Climate Change – Knowledge Sharing Platform

Jordi López has completed three courses on UN CC:e-Learn that have inspired him to launch World Zero CO2, an online carbon footprint calculator that is already being used in two schools in Barcelona, Spain. Read on to learn more about his story.

Despite not being even 18 years old yet, Jordi López, from Spain, is already leaving a positive impact on his community. Jordi has always been curious about global issues. One day, he came across a UN report saying that by 2025, there will be more than 200 million climate refugees worldwide. This report sparked an interest in him to find out more about the climate crisis, its consequences and what can be done to face up to it. He then decided to volunteer at COP25 in Madrid, Spain, to learn more about the global discussions around this issue and become more engaged in finding solutions.

Soon after, he stumbled across UN CC:Learn and completed three courses – Cities and Climate Change, Human Health and Climate Change and the Introductory e-Course on Climate Change – which gave him a solid basis to start thinking about concrete actions he could do to join the fight against climate change.

He then founded World Zero CO2, an online calculator for youth which gives people’s carbon footprint while providing tips and solutions to live more sustainably. The project is going well and has been piloted in two schools in Barcelona, Spain, as well as with a large group of youth from across the globe. Jordi has presented the results at the two schools and proposed follow-ups to see if the schools manage to reduce their carbon footprints.

Jordi López and his World Zero CO2 carbon footprint calculator. (Personal archive)

In addition to this endeavor, Jordi has also won a hackathon and got support from Fundación Telefónica to develop his new initiative: Mentally Ecological, which focuses on the slow living concept.

“I am taking the five recommended courses in the UN CC:Learn Teacher Portal to expand my knowledge on global warming and use it in World Zero C02.” – Jordi López, 2022 UN CC:Learn Champion.

Caroline Ouko is a Kenyan Action for Climate Empowerment advocate and climate change negotiator. With the knowledge acquired from UN CC:Learn, she has been able to carry out several environmental initiatives and negotiate on behalf of her country at major climate change conferences .

As a school student in Kenya, Caroline would walk to school along the Nairobi River, which used to be a thriving environment, full of water and fish. As years went by, the landscape drastically changed, and the booming ecosystem dwindled due to human activity and human-driven climate change. Caroline finished school, went to university, and ended up becoming a scientist engaged in environmental research. She developed an interest in climate change and completed the “Introductory Course on Climate Change” in 2014, which shed light on several questions she had at the time. She grew to believe that one of the best ways to raise awareness of climate change and encourage climate change action is by promoting climate change literacy, particularly among youth.

In this context, Carolin became an advocate for Action for Climate Empowerment (ACE) in Kenya and got nominated to the Climate Change Unit under Kenya’s Land Reclamation Department. As an ACE advocate and public official, she represented Kenya as a negotiator in several key climate change conferences, such as COP26 in the United Kingdom, SB56 in Bonn and COP27 in Egypt. As a climate negotiator, she has been involved in some of the most important outcome within ACE, like the Glasgow Work Programme. Back home in Kenya, she is pushing the ACE agenda at home and was responsible for putting together, through a consultative process, the Kenya’s first ACE submission.

Caroline planting a sapling.

This first commitment towards ACE will enable Kenya to further provide youth with the necessary skills to act on the climate crisis. Caroline is optimistic:

“The youth are at the center of this programme and I’m confident that if we let youth lead, we may reach net zero even sooner. I am pushing the ACE agenda.” – Caroline Achieng Ouko, 2022 UN CC:Learn Champion

Maryam Eqam is a climate advocate and founder who has completed 10 UN CC:Learn courses. She founded the Earth Needs Love, a not-for-profit empowering youth and working in favor of the environment. Read more about her inspiring story below.

Climate change is disproportionately affecting women and that’s why Maryam Eqan, a 23-year-old master’s student from Pakistan, is empowering women to act on climate change. Maryam has always felt that she should do something about the climate crisis. She looked for opportunities to deepen her knowledge on the issue and came across UN CC:Learn, where she ended up completing 10 courses. The courses provided her with the right set of skills and knowledge to help her establish her own environmental organization: The Earth Needs Love. Earth Needs Love is a youth-led and youth-focused organization that works in favor of the environment, climate, and sustainable development. The organization recognizes the lack of opportunities women have despite playing an important role in addressing climate change and promoting nature conservation. To overcome this problem, Earth Needs Love has set up the “Women for Environment” initiative to raise environmental awareness and build capacity of women. Their moto is “By women, for women”.

