The issue of climate change in Venezuelan university journals: Systematic mapping

Abstract

The purpose of this article was to carry out a systematic mapping of the scientific literature on climate change published in Venezuelan university journals, following the postulates of Booth et al. (2016). The methodology was based on the combination of the steps for the literature review established by the Parsfifal tool with the criteria of the Prisma Declaration (Page et al., 2021). The units of analysis were made up of articles published in scientific journals of the Venezuelan Autonomous Universities between 2018 and 2023, related to the impacts and vulnerabilities of the country in the face of climate change. Of 56 records identified in the first phase of the search, 16 were selected, applying exclusion and quality criteria. After the data extraction obtained from Parsifal, it was found that the Venezuelan autonomous universities with the most publications on climate change are the Central University of Venezuela (UCV) and the University of the Andes (ULA). The magazines that have published the most articles on the subject of this work were Terra Nueva Etapa (UCV) and Agroalimentaria (ULA). Among the findings outlined in these documents in the national context, they project an average increase in temperature between 1.5 and 2° C and a reduction of 15 to 20% in precipitation in the middle of the 21st century, which will directly affect agriculture, increasing food insecurity by 17.8%. Natural and human systems will be affected. The Venezuelan economy could decrease by 16.2% after 2040. The international context, influenced by a more ambitious climate agenda aimed at reducing the use of fossil fuels, could in the medium term force the country to change its development style based on the oil industry.