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Climate change knowledge, attitude and perception of undergraduate students in Ghana [1]

['Benjamin Y. Ofori', 'Department Of Animal Biology', 'Conservation Science', 'University Of Ghana', 'Legon-Accra', 'Evans P. K. Ameade', 'Department Of Pharmacy', 'School Of Medicine', 'Health Sciences', 'University For Development Studies']

Date: 2023-06

Anthropogenic climate change is a serious global environmental issue that threatens food and water security, energy production, and human health and wellbeing, ultimately jeopardizing the attainment of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). A good understanding of climate change is essential for societies to adapt to or mitigate it. Yet, studies reveal that most people have limited knowledge, misconceptions and misunderstanding about climate change. Sub-Saharan Africa is projected to experience disproportionately higher adverse effects of climate change, but there is paucity of information about climate change knowledge in the region. Here, we assessed climate change knowledge, attitude and perception of undergraduate students in Ghana and the influential factors using a cross-sectional study and semi-structured questionnaire. The study population was full-time undergraduate students at the University of Ghana, Legon. The data was analyzed using descriptive statistics, logistic regressions, t-test and One-Way ANOVA. The results revealed that a strong majority of the respondents believe that climate change is real and largely human-induced, and they expressed concern about it. Yet, students lack basic knowledge and had some misconceptions about the causes and consequences of climate change. The overall knowledge score of the students on climate change was average (66.9%), although majority (92%) of the respondents claimed they had adequate (75–85%) knowledge of climate change. Our data also showed that respondents’ level of education, programme of study, ethnicity, religion and mother’s occupation had statistically significant association with their knowledge, perception and attitude on aspects of climate change. Our findings highlight knowledge gaps in climate change among undergraduate students in Ghana, underscoring the need to integrate climate change science into the education curricula at all levels of pre-tertiary schools and university for both the science and non-science programme.

Copyright: © 2023 Ofori et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

The present study therefore assessed undergraduate students’ understanding of climate change in Ghana using a cross-sectional study and de novo self-administered semi-structured paper questionnaire. Specifically, we evaluated undergraduate students’ (i) knowledge of climate change and its causes, and how they acquired such knowledge, (ii) their perception and attitude towards actions to mitigate and adapt to climate change and (iii) the respondents’ characteristics that influence their climate change knowledge, attitude and perception. Our findings can be taken into account when promoting climate change education by either including the issue in existing science courses or mounting new programme that focus primarily on climate change science at the pre-university and university levels of education.

Young people in high schools and university are being positioned as future leaders and will become key persons who can promote public discourse on climate change and help cultivate the ethical choices and lifestyle needed to minimize the carbon footprint within their local communities [ 36 , 37 ]. It is therefore imperative for them to have a better understanding of climate change. Further, since climate change education is an integral aspect in the sectoral and global approach to mitigating the negative impact of climate change, evaluating the knowledge and perceptions of climate change among university students can highlight the role higher academic institutions are playing to address the climate change challenge.

Developing countries, particularly those in sub-Sahara Africa, including Ghana, are projected to experience disproportionately higher adverse effects of climate change because they depend heavily on climate-sensitive economic processes such as agriculture and hydro-electric power, and also have limited resources to respond to these threats [ 31 ]. However, the environmental and economic policy agenda of these countries do not feature prominently issues related to climate change [ 32 ]. Additionally, there is scant information on climate change knowledge among the general public in sub-Sahara African countries, including Ghana [ 33 , 34 ]. A recent study revealed that climate change awareness levels in Africa are extremely low, with the proportion of people who have never heard about climate change reaching two-thirds of the adult populations in South Africa and Nigeria [ 35 ]. In Ghana, there remain huge gaps in the level of knowledge and awareness of the causes and effects of climate change among the general public [ 27 , 37 ].