Currently, almost 30 women and girls from Asia and Africa have joined the Women for Environment initiative. Together, they build each other’s capacities on gender and environment and are developing a policy brief on “Women and Environmental Leadership”.

Maryam Eqam at a climate march demanding “equity now”.

In addition to her work in the organization, Maryam has also taken part in high-level events, such as the Biodiversity COP (COP15) and the High-Level Political Forum in 2022, for which she wrote a policy brief on sustainable energy with the help of the “Gender Equality and Human Rights in Climate Action and Renewable Energy” e-course.

“I believe that learning about environment and climate change should never stop as this is the keyway to achieving more as it sensitizes one to live sustainably and inspire and influence others to do the same. “ – Maryam Eqan – 2022 UN CC:Learn Champion

Juan is transforming rural communities in Veracruz towards sustainable agroecological shifts after taking UN CC:Learn courses. As part of his initiative, he is designing educational materials and encouraging training processes on agroecological practices for women and men in rural areas.

I am Colombian, I studied to be a teacher, with emphasis on biology, I hold a master’s degree in environmental management for sustainability and recently started a doctorate in sustainability sciences at the National Autonomous University of Mexico. Currently, I’m living in the State of Veracruz (Mexico), where there are different regional problems associated with climate change, such as increased desertification, extreme increase in temperatures, changes in rainfall, early hot seasons, disappearance of glaciers, deforestation, etc. In particular, I have been considering the correlation between the globalised agri-food system and climate change, this being a sector that is strongly linked to the causes of this phenomenon, but also one of those most affected by it. In this regard, I am concerned about the carbon footprint of the agricultural sector caused by conventional practices and processes that do not allow carbon sequestration underground. For example, the excessive use of agrochemicals, the long distances that food travels and the inappropriate disposal of organic solid waste.

I have had the opportunity to take part in technical advisory processes for agro-ecological transition, training on sustainable agricultural management, and raising awareness of the multiple associated crises. These activities have been aimed at educational communities, groups of farmers in rural areas and citizens who practice urban and peri-urban agriculture. In particular, having urban orchards and rural plots, as ideal spaces for the exchange of knowledge and practices. My work has focused on promoting agro-ecology as a viable alternative to build sustainable agri-food systems, essentially through the adoption of good agricultural practices in urban and rural communities.

My objective has been to promote agro-ecological transition to design and manage agro-ecosystems resilient to climate change. This has led me to design didactic materials and encourage training processes on multiple agro-ecological practices. For example, fallow, reduced soil tillage, composting, organic fertiliser, soil mulch, use of native seeds, crop association and rotation, use of living barriers and hedges, integrated water management and short marketing circuits. All of this is crucial for agriculture to adapt to climate change and to continue to ensure food security.

Preparing cultivation beds. Photo by Iván Morales.

During these multidimensional processes, the lessons learned on climate change obtained from the UN CC:Learn platform have been very useful to me; firstly, because they have provided the technical-scientific foundations for my social interventions and, secondly, because they have allowed me to relate climate change to the nutrition, health and well-being of communities. In addition, something that I value highly is the gender approach within the training, not only to highlight the vulnerability of women to adverse climatic conditions, but also to value their work as agricultural labourers.

During these last years, I have always had the support of valuable teams such as the Agro-ecological Garden of the Faculty of Biology (Universidad Veracruzana), Conselva Costas y Comunidades (Mazatlán, Sinaloa) and the Civil Association “Caminos del Buen Vivir” (Teocelo, Veracruz). Without a doubt, collaborating with different environmental groups that defend climate action, take care of the territory and contribute with concrete actions such as composting and local food production. Aspects that help to consolidate sustainable lifestyles, rebuild the social fabric, complete the circularity of city life and build resilient cities for new and future generations.

Women sharing their agricultural knowledge. Photo by Iván Morales

Thanks to different community experiences, I can now definitely affirm that the valuable participation of women is key in the agro-ecological transition towards sustainable food systems. Therefore, it is essential to consider their voices and discourses, as well as their desires and feelings when promoting this type of projects and initiatives. Personally, I believe that rural women have ancestral knowledge about favourable agricultural practices, as well as particular skills in conserving seeds and generating innovations for a better future.

