Free of charge, the Introductory Online Course on Climate Change is available on the UN CC:Learn platform, which has more than 90 thousand people enrolled on all continents.
The UN, through UNESCO and the United Nations Training Agency (Unitar), launched the Portuguese version of the Introductory Online Course on Climate Change this Tuesday (15), in São Paulo. The course is part of the UN CC: Learn platform, the organization's largest education initiative on climate change. The Brazilian Business Council for Sustainable Development (CEBDS) is a partner in the program and will provide publications on the topic to be used in the course.
The president of CEBDS, Marina Grossi, highlighted the importance of projects that contribute to the sharing of knowledge. “Initiatives like this one from UNITAR expand access and sharing of intelligence on sustainable development. This is fundamental at this time of transition to a low-carbon economy. To transform a society, you must first transform people, which is only possible through knowledge. CEBDS is proud to be a partner in this initiative and we hope that our publications will be useful in the courses offered by the platform”, he stated.
The course on climate change is free, can be taken according to the user's availability, and offers clear, concise and up-to-date information for those who want to know more about the subject. More than 10 thousand people, from various continents, have already taken the course, which is available in five languages. O syllabus and the course can be accessed through the link www.unccelearn.org .
The course in Portuguese is the result of a partnership between the Brazilian government, the UNESCO in Brazil and UN CC:Learn, a project that involves more than 35 United Nations agencies and offers courses online on climate change to meet the demand for experts on the subject.
“The course is a great resource and we are very happy to be able to promote its dissemination in society”, said Renata Maranhão, director of the Department of Environmental Education at the Ministry of the Environment (MMA). “As Brazil moves forward, there will be many challenges related to climate change and, therefore, training is necessary to prepare society for the future”, pointed out Felipe Felisbino, general coordinator of Environmental Education at the Ministry of Education (MEC).
“Education is transversal and essential for achieving all Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Climate change, the topic of one of the SDGs, is very important and its processes must be understood so that we can deal with the issue. The course online of climate change, translated into Portuguese by UNESCO in Brazil, is an excellent tool that will contribute to the search for a more sustainable way of living”, said Marlova Jovchelovitch Noleto, UNESCO Representative in Brazil. Those who complete the course receive a certificate issued by UNITE, and the translation of the course into Portuguese makes it possible to disseminate it in Portuguese-speaking countries.
Angus Mackay, representative of the Secretariat of the UN CC:Learn Program, adds: “we hope that this course in Portuguese will contribute to a better quality of knowledge about climate change in Portuguese-speaking countries and to the training of qualified professionals who work to overcome the challenges posed by climate change. The UN CC:Learn Program, in partnership with the UNESCO office in Brazil, will also make other courses on the platform available in Portuguese.”
Several organizations are committing to using the UN CC:Learn platform to train their employees and interested agents. Oskar Metsavaht, founder and creative director of Osklen, president of Institute-E and UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador, supports the program: “for us, at Osklen and Institute-E, climate change is on the agenda, just look the extremes we have seen around the world. Therefore, we encourage all our employees to follow this course online. Through this partnership, everyone who works with us will be able to see how climate change is already part of our daily lives. It is a fundamental tool for understanding what our tomorrow will be like and how each of us can act to make it more promising. On the other hand, this action reaffirms our commitment to sustainability, which has always been present in our trajectory.”
About UN CC:Learn
The UN CC:Learn program is a partnership of more than 30 multilateral organizations that supports countries in the development and implementation of their strategies to combat climate change in a systemic, recurring and results-based manner. At a global level, the partnership supports the sharing of knowledge, promotes the creation of content on climate change, and coordinates pedagogical activities in collaboration with different United Nations agencies and local partners in the countries where it operates. At the national level, the program supports countries in formulating and implementing national climate change learning strategies. Acting at a global and local level, the UN CC:Learn Program specifically contributes to Article 6 of the United Nations Convention on Climate Change, which talks about training, education and greater capillarity of knowledge, as well as to the Work Program 2012-2020 signed in Doha. The UN CC:Learn program is funded by the Swiss government and UN partners. The UN CC:Learn Secretariat is led by the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR). For more information about UN CC:Learn visit http://www.uncclearn.org/ and watch the video here.
About UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) is a UN agency created to work for a culture of peace among people, through actions in education, science, culture and communication. The Organization is convinced that its areas of mandate have the power to promote a more just, inclusive, humane and sustainable world for all. In Brazil, UNESCO works through cooperation projects to improve the quality of education, eradicate poverty, promote respect for human rights, provide access to culture and guarantee fundamental rights. In the area of Education for Sustainable Development, UNESCO provides quality teaching content for different audiences, including teachers, managers, young people, children and professionals from different areas who incorporate sustainability into their daily lives. For more information about UNESCO in Brazil, visit http://www.unesco.org/brasilia
