Citizen participation as a key enabler for successful public education policies in climate change mitigation in Singapore. Issue 1 (2nd January 2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Wi, Andy
• Is Part Of: International research in geographical and environmental education. Volume 28:Issue 1(2019)
• Page Start: 53
• Page End: 69
• Publication Date: 2019-01-02
• Subjects: Grassroots organisations -- top-down approach -- bottom-up approach -- climate change education policy -- climate change -- Singapore; Environmental education -- Periodicals; Geography -- Study and teaching -- Periodicals; 333.707
• DOI: 10.1080/10382046.2018.1430789
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1038-2046

Abstract

ABSTRACT: A good climate change education policy should focus not only on education but encourage the participation of both the citizens and the government. The author interviewed policy makers, grassroots leaders and the citizens and found that this interaction between the government (top-down) and the citizens (bottom-up) is sorely missing, which results in a disjoint between what the government wants citizens to know and what the citizens actually know. Without this interaction, climate change education policy will not be successful. The proposed Grassroots Approach (GRA) framework that emerged from the qualitative inquiry describes how climate change education policy can be implemented in the context of societies like Singapore through an integration of the top-down and bottom-up approaches. The 6 stages of the GRA enable policy to be formulated, to provide information to the public, to obtain consultation, to encourage involvement, to garner feedback and to seek advisory, with regards to climate change. The findings not only show an update in its current policy but also an indication of the adoption of GRA in implementing new campaigns and initiatives.