Climate change impacts are changing patterns of human mobility worldwide and researchers and policy makers are increasingly aware of this connection. However, the relationship between the impacts of climate change and human mobility is complex.
A new, freely available self-paced e-learning course, jointly developed by UNU-EHS, UNU-VIE and the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH, will provide learners with a profound understanding of human mobility in the context of climate change.
In this interactive self-paced course, policy makers, development professionals, researchers and students will learn how climate change influences human mobility. By introducing key concepts like climate related migration, disaster displacement, planned relocation and trapped populations, this training will build capacities needed to consider human mobility in the context of climate change (HMCCC) in your respective field of work. The training showcases diverse examples from different countries on the phenomena of HMCCC as well as options how to manage it.
Who is this course for?
This course is designed for policy makers and staff of government institutions as well as professionals within the field of development. Researchers, students, and anyone interested in learning more about how climate change impacts human mobility are invited to take the course as well.
What will you learn?
By the end of the course, you will be able to:
- Apply key concepts of HMCCC and relevant definitions.
- Distinguish different types of human mobility in the context of climate change, especially migration, displacement, planned relocation and immobility, and explain their characteristics and challenges.
- Explain how climate change influences human mobility in tandem with other contextual factors and the promise and limitations of data and projections on HMCCC.
- Understand how migration can be applied as a strategy to adapt to negative impacts of climate change.
- Understand the interplay between HMCCC and urban environments
- Identify policy options and response strategies for the different forms of HMCCC.
- Understand how gender and age influence human mobility and how human mobility influences gender patterns and roles and affect children and youth specifically.
- Describe the linkages between climate change, conflict and mobility.
- Understand how HMCCC can manifest through an in-depth case study of Madagascar.
The learning outcomes can benefit your professional work as you will be able to:
- Understand the concept of HMCCC and its relevance to your own work; this requires contextualising of data and the application of definitions and terms in order to analyse the topic on a professional level.
- Integrate relevant elements of the course in political and strategic documents in order to reflect HMCCC in policies on migration, disaster risk management, climate change and other related fields.
- Translate different perspectives and cross-sectoral linkages of HMCCC into the sector you are working in.
- Integrate international and regional frameworks and actors, which are relevant to developments in your own country, into your respective work.
- Develop specific activities and instruments for implementation of HMCCC in your own context.
How much time will you need?
In general, you can take the course following your own pace. We estimate it will take around 10 hours in total to complete the whole course. However, depending on your preference you might need more time to study the additional sources and information provided. Furthermore, the course aims to raise questions which you may discuss with your colleagues. The modules are designed to be stand-alone learning experiences. While they are sequential, they are also self-contained and can be completed independently.
Which topics are covered?
The course consists of 12 thematic modules. The modules are designed to be stand-alone learning experiences. While they are sequential, they are self-contained and can be completed independently.
- Module 1: Introduction to Human Mobility in the Context of Climate Change
- Module 2: Measuring and projecting HMCCC
- Module 3: Migration
- Module 4: Displacement
- Module 5: Planned Relocation
- Module 6: Trapped Populations and Immobility
- Module 7: Gender Dynamics
- Module 8: Children’s Rights
- Module 9: Cities
- Module 10: Peace, Conflict and Security
- Module 11: International Frameworks
- Module 12: Madagascar
Will I get a certificate?
Yes, upon completion of the entire course and passing of a final test, a PDF course certificate and an Open Badge are attained.
