Climate change and development course

Climate change has profound implications for developing countries, and increasingly professionals working in or for developing countries are being asked to integrate climate change management issues into planning, projects and policy. National governments also are increasingly engaged in official communications to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and other initiatives, which require assessment of vulnerability and adaptive capacity.

The purpose of this short course is to equip non-specialists with a broad understanding of what climate change may mean for low-income populations and what the scope and prospects are for adapting to change in the context of development issues and poverty reduction. The course does not set out to provide a practical ‘toolkit’ guide for policy and practice. Instead it is designed to equip participants with a deeper awareness of the ideas, opportunities and trade-offs represented by adaptation and mitigation: an understanding that is increasingly needed if we are to achieve effective action on climate change. Drawing on staff from some of the world’s leading research institutes on climate change and development (including the School of International Development at the University of East Anglia and UK’s Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research), participants will gain a state-of-the-art knowledge and have the opportunity to develop their analytical skills in this field.

To ensure participants have a full grounding in climate change issues the course incorporates expert sessions on climate science, climate change mitigation and international mechanisms/negotiations relating to climate change. Key emphasis is then placed on vulnerability and adaptation in the context of poverty reduction – exploring what climate change implies in terms of impacts and vulnerability in developing countries, and how to go about building resilience and adaptive capacity at all scales.