On November 3rd in Barcelona, during the COP15 preparatory meetings of the UN Convention on Climate Change, a special ‘Water Day’ event will bring the attention to water as a critical and cross-cutting concern for climate change adaptation and mitigation.

The University of the Free State (UFS) in South Africa and the United Nations University (UNU) signed a Memorandum of Understanding for joint research and capacity development on 25 September 2009 at the UN Campus in Bonn. The signing representatives were Prof. Herman Van Schalkwyk, the Dean of the Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences at UFS, and Prof. Konrad Osterwalder, Rector of the UNU.

The parties share substantial areas of common interest and objectives. They agreed to cooperate and coordinate closely on capacity development programmes.

At the "Climate Change: GA Panel Discussion" that took place 19 October 2009 in New York, Dr Koko Warner from UNU-EHS gave a presentation on "Advancing human security through knowledge-based approaches to reducing vulnerability and environmental risks".

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Dr. e.H. Erich J. Plate retired from the Advisory Committee (AC) of UNU-EHS during the fourth AC meeting that took place 24-25 September 2009. He had been a member since the inauguration of the committee in 2003 when UNU-EHS was founded.

In a speech, Prof. Konrad Osterwalder, Rector of the United Nations University and ex-officio member of the AC, warmly thanked Prof. Plate for his valuable advice and support and wished him all the best.

The first PhD researchers at UNU-EHS successfully completed their dissertations. Xiaomeng Shen, Philine Oft and Adelina Mensah received their doctoral degree this summer.

The three PhD researchers did field work in China, Germany, Peru and Ghana. They focused on risk management and adaptation strategies to environmental threats and mitigation measures. Their research findings aim to be of practical use to support vulnerable communities exposed to these threats and to be used as guidelines and background information for decision-makers.

Under the authority and supervision of the Rector, the Vice-Rector in Europe/Director of UNU-EHS in Bonn, Germany, will:

Assist the Rector in his role of chief academic and administrative officer of the UNU and will be a fully integrated member of the management team of the University.

Application deadline: 15 November 2009

Please download the official vacancy announcement.

UNU-EHS, the DAAD and Pusat Studi Bencana Universitas Gadjah Mada invites qualified PhD candidates who work on dissertations related to planning, early warning, governance, socio-economic vulnerability and adaptation, which are linked to natural hazards and/or climate change in coastal regions, to apply for the international PhD workshop. The workshop takes place in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, from 23-25 November 2009.

Most participants are expected to be PhD candidates, coming from South and Southeast Asia. Practitioners who have a strong interest in the topic might also be invited. Applications are formless; please send a CV and an abstract on your research topic (max. 500 words) by 23 October 2009 to: Neysa Setiadi .

Please download the detailed call for applications document.

Under the authority of the Vice Rector in Europe, and the supervision of the Administration and Finance Officer, based in Bonn, Germany, the successful candidate shall be entrusted with the following tasks:

Application deadline: 15 November 2009

Please download the official vacancy announcement.

Under the authority of the Vice Rector in Europe/Director of UNU-EHS in Bonn, Germany, the successful candidate leading the Information and Communication Unit shall be entrusted with the management of the following scope of activities for both UNU-ViE and UNU-EHS:

Application deadline:15 November 2009

Please download the official vacancy announcement.

The participants at the 2009 UNU-MRF Summer Academy on Social Vulnerability tackled this years´ topic "Tipping Points in Humanitarian Crises" from various angles. Their presentations, posters, pictures and other background material is now available for download.

The latest Intersections issue looks at the social impacts of global climate change and examines how people living in the low elevation coastal zones are adapting to global sea level rise by migrating. These living spaces are increasingly hit by storms and floods forcing people to find strategies to cope with these environmental threats. For many coastal populations, migration has become one means of adaptation and survival.

Download the issue No. 7/2009 here.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Dear Colleagues and Friends!

By 31 July 2009 the most exciting chapter of my – up to now - 40 year-long professional life came to a close. After having served almost six years as founding director of the United Nations University Institute for Environment and Human Security (UNU-EHS) and more than two years as Vice Rector a. i. of UNU I have retired (following the UN age limit regulation) from the UN system.

It is my pleasant obligation to thank all of you for the unique opportunity to serve science and to promote the objectives of the United Nations simultaneously. Donor ministries, my superiors, colleagues and collaborators of UNU, UN colleagues and many many scientific partners from universities, research institutes and governments gave their best to help UNU-EHS from its first steps to become within a short period of five years a trusted partner and a recognized scientific institution.

The 2009 UNU-MRF Summer Academy on Social Vulnerability took place from 26 July to 1 August in Hohenkammer, Germany. Over twenty PhD researchers and experts from more than seventeen countries convened to address the potential of climate change triggered tipping points which could lead to humanitarian crises.

The Summer Academy intended to prepare an assessment plan for understanding the nature of tipping points of climate change related to forced migration and humanitarian crises, the potential vulnerability and impacts (including costing) and the range and effectiveness of adaptation strategies and measures. The participants produced a scoping paper to submit to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) prior to the meeting of the 2009 Conference of Parties (COP 15) United Nations Climate Change Conference and to inform the IPCC’s fifth report, due in 2012.

From 28 September – 3 October 2009, the United Nations University Institute for Environment and Human Security (UNU-EHS), in co-operation with the University of Novi Sad, Serbia, Faculty of Technical Sciences, organises a Block Course entitled “From Vulnerability to Resilience in Disaster Risk Management”, for PhD candidates starting, or about to start, their PhD studies.

The course will be held in Novi Sad. Interested institutions/mentors are welcome to delegate one or two students. Participants will be chosen through a selection process based on their background and field of research.

The report titled "Addressing the Challenge: Recommendations and Quality Criteria for Linking Disaster Risk Reduction and Adaptation to Climate Change" by Jörn Birkmann and Korinna von Teichman from UNU-EHS, as well as other contributing authors, reveals existing limits and challenges to link disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation.

Download the full report.