People’s knowledge and perception of climate change can have far-reaching consequences for their behaviour towards its mitigation [ 20 , 21 ]. Knowledge has been defined as a highly valued state in which a person is in cognitive contact with reality [ 22 ], while perception is the process by which information or stimuli is received and transformed into psychological awareness to construct meaningful experiences of the environment and the world at large [ 23 ]. Climate change knowledge therefore is a person’s cognitive contact with the reality or facts about climate change, while climate change perception is how information about the subject is received and transformed into psychological awareness, i.e., how people view and assess climate change in all its facets [ 24 ]. The behaviour needed to mitigate the negative impacts of climate change may be strongly influenced by how individuals and communities perceive the risks and impacts of climate change [ 21 ]. Therefore, the accuracy of people’s climate change knowledge and perception is of paramount importance for societies to undergo the transformations needed to mitigate and/or adapt to climate change [ 25 , 26 ]. However, studies show that many people have limited knowledge, misconceptions, and misunderstanding about the causes and impacts of climate change [ 27 – 30 ].

There are two main strategies for addressing the climate change challenge, notably mitigation and adaptation [ 3 ]. Mitigation focuses on measures to reduce GHG concentrations of the atmosphere, while adaptation deals with reducing vulnerability to the impacts of climate change by adjusting social, economic and ecological systems [ 16 , 17 ]. Both mitigation and adaptation measures require political and ethical choices, technical innovations, and changes in people’s lifestyle [ 18 ]. Adaptation behaviour is of critical importance to reduce or avoid the negative impacts of climate change, and many studies have examined the factors that motivate individuals to adapt [ 19 ].

Climate change has already impacted and will continue to have negative consequences on all aspect of human life and wellbeing, including food and water supplies, energy production and use, human health, socio-economics, lifestyles, governance, political stability, international trade and migration [ 9 ]. Climate change has also had noticeable effects on many natural systems, including marine and terrestrial ecosystems, such as alterations in species the distribution, timing of seasonal biological events (phenology), community composition and biotic interactions as well as increases in invasion of alien species, pests and diseases [ 10 – 15 ]. The adverse impact of climate change on human health and wellbeing, biodiversity and ecosystems threatens the attainment of the UN Sustainable Development Goals [ 16 ].

Although climate change may be caused by natural events such as the Earth’s orbit, volcanic eruptions, meteoroids and asteroids reaching the Earth’s surface [ 4 , 5 ], accumulating evidence suggests that 21 st century climate change is caused by increased greenhouse gas concentrations in the Earth’s atmosphere due to human activities [ 6 ]. The main greenhouse gases (GHGs) are carbon dioxide (CO 2 ), methane (CH 4 ), nitrous oxide (N 2 O), hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), perfluorocarbons (PFCs) and sulfur hexafluoride (SF 6 ) [ 7 , 8 ]. The socio-economic drivers that increase the concentrations of GHGs in the atmosphere include household energy use, manufacturing, transportation, unsustainable consumption patterns and population growth [ 5 ].

Anthropogenic climate change is one of the major global environmental problems of the 21 st century. Climate Change has been defined as a change in the state of the climate that can be identified by changes in the mean and/or the variability of its properties (e.g., temperature, precipitation, humidity, incident radiation, isothermality, wind patterns), and that persists for an extended period, typically decades or longer [ 1 ]. The reality of anthropogenic climate change has been established ‘beyond reasonable doubt’ by leading scientists worldwide. The reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) indicate the increasing extent and impact of anthropogenic climate change at the planetary scale [ 2 , 3 ]. According to [ 3 ], the global mean surface air temperature of the Earth has increased from 0.3 to about 0.6°C over the past 100 years, and could increase from about 1.4 to 5.8°C over the next 100 years depending on the amounts of greenhouse gases emitted. The global sea level has risen by 1.8 mm annually, while the Arctic sea ice is retreating by 2.7% per decade since 1961 [ 3 ].

