Begin with simple experiences. Young children learn best through experiences that relate to what is already familiar and comfortable. Thus, the best place to start is in an environment that is similar to what they already know. For example, focus on a single tree in a backyard or playground before venturing into a heavily wooded area.

Provide frequent positive experiences outdoors. Because children learn best through direct, concrete experiences, they need to be immersed in the outdoor environment to learn about it. Optimally, the exposure should be provided on an almost daily basis. A one-time trip to a park or nature preserve will have very limited impact on young children. Far better to provide ongoing simple experiences with the grass, trees, and insects in environments close to home or school than to spend time and energy in making arrangements for field trips to unfamiliar places the children may seldom visit. In addition to investigating the elements of the natural world already present in an outdoor setting, there are also many different ways to transform a typical playground into an environmental yard. Start by adding bird feeders, wind socks, flower and vegetable gardens, tree houses, rock piles, and logs, and then provide children with tools for experimenting and investigating (e.g., magnifying glasses, water hose and bucket, hoes, rakes, etc.).

Model caring and respect for the natural environment. Teachers should also model caring and respect for the world of nature. Talking to children about taking care of Earth is far less effective than demonstrating simple ways of expressing care. Care and respect can be modeled through the gentle handling of plants and animals in the classroom, establishing or maintaining outdoor habitats for wildlife, attending to the proper disposal of trash, and recycling or reusing as many materials as possible.
Another important area of focus on environmental education is on climate change and its associated harmful consequences. Climate change poses a serious threat to development and poverty reduction in the poorest and most vulnerable regions of the world. Minimising the impacts of climate change requires adaptation. In 2005, under the UK’s presidency, the G8 Plan of Action1 included an agreement to assist developing countries adapt to climate change. This POSTnote examines how adaptation to climate change is being approached in developing countries. It will also address the role of the international community and how the UK government is helping developing countries to build their capacity to adapt to climate change and assisting in adaptation. Background The impacts of climate change are already being experienced across the globe. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)2 concludes that human activity (primarily related to fossil fuel consumption) is largely responsible. While climate change will affect everyone, it is expected to have a disproportionate effect on those living in poverty in developing countries. The IPCC Third Assessment Report, which assesses climate change research up to 2001, concludes that:
• global average surface temperature has increased by 0.6°C (±0.2°C) over the 20th century, and is predicted to increase by 1.4 to 5.8°C between 1990 and 2100;
• average precipitation has increased over tropical latitudes by about 2 to 3% throughout the 20th century, and on average has decreased by about 3% in the sub-tropics. These changes are leading to environmental impacts summarised in Table 1, such as a global average sea level rise of 10 to 20cm over the last 100 years (expected to rise a further 10 to 90cm by 2100), and an increase in frequency and intensity of drought in parts of Asia and Africa in recent decades. Many of these changes have already led to multiple socio-economic impacts.
Table 1 Climate change impacts in developing countries Environmental Impacts Socio-economic resources and sectors affected
• Changes in rainfall patterns
• Increased frequency and
severity of: Floods
Droughts
Storms
Heat waves
• Changes in growing seasons
and regions
• Changes in water quality
and quantity
• Sea level rise
• Glacial melt
• Water resources
• Agriculture and forestry
• Food security
• Human health
• Infrastructure (e.g. transport)
• Settlements: displacement of
inhabitants and loss of livelihood
• Coastal management
• Industry and energy
• Disaster response and recovery
plans
Vulnerability of developing countries to climate change The majority of developing countries are in tropical and sub-tropical regions, areas predicted to be seriously affected by the impacts of climate change: Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Small Island States (for example Mauritius) have all been identified as regions of concern. This is compounded by the fact that developing countries are often less able to cope with adverse climate impacts:
• Poverty exacerbates, and is exacerbated by, the impacts of environmental change: Between 1990 and 1998, 97% of all natural disaster-related deaths occurred in developing countries. 90% of all natural disasters are climate, weather and water related.
• Livelihoods are highly dependent on climate-sensitive resources: agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa, of which up to 90% is rain-fed, accounts for 70% of regional employment and 35% of gross national product.
• Low adaptive capacity: the poorest inhabitants of developing countries, especially those in the Least Developed Countries (LDCs), already struggle to cope with current extreme weather events and climate variability. In 2004 severe flooding in Bangladesh, caused by excessive rains of the annual Asian Summer Monsoon, killed over 600 people and displaced over
20 million. The greater frequency and severity of climate shocks is repeatedly eroding coping capacity. postnote October 2006 Number 269 Adapting to climate change in developing countries Page 2
The most vulnerable sectors of society include:
• Those dependent on natural resources: especially subsistence farmers dependent on rain-fed crops.
• Shanty town dwellers: living on unsuitable land, often unstable and/or flood prone and lacking infrastructure.
• Those living in extreme poverty: the UN estimate that 1.3 billion people live on less than $1 per day. Climate change has the potential to undermine poverty reduction efforts and could compromise the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)3, such as the eradication of extreme poverty and hunger by 2015. The OECD4 and the World Bank estimate that 40% of overseas development aid may be climate sensitive. Additionally, funding for humanitarian response to disasters (73% of which are climate related), which now cost donors US$6 billion per year, may result in the reallocation of funding from on-going development activities. This can set back
the development process for decades. Mitigation and adaptation The scale of action needed to tackle climate change is unprecedented and involves two concurrent approaches:
• Mitigation: actions that tackle the causes of climate change, such as reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
• Adaptation: actions that minimise the consequences of actual and expected changes in the climate. These processes are inherently linked. The degree to which society needs to adapt depends on the extent of climate change, which depends on greenhouse gas emissions. The Kyoto Protocol (1997) to the United Nations Framework Commission on Climate Change (UNFCCC)5 requires ratifying industrialised countries tolimit their greenhouse gas emissions by agreed amounts below their 1990 levels over the period 2008-2012. The UK government has agreed on a 12.5% reduction by 2012. However, human activities have already led to changes in the atmospheric composition, and due to time lags in the climate system, climate change is expected to continue over the next few decades, irrespective of how rigorous mitigation efforts might be. Dealing with uncertainty Significant uncertainties remain concerning the direction