Climate change least priority for Arab youth

Manama : Global climate change and environmental issues are of least priority to Arab youth, while the rise of Islamic State is the top concern for them, according to a survey. 

The findings released yesterday were part of Arab Youth Survey 2016 by ASDA’A Burson-Marsteller. A number of countries in the MENA region including the GCC nations participated in the survey.

A total of 27 key issues were raised in the survey, and “climate change and the environment” was placed at 26th slot while “personal debt” was placed at the bottom.

“Just 54 per cent of young Arabs cited ‘climate change and the environment’ of being any concern, compared to 77pc of respondents voting for ‘the rise of Daesh’ (an Arabic acronym for ISIS),” ASDA’A Burson-Marsteller said. 

The survey shows a marked geographic variation over the level of concern: in the GCC, for example, 51pc of young Arabs said they were not concerned about the environment and climate change. 

However, in North Africa, youth appear to be more engaged on the issue, as 65pc of young people there expressed concern over the issue. In the COP22 host country, 70pc of young Moroccans said climate change was a cause for concern, the statement said. 

“Arab youth are also ambivalent about their leaderships’ ability to tackle climate change. When asked how confident they were in their national government’s ability to deal with climate change, the percentage of young people in the GCC who expressed belief in their country’s leadership was very high, at 78pc, against 50pc for all Arabs, and just 36pc for young Arabs in North Africa and 29pc for youth in the Levant region,” it stated.

“It is clearly worrying that young Arabs put such a low priority on climate change – something that has the potential to have a major impact on the Arab world. From the Sahara encroaching on farmland in North Africa; this year’s heatwave in Iraq and the huge carbon footprints of GCC states, climate change and threats to the environment pose a very real danger to the region’s future,” said Sunil John, Founder-CEO of ASDA’A Burson-Marsteller.