Data obtained from the study was entered into Microsoft Excel and then analyzed with Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS, Version 25) and R software. Frequencies with their percentages in Tables and Charts were used to represent descriptive statistics, while logistic regression, t-test and One-Way ANOVA at a confidence interval of 95% were used to determine the association between the respondents’ sociodemographic characteristics (independent variables) and their knowledge, perception and attitude towards climate change (dependent variables). Statistical significance was assumed when p ≤ 0.05.

The socio-demographic data were treated as the independent variables, whiles climate change knowledge, perception and attitude scores were considered as the dependent variables. A score of 1 was awarded to a correct (‘True’) answer, while a score of zero was awarded to incorrect (‘False’ or ‘Not Sure’) answer for the knowledge questions, giving a total score of 5 (100%). The respondents were said to have “very good-excellent” knowledge of climate change if they had a score of 90% and above, “adequate” knowledge of climate change if they scored from 75 to 89%, “average” knowledge of climate change if they scored 50 to 74% and “inadequate” or “poor” knowledge on climate change if they scored below 50%. For the perception, choosing ‘Agree’ gives a score of 1, while ‘Disagree’ and ‘Not sure’ attracted a score of 0, with a total score of 6 (100%). The respondents were said to have “very accurate” perception of climate change if they had a score of 90% and above, “accurate” perception of climate change if they scored from 75 to 89%, “fairly accurate” perception of climate change if they scored 50 to 74% and “in accurate” or “poor” perception of climate change if they scored below 50%. The maximum score for the attitude questions was 8 (100%) with a ‘Yes’ answer scoring 1 and a ‘No’ or ‘Not at all’ answer scoring 0. Again, the respondents were said to have “very good-excellent” attitude towards climate change if they had a score of 90% and above, “good” attitude towards climate change if they scored from 75 to 89%, “fairly good” attitude towards climate change if they scored 50 to 74% and “poor” attitude towards climate change if they scored below 50%.

Students within the inclusive criteria, i.e., 1 st , 2 nd , 3 rd and 4 th year undergraduates were sampled using the convenience sampling method. The questionnaires were administered to students who were present in the lecture theatre during one of their main core subjects. The questionnaires were self-administered by the students in English and were received after they had completed them. Assuming a 70% return rate, we gave out 824 copies of the paper questionnaires in order to achieve the minimum acceptable sample size of 577.

The sample size for this study was estimated using the online sample size calculator based on the Cochran formula. The population size of the undergraduate students at the time of the study (2019) was 15,167. Therefore, using a 95% confidence level, 4% precision and a worst case scenario of 50% of the respondents choosing the right answers, the minimum recommended sample size was estimated to be 577.

Section B had five questions to assess students’ basic knowledge on climate change, its causes and effects, as well as the sources from which they acquired the information. The questions asked in this section were basic facts about climate change that are unanimously agreed upon by IPCC and climate scientists globally. Section C evaluated the perception (which also mostly measured basic-, effects- and action-related-knowledge) of students about climate change using six questions. Finally, Section D, which had eight questions, evaluated students’ attitude towards climate change adaptation and mitigation. This section thus measured action-related knowledge of climate change and the respondents’ willingness to implement their action-related knowledge about climate change.

According to [ 56 , 57 ], climate change knowledge and perception are associated with socioeconomic status. In both developing and developed countries, people’s perception about their socioeconomic status positively correlates with their environmental concern [ 57 ]. Wealthier people tend to have a better knowledge and greater concern about issues related to the environment and climate change than poor people [ 56 ]. We used parents’ level of education and employment status as a proxy for their socio-economic status. Parents with tertiary education and employment in the formal sector were considered to have “high socio-economic status, while those with no formal education and were unemployed were considered to have “low socio-economic status”. Household size has also been shown to influence individuals and households action on climate change, with individuals from small household size more likely to have higher mitigation performance and perceived mitigation efforts on climate change [ 58 ].