Ornélia Koumba Moussavou is a young Gabonese professional who developed her skills with UN CC:Learn. Read on to learn more about the projects she has contributed to.

From learning about climate change to contributing to climate projects. This what Ornelia Koumba Moussavou, a young Gabonese women has to tell!
Ornelia has a degree in International Studies from the Faculty of Legal, Economic and Social Sciences at Hassan II University in Mohammedia, Morocco. Throughout her life, she has always had an interest in climate change, which led her to the “Climate change: From learning to action” e-course on UN CC:e-Learn. She enrolled in the course and completed it, receiving an official certificate from the UN on completion.

As a young graduate, she started applying for internships in the environmental field. In her job search, she came across a position at the Economic, Social and Environmental Council (CESE) of the Kingdom of Morocco, which currently holds the presidency of the Union of African Economic and Social Councils and Similar Institutions (UCESA). Her knowledge of climate change, acquired through the online UN CC:Learn course, helped her get the job and has assisted her in her daily tasks in this new role.

The internship enabled her to work on some interesting projects, including one on climate change awareness in 16 other African countries. The project shed light on how Africa’s citizens perceive climate change. To this end, a qualitative and quantitative study was put together, and 8200 citizens took part in it. The results were presented at COP27, in Sharm-el-Sheik in Egypt. Ornelia contributed to drafting this document which provides policy guidance and practical recommendations for inclusive and coordinated climate action by and for African citizens.

“The UN CC:Learn course gave me the necessary foundation for carrying out my climate-related tasks. After this course, I’m sure I will be able to tackle new challenges in the climate change field.” – Ornélia Koumba, 2022 UN CC:Learn Champion

Indigenous people hold invaluable knowledge for biodiversity and environmental conservation but are often overlooked. Suryakanta Acharya completed the ” An Introduction to Climate Change and Human Rights” e-course and is now helping indigenous communities in India face up to environmental, social and health challenges. Read on to get inspired!

As nature’s stewards, indigenous people play a vital role in managing and preserving the environment. However, their interests are often overlooked. Suryakanta Acharya, an oncologist from India, is making sure indigenous people are getting their voices heard. Suryakanta has always had an interest in protecting health and safeguarding human rights and traditional knowledge of indigenous people. He founded PAY-W Clinic to work towards these goals and, eventually, came across the affiliated “An Introduction to Human Rights and Climate Change” e-course on UN CC:e-Learn. He completed the course and learned about the correlations between human rights and climate change, which was new to him.

He set out to integrate this newly acquired knowledge into the work being done by his organization. In 2021, for instance, he and his organization helped an indigenous community in Assam, India, to get rid of a municipal garbage dumping site that was negatively affecting the community’s health and environment. People were experiencing breathing and skin issues due to the high levels of chemicals being released from the dumping site and agricultural fields were made infertile due to the leakage of these chemicals into the soil.

His activism, along with the engagement of other NGOs, helped bring about judiciary intervention that compelled the municipality to shift the dumping site elsewhere. After a few months, the community was back in good health and the soil was recovering.

Suryakanta at COP13 in Cancun, Mexico. (Personal archive)

Suryakanta is now engaging with the local indigenous community to raise awareness of climate change and other environmental issues. He encouraged two of the community’s literate members to act as a bridge and spread knowledge among the other members. They have completed UN CC:Learn courses and are passing what they learned on to other members of their community.

His story has already travelled far and got the attention of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

“I am quite positive about the UN CC:e-Learn platform. It offers the required knowledge free-of-charge to enable me and many others to perform our fundamental duties as well as safeguard our environment.” – Suryakanta Acharya, 2022 UN CC:Learn Champion

A new course on climate-smart agriculture will walk you through this concept and show you how South Africa can enable it in its own context.

Read on to find out more about the course!

Agriculture is one of the sectors most impacted by climate change. The warming temperatures are increasing the frequency of extreme weather events, such as droughts and storms, which significantly affect farmers across the globe, but especially smallholder farmers in developing countries who have limited resources and access to infrastructure.

