Postgraduate Courses on Building Resilience to Climate Change (UNU-ISP)

You can apply to the Postgraduate Courses on Building Resilience to Climate Change online or by downloading and completing an application form. All application documents should be submitted in English. Incomplete applications will not be considered.

Online Application

If you would like to apply online, please follow the link below. You will need to create a user account to submit your applications.

Apply Online

Document Application

If you would like to apply by mail or email, you should submit the following documents:

1. A completed Application with photo and signature;
2. Proof of enrolment in a master’s or PhD degree programme for those currently undertaking a degree programme;
3. Original transcripts of academic records at the college or university level, or certified copies of original transcripts (these will not be returned to the applicant, so please do not include original certificates of diplomas or degrees);
4. A detailed proposal of your research topic, and explain how it could link with your current university thesis topic to that of climate change;
5. TOEFL scores or equivalent proof of English-language proficiency for non-native speakers or those who do not have an academic degree in an English-speaking country; and
6. Minimum two references; one from the student’s supervisor and one from another faculty member.

Application Deadline

The application deadline is 15 June 2013.
Applications received after the deadline or incomplete applications will not be considered, and UNU-ISP will not be responsible for any postal delay or loss.

Please visit UNU-ISP page for more details.

English Language Requirements

Excellent written and verbal English language skills are required. Applicants whose first language is not English and whose bachelor’s degree is not from an institution at which English is the language of instruction must submit proof of English language proficiency within the past 2 years. The minimum score requirements for TOEFL or IELTS are listed below:

• 600 TOEFL paper-based
• 100 TOEFL internet-based
• 7.0 IELTS academic version

Exemptions:

The following applicants are exempt from submitting a score sheet:

1. Applicants whose first language is English.
2. Those who graduated from a university or a graduate school located in a country where English is the first language.
3. Those who completed an undergraduate or graduate degree programme taught in English. In this case, please submit a certificate showing that the programme you attended was taught in English.
4. Applicants who submit proof by any other means that have proficiency in English equivalent to that described in item 2) or 3).
5. Mandatory Medical Form (Applicants are required to download the form and have it certified by a registered medical practitioner.)

Tuition Fees

USD 2,000 (or JPY 200,000) for both courses

Fellowships

A very limited number of partial fellowships will be available for applicants from developing countries who are applying for two courses. The applicants should be residing in a developing country. These fellowships will be awarded on the basis of academic merit and financial need. If you are applying for a UNU fellowship, please complete the UNU Fellowship Application Form portion under the Application Form (please note that the fellowships are available only for applicants from developing countries). Please note that the tuition fee for courses is not covered by the fellowship grant.
Type of fellowship:

• Partial fellowship (covers EITHER accommodation or travel (international)

Please visit UNU-ISP page for more details.

Course I (2 credits)

Science, Impacts and Vulnerability

1. Introduction to the Programme

• Welcome and introductions
• Programme overview and philosophy
• Context of the UNFCCC and IPCC
• Structure, expectations and assessment
• Group allocation and discussion of major research project

2. Weather, Climate and Atmospheric Processes

• Fundamental concepts
• Weather and climate mechanisms
• Structure and composition of the atmosphere
• General circulation of the atmosphere

3. Climate Change (UNFCCC, WMO)

• Introduction to climate change
• Greenhouse gases and aerosols
• Carbon cycle
• Fundamental principles of climate change
• The oceans and climate change
• Climate variability and change

4. Observed Climate Change and Impacts

• Observation networks
• Overview of climate change responses
• Global and regional scale responses
• Extreme events
• Consequences of observed changes and extreme events

5. Scenarios for Future Impact Assessments

• Introduction to scenario principles
• IPCC Special Report on Emissions Scenarios (SRES)
• Introduction to Global Climate Models (GCMs)
• GCM projections for impact assessments
• Introduction to Regional Climate Models (RCMs)
• RCM projections for regional and local impact assessments
• Next-generation IPCC scenarios (5th Assessment Report)

6. Climate Projections & Uncertainty

• Major sources of uncertainty in climate change projections
• Concepts and practical examples: evaluating, quantifying and reducing uncertainty in climate projections
• Issue of uncertainty in the wider context of natural variability