We also asked respondents their level of study (1 st , 2 nd , 3 rd or 4 th year), programme of study (Science or Humanities), household size, and the occupation of their parents, i.e., whether their parents work in the informal sector, formal sector or unemployed/retirees. The level and programme of study can influence the knowledge and perception of undergraduate students in Ghana as shown in studies from other countries [ 52 , 53 ]. Generally, students pursuing science and environment related programme are more knowledgeable and have a better perception of climate change than those pursuing Humanities programme [ 52 , 53 ]. Also, the higher the level of education, the more knowledgeable and the better the perception of people about climate change [ 54 , 55 ]. Therefore, we expected undergraduate student who are in the science programme and those at highest level (i.e., level 400 students) to be more knowledgeable and have better perception and attitude toward climate change.

Ghanaians are very religious and the situational importance of religion in Ghana cannot be overlooked. The Ghanaian outlook on religion is holistic, touching all aspects of lives, including thinking, social life and economic and environmental events [ 50 ]. There are three main religions in Ghana, notably Christianity, Islam and Traditional religions. According to the 2010 government census, approximately 71% of the Ghanaian population are Christians, 18% are Muslims, 5% are Traditional believers and 6% belongs to other religious groups or has no religious beliefs. The belief in God or Supreme Being as the controller of all things, including health and wellbeing, socio-economic, political and environmental events and comforter at all times is strongly preached in all religions in Ghana [ 51 ]. Therefore, understanding the perception and attitude of Ghanaians towards environmental event such as climate change cannot be dissociated from religion.

Ethnic affiliation is an important independent variable that explains a wide range of behaviours and orientations [ 48 ]. In Ghana, ethnicity is diverse and is mainly based on language as people who speak the same or similar languages see themselves as on group [ 49 ]. Ghana has a high degree of linguistic heterogeneity, with over 100 languages and about 50 sub-groups that can be categorized into 10 major language groups, which are largely defined by geographic location [ 48 ]. For convenience, these ethnic groups are further grouped into 5 broad categories, notably Akan, Ewe, Ga-Adangbe, Mole-Dagbani and others. The Akans are the largest (45.7%) ethnic group, occupying the southern and middle parts of the country, followed by the Mole-Dagbani (18.5%), who occupy the northern part, the Ewes (12.8%), who predominate in the south-eastern quarter of Ghana and Ga-Dangme (7.1%), who occupy the southern coast of the country. The middle and southern areas are characterized by rain forests. Northern Ghana has only one raining season (May-September), while southern Ghana has two raining seasons (April-July, and September-November).

We asked respondents their gender, ethnicity and religion. Gender was a binary question of male or female. Studies in developed and developing countries show that climate change knowledge, perception and concerns vary between males and females, but the findings are largely inconclusive. While some studies found that men are more knowledgeable than women about climate change [ 43 , 44 ], other studies report that women exhibit greater knowledge and concern about climate change than men [ 45 – 47 ]. It was therefore important to know what the situation is concerning gender and climate change knowledge, attitude and perception in Ghana.

We employed a de novo self-administered semi-structured paper questionnaire ( S1 Text ) in this study. The questionnaire was initially piloted among 25 students to provide face validity and to detect any ambiguities. The final questionnaire, which underwent some few changes was then administered to the students. The questionnaire was divided into four sections to gather data on the sociodemographic characteristics and evaluate the basic, effects, action and source knowledge on climate change of the respondents. Section A was for the collection of data on the respondents’ socio-demographic characteristics (independent variables). Indeed, several socio-demographic factors including gender, age, level of education, program of study, ethnicity, religion, employment status, socioeconomic status, and political ideology have been shown to influence the accuracy of climate change knowledge and perception [ 38 – 42 ]. In this study, we considered gender, ethnicity, religion, level of education, programme of study, and socio-economic status as the independent variables and climate change knowledge, perception and attitude as the dependent variables.

The sample population consisted of 1st, 2nd, 3 rd , and 4th year regular undergraduate students at the University of Ghana, Legon main campus. This privileged group of individuals are likely to form the country’s future political, bureaucratic, financial and business elite.

