By Serdar Dincel
ISTANBUL (AA) - Disinformation and a lack of awareness are the greatest challenges in tackling climate change, Associate Professor Suay Nilhan Acikalin said Thursday.
Speaking during a panel titled Rethinking the Consequences of Climate Change, which was organized by Türkiye's International News Agency Anadolu, Acikalin said their research showed that over 35% of the university student age group did not believe in climate change and noted that responsibility should be taken at both personal and social levels to overcome such problems.
She highlighted that in the COP meetings she attended, everyone talks about climate change targets, but the issue of how these targets or climate change directly affect individuals and social life is ignored.
Noting that there is a large amount of literature focusing on the social dimensions of climate change, but these studies do not have an interdisciplinary perspective, Acikalin said that climate change is a “phenomenon that needs to be addressed not only by one field of science, but it needs to be solved by a kind of consortium of both social sciences and natural sciences."
Klaus Jurgens, director of Economyfirst Limited London, said he has doubts about how sustainable the current way of life such as apartments, streets and parks is in terms of climate change.
Noting that there are “Slow Cities” and “Smart Cities,” Jurgens said he borrowed the concept of Smart Cities from Sweden.
He said he discovered the concept of Slow Cities in Seferihisar in Türkiye's Izmir province, stressing that it is an "amazing" place.
"What I like about it are two dimensions. First of all, the public is involved. The public is convinced. And the public benefits. Now, what do they benefit from? A higher quality of life," he added.
Tugba Evrim Maden, policy development coordinator at the Turkish Water Institute (SUEN), said that climate change has a significant impact on global water resources by affecting their availability, quality and distribution.
Maden said climate change has led to changes in all stages of the hydrological cycle on both global and regional scales, causing more severe weather events.
Emphasizing that glaciers contain approximately 67% of the world's fresh water potential, she added: "Every melting glacier means a loss for us. And therefore, nature conservation tools used locally to restrict human activities in this size are powerless to limit the consequences of climate change."
Noting that March 22 is celebrated as World Water Day every year, Maden underlined that this year's theme is protecting glaciers, adding this is crucial for freshwater resources.
Rising sea levels are not only a survival issue for island countries and island cities, they also affect freshwater resources, she underscored.
A multi-authored book titled Social Consequences of Climate Change aims to offer a new perspective to readers by addressing climate change not only as a scientific phenomenon but also with its social and cultural dimensions.
Edited by Professor Sefika Sule Ercetin and Suay Nilhan Acikalin, the book is co-authored by Anadolu's Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Serdar Karagoz.
In the book, Karagoz examines how climate journalism has undergone a transformation around the world and how progress has been made in this field in Türkiye and discusses in detail how the Anadolu-led Greenline Project has contributed to the understanding of sustainable journalism in Türkiye.
The book reveals that the climate crisis is not only an environmental problem but has profound impacts on many areas, from economic inequalities to social instability.
27 Feb 2025 Thu 17:2