Abstract

TOULKERIDIS, Theofilos et al. Climate Change according to Ecuadorian academics–Perceptions versus facts. La Granja [online]. 2020, vol.31, n.1, pp.21-46. ISSN 1390-8596.  https://doi.org/10.17163/lgr.n31.2020.02.

Climate change has become one of the main issues in the countries´ agendas. The current effects demand effective climate actions which were set out in the Paris Agreement with the global goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions. However, the main changes to face and mitigate climate change depend on each country´s decisions and not only on global agreements as the impacts and its magnitudes vary locally. One of the key components for an effective adaption and mitigation is the role that the behavior of the population may have over national politics and subsequent decisions. For this reason, the level of awareness and knowledge about climate change is vital. The objective of the current study was to compare the perception of Ecuadorian academics regarding global and national climate change with the scientific evidence and historical facts, and how it may affect their vulnerability to the climate change effects. The results show that Ecuadorian academics are well aware of globally known facts of climate change such as existence, gravity and responsibility of humans. However, there is limited awareness about the origin, since 67.2 % believe that this is the first climate change in human history. The main effects of climate change in Ecuador exhibit heterogeneous perceptions, with the more frequent droughts (34.36%) and rarer but more intense rains (21.41%) as their greater concerns. Regarding the regions more affected in Ecuador, highlands and Inter-Andean valleys sum up 45.6% while Galapagos only reaches 1.6% despite being an ecological flagship with high climate vulnerability. It seems that respondents lack of knowledge about the situation in other regions, and believe that their own environment is more impacted.

Keywords : Climate change; global warming; vulnerability; disasters; ecosystems; paleoclimatology.

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