not know) and Morocco (14% disagree,
3% do not know). The percentage <strong>of</strong> those who
thought that climate change was mainly due to
human activities was highest in Oman, Tunisia
and Palestine (100%), Egypt (98%) and Jordan
(96%). In Saudi Arabia, 92% said it was due to
human activities, while 7% disagreed, compared
to 90% who agreed in UAE and 88% in Kuwait.
This clearly shows that the majority <strong>of</strong> respon-