Against this background, climate-smart agriculture (CSA) is an important approach that can guide action to transform agri-food systems, making them more sustainable, resilient, and adaptive to climate change. Climate smart agriculture has three key objectives: sustainably increasing agricultural productivity and incomes; adapting and building resilience to climate change; and reducing and/or removing greenhouse gas emissions, where possible. 

Climate-smart agriculture offers a lot of benefits for farmers in South Africa. To help South Africans tap into those opportunities presented by CSA, UNITAR has partnered up with the Government of South Africa and the UNEP-implemented SWITCH Africa Green project to develop the “Climate-smart Agriculture in South Africa” e-course, which is being offered on UN CC:e-Learn.

The four-module e-course on climate-smart agriculture in South Africa, provides participants with an introduction to key concepts and approaches , and strives to strengthen their capacities to apply climate-smart tools and techniques in practice.

What will you learn?

By the end of this course, learners should be able to:

Explain what climate-smart agriculture (CSA) is, its main principles, objectives and benefits
Identify critical social, environmental, and economic opportunities for CSA in South Africa

Describe applications of CSA in various agricultural domains, such as livestock and croplands
Discuss the role of remote sensing and identify practical steps to apply CSA in South Africa
Discuss enabling conditions for the adoption of CSA in South Africa

Who should take this course?

The course is geared towards anyone who is interested in the basics of the CSA and/or individuals involved in the agriculture sector in South Africa looking to enhance knowledge and skills regarding the subject. Specifically, the course should benefit representatives from:

Professionals from national, provincial, local investment, agriculture, economic, labour, environment departments.
Extension workers, farmers, professional associations.

Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), academia and business representatives.

Will you get a certificate?

The successful completion of the course rewards the learner with a certificate. To complete the course, the learner must complete all four modules and pass each associated quiz with a minimum grade of 70% from no more than three attempts.

Take the course today!

Dinh-Long Pham is raising awareness of climate change and showcasing climate action efforts through “Life Line”: a youth-focused podcast series. Read on his full story below!

Climate change is a complex issue, but one thing is certain: youth will have an important role to play in addressing it. Dinh-Long Pham, a podcast host from France, is giving a platform for youth to showcase their climate efforts and voice their concerns about the climate crisis. Dinh-Long is the founder of the Life Line podcast, which features young changemakers from different walks of life who work hard to make the world a better place. His podcast aims to amplify the voices of the youth and inspire as many people as possible to take action, including on climate change. He started interviewing people on climate change action after coming across UN CC:e-Learn. The courses there increased his understanding about the topic and sparked an interest in bringing it to the fore of his discussions.

On the topic of climate change specifically, Dinh-Long has interviewed several young climate activists and entrepreneurs over the past few years, giving them a platform to speak out and showcase their work. During the hour-long conversations, he strives to help the audience get climate action insights that are applicable to their own contexts while highlighting the linkages between climate action and the Sustainable Development Goals. Here’s a few examples:

Shaan Suhas Kumar, India, Miss Earth India 2017, running grassroots awareness campaigns.
Ra’eed Ali, Fiji, launched Precious Plastic Fiji upcycling plastic waste into furniture and also advocating for climate justice as a Pacific Islander.
Heeta Lakhani, India, former YOUNGO Global South Focal Point who is raising the voice of youth in official spaces.
Jan Kairel Guillermo, Philippines, survivor of Typhoon Haiyan who uses arts to raise awareness about climate.
Xuan Mai Hoang, Viet Nam, a young climate activist who started at 13 years old, sharing her journey at COP24.
Pamela Mejia, Philippines, launched her social enterprise PHINIX, a pioneer sustainable fashion brand in Philippines, upcycling fabric scraps.
Mahenaz Chowdhury, Bangladesh, launched her social enterprise Broqué, a leading sustainable fashion brand in Bangladesh that builds the slow fashion movement.
Monorom Tchaw, Cambodia, launched her social enterprise Compost City which provides fun, hands-on, interactive environmental education through composting.

Dihn-Long interviewing a guest for the LifeLine Podcast. (Personal archive)

Dinh-Long interviewing a guest for the Life Line Podcast. (Personal archive)

Moving forward, Dinh-Long is planning to start a podcast series fully focused on climate change which breaks down key topics for the audience.

“The UN CC:Learn courses also helped me in shaping this narrative, by highlighting the link of climate change with all SDGs, and the link of all SDGs with climate change.” – Dinh-Long Pham, 2022 UN CC:Learn Champion

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Want to do like Dinh-Long and start learning about climate change in order to take action for the climate?