7. Selecting Appropriate Future Climate Predictions

• Differences in model predictions
• Multi-model ensembles
• Bias correction
• Weather generators from climate forecasts

8. Climate Change Impacts: Ecosystems

• Concept of ecosystems services
• Social, ecological and economic impacts of climate change and their interactions
• Payment for ecosystem services and biodiversity

9. Climate Change Impacts: Water Sector

• Climate change impacts on the water cycle
• Flood discharge modification from climate change
• Cost-benefit analysis of flood risk reduction measures
• Conventional flood-control design and its alteration due to climate change

10. Climate Change Impacts: Food Security

• Climate change impacts on food production
• Quantifying food production changes due to weather changes
• Adaptation measures for climate change impacts on food production
• Cost-benefit analysis of adaptation measures

11. Climate Change Impacts: Extreme Events

• Extreme events
• Catastrophic disasters
• Climate change modifications to extreme events and challenges
• Reducing extreme even losses through adaptive practices

12. Assessing Climate Change Impacts: National and Regional Scales

• Macro modelling of regional climate change impacts
• Integrated models for climate change impact assessment
• Assessing adaptation costs at national and regional scales

Course II (2 credits)

Approaches to Adaptation
1. Basic Understanding of Key Concepts

• Welcome and introductions
• Programme overview and philosophy
• Context of the UNFCCC and IPCC
• Structure, expectations and assessment
• Group allocation and discussion of major research project

2.  Global and National Challenges

• Security issues
• Capacity and awareness issues
• Policy processes and challenges
• Problems at national and local levels
• Local institutions
• Local-level climate change adaptation

3.  Mitigation and Adaptation Practices and Resilience (Urban Areas)

• Introduction: drivers of urban growth
• Framing the problem in urban areas: social, cultural and economic aspects
• Mitigation and adaptation options
• Key constraints and measures
• Case studies

4.  Mitigation and Adaptation Practices and Resilience  (Rural Areas)

• Introduction
• Mitigation options: engineering (hard) vs. ecological (soft) approaches, and socio-economic approaches
• Adaptation options in various sectors
• Adaptation strategies and re-adjustments
• Local wisdom and indigenous technologies
• Case studies

5. Adaptation in Practice (International Donors Context): Flood Disaster Risk Management

• Introduction
• What is happening in Japan
• Flood risk management under a changing climate
• Case studies

6. Adaptation in Practice: National Target Programme Development

• Climate change observations
• Greenhouse gas emission scenarios
• Methods used for scenario development (GCM, dynamic downscaling, statistical downscaling, others)
• Climate change scenarios and impact assessments
• Institutional, budgetary and implementation challenges

7. Community Adaptation

• Climate Vulnerability and Capacity Analysis (CVCA)
• CVCA process and analysis
• Participatory tools
• Policy analysis

8. Community Engagement Practices

• Steps in the adaptation process
• Methodologies and principles of engaging communities
• Participatory policy-making
• Individual and collective participation and responsibilities
• The ‘Yomenkaigi’ method for achieving consensus and strategic programmes for public participation

9.  Economics of Climate Change: Cost and Benefits Analysis

• Basic economic principles
• Putting a price on carbon
• Uncertainties and assumptions
• Market-based solutions: carbon markets (ETS) and carbon taxes

10. Economic Assessment of Climate Change Impacts and Adaptation Measures

• Climate change parameters and potentially vulnerable system assets (flood and food production)
• Integrated assessment of economic costs of climate change impacts and adaptation policies
• Introduction to economic models used for assessing the impacts of climate change: e.g. Stern Review, AIM
• Critical review of the framework, assumptions and value judgments of economic models

11. Global and National Policies on Financing Adaptation Strategies

• International adaptation policy framework and financing
• Role and impact of the Global Environment Facility
• Assessment of past and existing adaptation projects
• Co-benefits of adaptation and development
• Mainstreaming adaptation into development planning

Applied Training

Remote Sensing (RS) and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) for environmental problem-solving

This training provides a basic understanding of the theory and application of use of RS and GIS as  tools for environmental problem-solving. Through practical hands-on experience with current environmental issues, students can obtain basic skills in spatial analysis and webmapping application development. GIS software will be used in this training.

Administrative Coordinator, UNU-ISP
Ms. Wilma James
or