We used a cross-sectional sampling design to investigate the climate change knowledge, perception and attitude of undergraduate student at the university of Ghana, Legon. The study was conducted between March and May 2019, at the University of Ghana, Legon main campus. The University of Ghana, Legon was established in 1948, and is the premier university in Ghana. It offers courses leading to diploma, undergraduate, and graduate degrees (MA. MPhil, PhD). The university is structured around a Colleges, Faculties, Institutes/Schools, Departments and Centre of research and learning. The university offers programme in Sciences and Humanities (Arts, Social Sciences, Law and Business). The undergraduate programme are typically for four years. Students enrolled at the university typically would have completed senior high school. Ghana’s educational system consist of seven years basic (primary) education, three years each of junior high and senior high school. Therefore, students enrolling in a tertiary school would have gone through 12 years of pre-tertiary education. At the senior high school, students choose their programme of study and the programme run include General Arts, General Science, Visual Arts, and Business. When they get to university, majority of students continue in their disciplines from the high school.

The ethics committee of the College of Basic and Applied Sciences, University of Ghana, Legon, granted ethical clearance for this study (ECBAS 047/17-18). Also, the consent of the participant was sought after clearly articulating the purpose of the research to them. The preamble on the questionnaire explained the purpose of the research and stated clearly that completing the questionnaire was indicative of respondents’ consent. To ensure confidentiality, the names and residential status of the respondents were not required.

Results

Self-confessed adequacy of knowledge on climate change The majority (93.5%) of the respondents claimed they had adequate knowledge about climate change and its causes, while only 6.5% said they were either unsure about their level of knowledge or had inadequate knowledge about climate change.

Students’ knowledge on climate change Emission of Greenhouse gases (GHGs) into the atmosphere being responsible for climate change (82.6%) and forests’ ability to reduce climate change by decreasing the amount of GHGs in the atmosphere (76.8%), were the top two best answered questions. Students were worst at knowing that carbon dioxide (CO 2 ), methane (CH 4 ), and nitrous oxide (N 2 O) are all greenhouse gases (43.9%). The overall knowledge score of the students on climate change was 3.44 out of 5.0 or (68.8%), which is “average” (Fig 3). PPT PowerPoint slide

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TIFF original image Download: Fig 3. Students’ knowledge on climate change issue. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pclm.0000215.g003

Association between socio-demographic characteristics and knowledge on climate change Male students both in the Science programme and Humanities programme, were more knowledgeable on matters related to climate change than their female counterparts, although the difference was not significant (Overall male: female = 3.51: 3.40, p = 0.64; Science students male: female = 3.67: 3.56, p = 0.41; Humanities students male: female = 3.34: 3.27, p = 0.63). Also, students from the Mole-Dagbani ethnic group showed the highest knowledge about climate change, but this was not statistically significant compared to the other ethnic groups (3.54 vrs 3.27–3.49). Students of the Christian faith scored higher than those of other faiths (3.45 vrs 2.00–3.28) and those from households with more than seven members (3.50 vrs 3.40–3.45) exhibited better knowledge of climate change, but the differences were not statistically significant. The highest educational qualifications of both parents showed no association with the student’s knowledge of climate change, but in both cases, students whose parents had tertiary level of education were more knowledgeable [Mother (3.56 vrs 3.34–3.38); Father (3.49 vrs 3.34–3.37)]. The programme and the level of study of the students had significant associations with their knowledge of climate change issues. Students studying Science-based courses recorded better scores than their Humanities counterparts (3.61 vrs 3.29; p = 0.001), whereas final year students obtained the highest scores (4.37 vrs 3.36–3.57; p = 0.005). Students whose mothers and fathers were employed in the formal sector were more knowledgeable than those whose parents were unemployed or employed in the informal sector, but the difference was not statistically significant (Table 1). Regarding students’ response to each of the questions posed to assess their knowledge on climate change, the logistic regression analysis showed that gender had no significant influence on their knowledge of aspects of climate change (S1 Table). Also, none of the independent variables considered in this study was significantly associated with the respondents’ knowledge of the definition of climate change (KQ1) and the role trees play in modulating local climate (KQ5). However, the respondents’ programme of study, ethnicity, level of study, and mother’s level of education had significant influence on their knowledge concerning aspects of climate change. For example, the odds ratio (OR) of science students compared to students in the Humanities programme, knowing that emissions of GHGs into the atmosphere is responsible for anthropogenic climate change (KQ2) was 2.91 and this was significant at p-value of 0.001 (n = 534). Students of the Mole-Dagbani ethnic group were more likely to know that emissions of GHGs into the atmosphere is responsible for anthropogenic climate change, compared to students from Ga-Adangbe ethnic group (n = 534, Log odds LO = 1.45, OR = 4.27, p = 0.001). Also, the odds ratio of Level 400 (final year) students compared to Level 100 (first year) and Level 200 (second year) students, knowing that carbon dioxide is the principal greenhouse gas (KQ3) were 1.59 and 1.56, respectively, and these were significant at p-value of 0.05 (n = 533). Moreover, students whose mothers had secondary (n = 532, LO = 0.7, OR = 2.14, p = 0.03) or tertiary education (n = 533, LO = 1.12, Odds ratio = 3.04, p = 0.01), were more likely to know the greenhouse gases (KQ4) than those whose mothers had no formal education or had only primary education (Table 2). PPT PowerPoint slide

