How do we address the climate emergency and the increasing risk of disasters in a holistic way while improving the health and well-being of people and the planet?

This is the main question answered in the new Massive Open Online Course (MOOC), ‘Nature-Based Solutions for Disaster and Climate Resilience’. Nature-based solutions are coming to the fore on the world stage as a cost-effective solution to many of the problems facing humanity today. But the question of how to implement them is often posed. This free online course will help policymakers, engineers, business owners, youth, practitioners and anyone else keen to learn more about how they can contribute to strengthening nature's solutions to reducing climate and disaster impacts. The course will be translated into 7 languages and participants will receive a certificate upon completion. See the promo video here and to sign up for the course: pedrr.org/MOOC/

A more in-depth and practical document on how to increase resilience to climate and disaster risk has also been developed by PEDRR: the first Words into Action on Nature-based Solutions for Disaster Risk Reduction, as part of the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction's technical guidance series. The document is intended specifically for stakeholders who want to understand how they can apply nature-based solutions in their country's disaster risk reduction (DRR) strategy, development policies or other DRR plans. This product has been launched for public review to allow stakeholders to provide feedback for three months.

These two milestone products were launched on International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction: 13 October 2020. The event featured a government representative, a youth leader, a civil society representative, the European Investment Bank, and UN agencies, who shared their thoughts on how nature-based solutions for disaster and climate resilience are important to them and how you can get involved. If you missed the event but want to learn more, you can find a recording here.

https://pedrr.org/story-of-the-month-learning-about-nature-based-solutions-for-disaster-risk-reduction-and-climate-change-adaptation-on-international-day-for-disaster-risk/

Through a climate adaptation project supported by the Least Developed Countries Fund and implemented by UNEP, Vivienne Rakotoarisoa from Mangatsiotra village in Madagascar has found a natural ‘climate-proof’ alternative to declining rice harvests by planting rambo grass, a valuable weaving material that has high resilience to drought conditions. (© UNEP / Lisa Murray)

Filming the lecture videos for the MOOC on Nature-based Solutions for Disaster and Climate Resilience in France, September 2020. (© UNEP/Karen Sudmeier)