Fostering Sustainability: Climate Change Education Interventions at University of Dar es Salaam

It is now clear to almost everyone that climate change poses a big threat to humanity. The phenomenon has caused havoc almost in all spheres of life. The cost of mitigation and adaptation is rather high and therefore a call for urgent action by everyone to intervene in whichever way they can. The education sector especially higher education has been highlighted as a key actor in dealing with the challenge through its training, research, and community engagement functions. This chapter explores the various climate change and sustainability education programmes at University of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania. The university has over the years enriched the climate change and sustainability interventions through designing and implementing various short courses, undergraduate and postgraduate programmes, annual climate change festivals, community-based research on climate change science, mitigation and adaptation and engaging local government officials and policy makers to influence decision making. Universities will need to strategically embed issues of climate change and sustainability in their institutional strategies and policies to ensure all staff and students appreciate and come up with interventions. They also need to support the faculty and administrators in developing and implementing interventions at campus and in classrooms aimed at addressing climate change and sustainability. Lastly, universities need to innovatively support practices at campuses that contribute to the reduction of the climate footprint and promotion of sustainability.