Take our Climate Quiz first and test your knowledge to find out where to start! This short quiz will give you immediate recommendations on how to advance your climate change knowledge.

Click here to start the Quiz

How is the knowledge acquired from UN CC:Learn courses being translated into climate action on the ground? In the coming weeks, we will provide you with 11 great examples of what our alumni are doing to face up to climate change as a result of having completed one of our courses. Read on to find out more.

Over the past years, thousands of people have learned from UN CC:Learn courses and made use of its resources. But the underlying question that remained was: how is their acquired knowledge on climate change being translated into concrete climate action on the ground?

We set out to find out the answer to this question.

Following a successful first experience in 2020, we have invited our alumni to submit their climate action stories as part of a campaign to celebrate the issuance of the 200,000^th certificate of course completion from our e-learning platform. And over the course of a month, hundreds of people took the time to tell us what they have been doing to tackle climate change in their homes, communities, and workplace as a result of completing one of our courses.

After a careful – and often difficult due to the quality of stories received – selection process, we are ready to present to you 11 fascinating stories that will shed a light on climate action initiatives being undertaken globally and allow you to get a glimpse of the people who are leading these actions – the 2022 UN CC:Learn Champions.

We will be releasing stories every Tuesday and Friday in English, French and Spanish, so we invite you to regularly check our website in order not to miss any stories. The first Champion we would like to introduce to you is Ms. Axelle Vera, from Cameroon, who has been developing her career in the environmental field with our courses.

Read her story in English, French or Spanish!

Axelle Vera is a young professional from Cameroon who is building out her career with the help of UN CC:Learn. In 2022, she applied for an internship at the Central African Women Initiative in Climate Action (WICA) programme and, thanks in part to UN CC:Learn, she landed the job!

What if taking a UN CC:Learn course meant opening doors for brand new opportunities? In February 2022, Axelle came across a call for applications for the Central African Women Initiative in Climate Action (WICA), which is US-funded capacity building programme for women living in Cameroon, Gabon, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Central African Republic, and the Republic of Congo on greenhouse gas measurement, reporting and verification (MRV), mitigation, and adaptation, as well as the climate negotiation process and implementation of the Paris Agreement. She decided to apply for it and soon got a response back from the WICA programme: they asked her to complete the “Climate Change: From Learning to Action” course in a week’s time in order to get her application through. She put her hands to the task, completed the course and send them the certificate of completion. Two months later she was picked by WICA to join their regional project in Yaoundé, Cameroon.

As part of this project, Axelle took part in several trainings, both theoretical and practical, on Agriculture, Forestry and Other Land Use (AFOLU), Energy, and Climate Change Negotiations. She performed so well during the trainings that she was one of five people picked for a fully funded scholarship with the Greenhouse Gas Management Institute (GHGMI) to follow a Diploma in GHG Measurement, Reporting and Verification, which will give her the opportunity to put her newly acquired skills into practice through a three-month internship.

Axelle Vera gave an interview during an in-country workshop held as part of her internship. (Personal archive)

While undertaking all these capacity building programs, Axelle got a full-time role at an environmental consultancy bureau in Cameroon working as an Assistant Carbon Project Manager and even managed to complete the “Mastering Adaptation Plans: From Start to Finish” e-course. As she put it:

“All this started with me validating a course on UN CC:e-Learn to apply for the WICA program. So, thanks to UN CC:Learn!” – Axelle Vera Eunice Nfono Efoulou, 2022 UN CC:Learn Champion

Axelle’s story proves that by improving your knowledge on climate change, one can fulfil their dreams and progress their careers.

A Generation of Young People to Reduce Carbon Footprints

Voices for the Future: Youth Advocacy and Climate Negotiations in Kenya and Beyond

The Earth Needs Love, Leadership and Gender Equality

Agroecology as a tool for resilience to climate change

From learning to action. Literally. A success story from Gabon

Empowering Indigenous Communities in India

New course on Climate-smart Agriculture is now available on UN CC:e-Learn

Breaking the Silence: How Podcast is Amplifying Voices to Take Climate Action

Meet the 2022 UN CC:Learn Champions

Climate Change Literacy for Career Development: A Success Case from Cameroon