On Tuesday 4 June 2013, UNU organized a side event on climate change related loss and damage that explored climate change realities in different regions around the world, a new policy framework to address loss and damage and non-economic loss and damage. | Read more

The Resilience Academy:

In the most vulnerable regions of our planet, the impacts of extreme weather events such as floods and droughts threaten lives and livelihoods. The most affected regions include large deltas, small islands, and exposed coastal regions, as well as arid and semiarid lands, and areas affected by glacier and permafrost melt. The Resilience Academy will provide a platform for connecting communities of expertise (early phase practitioners, academics, and policy analysts), examining livelihood resilience in the face of local and regional realities,and co-creating concepts to foster resilience.

Dates and locations:

Bangladesh: Dhaka, 15–21 September 2013

Germany: Munich, 2014 | Read more

The 13th Bonn Dialogues panel discussion will discuss the role of non-economic loss and damage, its impacts on societies and current evidence. The public symposium takes place on Monday, 10 June 2013 at 6 p.m. at Deutsche Welle. Please register via info@bonn-dialogues.org - all welcome!

Concept note

Dr. Cosmin Corendea from UNU-EHS will be giving a lecture titled, “Legal Aspects of Climate Change”, at the Lunchtime Lectures event hosted by the Institute for Public International Law at the University of Bonn.  The lecture will take place on Thursday 6 June from 18:15 to 19:45 (not at lunch!). It is open to the general public and no registration is necessary. | Read more

Healthy and well-managed ecosystems reduce the risk of disasters and strengthen our ability to adapt to the effects of climate change, according to a new book launched by the Partnership for Environment and Disaster Risk Reduction (PEDRR). "The role of ecosystems in disaster risk reduction" was co-edited by experts from UNU-EHS, IUCN´s Commission on Ecosystem Management (CEM) and UNEP.

  | Read more

UNU-EHS will be hosting two special sessions at the Global Water System Project (GWSP) international conference: 1) Tipping points of water-related ecosystem services in Deltas under climate change 2) International Water Quality Guidelines for Aquatic Ecosystems | Read more

From 19 to 23 May 2013 the fourth session of the Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction will be taking place in Geneva, Switzerland. It is a biennial forum organized by UNISDR that brings together stakeholders committed to reducing disaster risk and building resilience. UNU-EHS will be hosting a book launch, high-level panel discussion and a side event on ecosystems and disaster risk reduction as well as a consultative event on climate risk management and loss and damage. | Read more

On 25 April 2013, PD Dr. Joern Birkmann took part in the high-level panel "The impact of environmental degradation on disasters – Inputs for the Post 2015 debate” to present key findings of the WorldRiskIndex and to formulate recommendations for the ongoing negotiations with regard to a new framework for disaster risk reduction (post-Hyogo Framework process) and climate change adaptation (post Kyoto protocol). | Read more

A new master’s degree programme in the Geography of Environmental Risks and Human Security will be launched in autumn 2013, with the aim of providing postgraduate students with detailed knowledge, critical understanding, strategies and the tools required to take an interdisciplinary approach towards environmental risks and human security.

The programme will start accepting applications on 15 May 2013. | Read more

On 11-12 April 2013, the Munich Climate Insurance Initiative (MCII) and the German Association for International Cooperation (GIZ) bring together key experts on weather risk insurance, disaster risk reduction and adaptation for a workshop on “Developing a Strategic Concept for the Implementation of Climate Risk Insurance in an Integrated Climate Risk Management Approach”. MCII is hosted at UNU-EHS. | Read more