Community led solutions for climate change

Climate change is the most pressing global issue of our time. How humans have historically lived, played, and dreamed is changing. The impact of climate change is felt in every issue facing humanity: health, finance, security, migration, water supply, sanitation, food security, agriculture, and gender to name several. Given the integration of climate into every facet of life, the way humans think and problem solve must change.

This course begins with a basic understanding of the scientific grounding of climate change including global warming, greenhouse gases and its consequences. The connection between climate change and community development will be discussed by exploring how climate change impacts our development efforts and the differential impacts it has across in various socio-economic variables including gender, age, and geographic location. Climate change solutions in relation to the sustainable development goals (SDGs) will also be covered. Approaches to climate change adaptation and mitigation solutions based on existing community assets and applying a resilience building approach will be introduced grounded in learning and sharing between facilitators and participants. The course will also provide an understanding some of the main international policy agreements and financial mechanism that are meant to combat climate change.

The course will use examples grounded in the experiences of practitioners and community members to explore:

• How the development efforts can be accelerated in environment friendly and sustainable ways;
• How to apply gender based and intersectional analysis to understand how climate change has disproportionate impacts various groups in society;
• Community-led resilience building strategies and frameworks; and
• How asset based approaches can contribute to community resilience building.

Learning Objectives

• Learn basic climate change science;
• Grow knowledge of international climate change policies via a comprehensive review;
• Examine how climate change impacts communities around the globe – with a particular focus on gender based and intersectional analysis;
• Obtain comprehensive understanding of adaptation and mitigation;
• Develop analytical skills to engage in climate change debates; and
• Develop understanding of climate change and confidence to be able to engage in meaningful action at the individual and community level.

Fees

Coady Institute ensures that participants working with marginalized communities around the world have access to its courses. This is made possible through the provision of bursaries that are funded by many individual and institutional donors. After bursary, the remaining cost of the program is $2,000 CAD. Accepted participants will be responsible for paying the balance of $2,000 CAD before the designated deadline. This includes room and board for the 2-week residency at Coady Institute on the campus of St. Francis Xavier University, Antigonish, Nova Scotia.

All travel related expenses including airfare and visa fees are the responsibility of the participant. Coady Institute will arrange and cover ground transportation costs between Halifax Stanfield International Airport and the Coady Institute.

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