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TIFF original image Download: Table 2. Association between the sociodemographic characteristics of the students and their knowledge of each of the climate change questions KQ1-KQ5 posed (n = sample size; SE = Standard error of Log odds). https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pclm.0000215.t002

Students’ perception about climate change The top two best perception about climate change exhibited by the students were about climate change being real (97.9%) and human activities being responsible for the 21st century climate change (96.6%). The least perceived issue related to climate change by the students is on how climate change can increase the incidence of food-borne and water borne diseases, such as diarrhoea (52.9%, Fig 4). The overall score for student’s perception about climate change (mean ± standard deviation) was 5.04 ± 0.996 out of 6.0, which is 85.2%. PPT PowerPoint slide

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TIFF original image Download: Fig 4. Students’ perception about climate change. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pclm.0000215.g004

Association between socio-demographic characteristics and students’ overall perception about climate change Overall, students with mothers (5.17 vrs 4.85–5.11, p > 0.05) in formal employment had a better perception of climate change than those with unemployed or informal sectors parents, but the differences were not statistically significant. Also, students whose fathers were unemployed had a better perception of climate change (5.33 vrs 5.05–5.16, p > 0.05) than those father were employed in the formal or informal sector, but the difference was not significant. Students of the Mole Dagbani ethnic group (5.32 vrs 5.02–5.12, p > 0.05) had the best perception of climate change among other ethnic groupings. Also, Christians (5.13 vrs 4.50–4.76, p > 0.05) were better than students of other faiths, but again, the difference was not statistically significant. The male students showed a better, but not significant perception of climate change than their female counterparts (5.12 vrs 5.11, p > 0.05). Our study revealed that students in science programme had significantly better perception about climate change than students in Humanities (5.28 vrs 4.97; p = 0.001). Also, final year students exhibited the best and statistically significant perception about climate change than those in their 1st, 2nd or 3rd year (5.63 vrs 4.95–5.17; p = 0.001). Students whose mothers attained tertiary level education had a better perception about climate change than those whose mothers had lower level or no education, but the difference was not significant (5.23 vrs 4.99–5.08; p > 0.05, Table 3). PPT PowerPoint slide

