This course has been designed to help professionals working across multiple disciplines bring a climate change adaptation lens to their current and future projects. 

This course has been designed to help professionals working across multiple disciplines bring a climate change adaptation lens to their current and future projects.

It’s structured in four modules, that cover:

-what the current climate change situation is, including the latest science on climate trends and scenarios;
-why climate change matters to professionals and planners, in terms of risk and impact;
-what we can do about it, through examples and methods of adaptation, and;
-how to bring adaptation tools, data and processes into your work, with a practice project.

At the end of the course, participants will understand basic climate change science, scenarios, and projected impacts and risks in British Columbia, and be able to identify data and tools required to plan an adaptation project.

This challenge will increase your students’ familiarity with action items to reduce their carbon footprint. Students will have an opportunity to integrate youth-friendly action items to their lifestyles, and engage in friendly competition and/or a cooperative challenge. Planning and carrying out action plans helps students diminish stressors in relation to climate change. It provides them tools they can use immediately to contribute to solutions. Grades 8-12

This online course will introduce various climatic and ecological modelling tools and guide the students to practical applications of scale-free climate models and niche-based ecological models in forest and ecological (such as birds, fish and animals) resource management to increase the resilience and viability of forest ecosystems. By the end of the course, students will master skills and techniques to, 1) use climatic models to generate spatial climate data; 2) understand niche-based ecological models; and 3) interpret and apply model output to forest management practice.

The course is designed for forest professionals who are interested in professional forestry and forest adaptation to climate change.

How often have you heard in the past five years the expression “I have never seen a ….fire/flood/drought/rainstorm/insect infestation/sea level rise…of this magnitude, ever.”? The world’s climate is out of balance, and in this state, is driving ecosystem changes that few of us have seen in our lifetimes. What is the scale of these changes now and into the future? How will this affect the way you work and live? How can we adapt? The practice of ecological restoration can point the way to positive actions at the ground level.

This online learning session will bring into focus the practice of restoration of ecosystems at the local and regional level in British Columbia through a series of presentations delivered by faculty from UVic’s School of Environmental Studies, First Nations speakers and Elders, and professionals whose work intersects with ecology in diverse ways. We start by rooting our introduction in Indigenous perspectives on how the local ecosystems are changing. We discuss basic principles and practices of ecological restoration on the ground. We then explore the complexity of British Columbia’s biodiversity, basic drivers of change in ecosystems, and the challenges they present in different types of ecosystems. We look at how climate change models help us understand what the future scale of change might be, and we finish up by discussing how ecological restoration principles can apply to different disciplines.

This course introduces participants to the financial risks and impacts associated with climate change. Participants will explore a range of risk pathways that link climate and economic systems, including:

• physical risks related to direct exposure to climate hazards in the value chain;
• transition risks arising from abrupt transitions to a low-carbon economy;
• systemic risks transmitted throughout the economy;
• extreme risks arising from the complex dynamic nature of climate-economy systems.

Drawing upon the food security literature and current events in the media, this survey course will encourage learners to build a new understanding of food security, water shortages in agricultural production, and climate change challenges in agriculture. We will introduce policy tools and case studies illustrating the effects that climate change has on agriculture which will be useful and applicable to individual cross-disciplinary learning.

Green infrastructure and related nature-based solutions are gaining widespread support as effective components of healthy city building as well as climate adaptation strategies. The course provides an overview of how GI systems work, the ecosystem services they can provide, and how they can be employed effectively.

This course invites learners into deeper thinking, reflection and content pertaining to Indigenous perspectives in climate adaptation and mitigation. Ultimately, this course provides a space for you to consider how and where Indigenous leadership can not only restore better-practice across social and political landscapes, but also heal relationships with our shared planet for future generations to come.

This course will inform participants about climate adaptation policy in Canada and BC. It will allow them to consider how climate policy from international to local levels informs their professional functions and day to day activities on the job. It will cover, among other things, the basics of environmental policy, differences between climate mitigation and climate adaptation policy, overviews of key policy actors and tools, and policy gaps. It will also consider, in detail, examples of current policy-driven climate adaptation measures in specific areas from engineering to agriculture to hydrology and beyond.

The course format involves short video lectures, interviews with national to local experts, discussions and activities, resources and readings to respond to, and a final capstone activity.

This is the second module of the Open Tutorial NaijaCLIMATE.At the end of this tutorial, participants will be able to:1. Describe strategies and solutions for adapting to and mitigating the effectsof climate change in Nigeria, using both local and global best practicesand approaches applicable to Nigerians.2. Identify how they can take the first action to adapt to the climate crises inNigeria, based on relevant examples or activities in their context (includingactivism, climate action enterprises and businesses or communicatingabout the climate crises).

This course consists of 4 modules and is designed  to help government, professionals in multiple disciplines and community organizations understand the fast-emerging field of natural asset management.

This course is designed to help local government staff, professionals in multiple disciplines who work with them, and people involved with community organizations, understand the fast-emerging field of natural asset management.

At the end of the course, participants will understand:

- What natural asset management is, why it matters, and what conditions enable or hinder it
- How natural asset management is relevant in your own disciplines or community contexts
- What you may be able to do differently as a result of knowing more about natural asset management
- Where you can get additional information on natural asset management

Interactive maps, science, historical context, and stories to help us all envision a range of climate futures.

Adapting to a changing climate will involve governments, businesses, societies and other organizations with diverse perspectives, mandates and capacities. Project managers, through their effective direction of complex projects, occupy a critical role and must ensure that their projects consider the implications of a changing climate. This course will help you recognize climate change factors that could affect successful outcomes for your project and formulate strategies you can use to address them.  You can expect to leave this course better prepared to add a climate change lens to your project planning.

Climate change is one of the biggest risks facing governments, businesses, societies and ecosystems around the world. Project managers, through their effective direction of complex projects, occupy a critical role in the successful transition to a resilient, low carbon world. This course is designed to prepare professionals with project management responsibilities to add a climate change lens to their projects.

The course is suitable for individuals in management roles and above who have significant project management responsibilities. “Projects” could include examples as diverse as infrastructure development, deployment of new technology, ecosystem restoration, or public engagement campaign, for example. The course will attract a diversity of professionals who enjoy multidisciplinary learning environments. Familiarity with general climate change issues and science is recommended.

This course will provide you with skills to overcome barriers to action, mobilize knowledge and data effectively, and work across silos in genuine interdisciplinary and collaborative practice. You’ll learn how to lead or participate in community engagement, without triggering fear and overwhelming others; practise critical self-awareness and self-reflection; and consider equity-based and decolonizing approaches.

This course is designed for professionals looking to advance the intersecting work of climate action and adaptation, including planners, engineers, elected officials and community leaders. You will leave with practical and relevant skills to lead, accelerate and participate in the essential work of climate adaptation in your organization and community.

LEARNING OUTCOMES
By the end of the course, you will be able to do the following:

• Describe the dynamics of collaborative, team-based planning processes
• Apply key concepts in climate communications and knowledge mobilization
• Engage in meaningful dialogue with internal and external stakeholders
• Develop adaptive and responsive strategies for working in complex systems
• Analyze and overcome internal and external barriers to climate adaptation