2010 UNU International course - optional course in global change and sustainability
United Nations University will organize the tenth regular session of its six-week UNU International Courses (UNU-IC) at UNU Centre in Tokyo, Japan, from 10 May through 18 June 2010. The UNU-IC programme is designed for postgraduate students and young professionals (with a college or university degree) in various occupations in Japan and abroad who wish to pursue careers in international fields in public-service or private organizations, including the United Nations, multinational corporations and non-governmental organizations as well as national foreign service organizations. The courses are designed to provide analyses of global issues from both theoretical and empirical perspectives.
The UNU International Courses are taught in a cooperative fashion by a team of scholars and practitioners comprising both in-house and outside experts. One of the unique features of the UNU-IC is that many of the practitioners come from United Nations organizations. Another important characteristic is the direct access to teaching faculty and the support provided to course participants by the UNU in-house academic staff who serve as academic counsellors. The UNU-IC also draw on the research projects undertaken at the UNU Centre in Tokyo and at various UNU Research and Training Centres and Programmes (RTC/Ps) located around the world. The courses, though advanced in nature, are open to graduate students and professionals in various occupations who are not necessarily specialists in the field.
The second week of the core course will be focus on climate change problems, with an emphasis on GHG emissions, natural disasters - lack of early warning, desertification and threats to bio-diversity, scarcity of natural resources and security implications. The course will propose solutions on policies of mitigation and policies of adaptation.
The optional course 2 - global change and sustainability - will dedicate six lectures on climate related hazards, three lectures on water management and one each on urban risk, earthquakes and flooding.