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TIFF original image Download: Table 3. Association between socio-demographic characteristics and students’ overall perception about climate change. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pclm.0000215.t003 The association between the socio-demographic characteristics of the respondents and their perception about aspects of climate change is shown in Table 4 and S2 Table. The respondents’ level of study, household size, fathers’ occupation and fathers’ level of education had no significant influence on their perception towards aspects of climate change (i.e., the individual questions asked). However, their mother’s occupation and level of education significantly influenced their perception on whether anthropogenic climate change is real (PQ1). Students whose mothers were employed in the informal sector (n = 535, Log odds (LO) = 3.77, Odds ratio (OR) = 43.64, p = 0.019) and had tertiary education (n = 535, LO = 3.95, OD = 52.09, p = 0.02), were more likely to accept that climate change is real than those whose mothers were unemployed and only had primary education or no formal education. Also, students whose mothers were employed in the informal sector (n = 535, LO = 3.39, OR = 29.78, p = 0.019) and had tertiary education (n = 535, LO = 2.32, OD = 10.18, p = 0.02), were more likely to accept that human activities are responsible for climate change (PQ2) than those whose mothers were unemployed and had primary education or no formal education. The odds ratio of students who share the Christian faith compared to those of Islam, accepting that human activities are responsible for climate change was 0.06, and this was statistically significant at p-value of 0.01 (Table 4). PPT PowerPoint slide

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TIFF original image Download: Table 4. Association between sociodemographic characteristics and students’ perception about each of the climate change questions, PQ1-PQ6 posed (n = sample size; SE = Standard error of Log odds). https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pclm.0000215.t004 Ethnicity influenced students’ perception on whether climate change will affect human health, food security and the environment (PQ3). The odds ratio of students of the Ga-Adangbe ethnic group compared to those of the Ewe ethnicity, believing that climate change will affect human health, food security and the environment was 0.22, and this was significant at p-value of 0.05. Also, the programme of study, ethnicity, and religion were strongly associated with students’ perception on whether climate change will increase the incidence of food- and water-borne diseases (PQ4). The odd ratio of students pursuing science programme compared to humanities students, in accepting that climate change will increase the incidence of food- and water-borne diseases was 2.02, which was significant at p-value of 0.001. Student of the Akan (n = 534, LO = 0.5, OD = 1.69, p = 0.041) and Mole-Dagbani (n = 534, LO = 1.10, OD = 3.01, p = 0.012) ethic groups were more likely to accept that climate change will increase the incidence of food- and water-borne diseases, and so were the students of the Christian faith compared to those of Islam (n = 534, LO = 1.43, OD = 0.24, p = 0.032). Students whose mothers had tertiary education were more likely to believe that climate change will increase the incidence of flooding, fire and drought (PQ5) than those whose mothers had primary education or no formal education (n = 534, LO = 1.27, OR = 3.59, p = 0.007). More so, respondents’ gender, religion and mother’s level of education was strongly associated with the perception that education can play a key role in mitigating the effects of climate change (PQ6). Males were more likely to agree that education can play a key role in mitigating the effects of climate change (n = 534, LO = 0.89, OR = 2.44, p = 0.011), and were students of the Christian faith (n = 534, LO = 3.45, OR = 0.028, p = 0.037) compared to those of other religion (excluding Islam and Traditional religion), and those whose mother had tertiary education (n = 534, LO = 1.46, OR = 4.29, p = 0.028) compared to students whose mother had no formal education or had primary education (Table 4).

Students’ attitude towards climate change issues The overall score of the students’ attitude towards climate change issues was 6.12 over 8 or 76.5%. Questions to which students had attitude scores of more than 80% were; willingness to plant trees in order to reduce the impact of climate change (92.4%), preparedness to learn a lot more about climate change (86.7%) and being happy to reduce energy use in order to decrease the impacts of climate change (82.6%). Areas with attitude scores of less than 70% include willingness to join any climate change advocacy group (69.7%), willingness to take a climate change course as a free elective (65.8%) and readiness to use public transport in order to reduce the impacts of climate change (63.4%, Fig 5). PPT PowerPoint slide

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TIFF original image Download: Fig 5. Attitude of students towards climate change issues. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pclm.0000215.g005

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