Responding to Climate Risks in Agriculture and Natural Resource Management: 16 Jul – 5 Nov 2016

This is somewhat a repost of previous blogs but I am glad to share with you the news that UP Open University is offering the non-formal online course, Responding to Climate Risks in Agriculture and Natural Resource Management (RCRANRM) again! Developed in partnership with the Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA), the 6th run will begin on July 16 and end on November 5, 2016. Enrollment ends on July 9, 2016.

We are all blessed that this age of internet opens up a new world of learning–distance education (DE). This mode of learning allows busy professionals, students, and stay-at-home parents to pursue undergraduate, higher, and non-formal learning without the need to go to classrooms physically.

RCRANRM runs for 16 weeks (one semester) and is designed to introduce learners to the core concepts, methods, and tools in climate change mitigation and adaptation particularly in the context of food security, agriculture, and natural resource management. While this is a non-formal course, participants have to comply with specific requirements in order to complete the course and receive certificates.

I would highly recommend this course to those interested in climate change, professionals engaged or hope to be involved in environmental work, and students who would like to pursue a career in environmental management. It is also suitable for media practitioners and personnel of legislators and policymakers especially those who want to have deeper theoretical background in climate change issues and policies in the context of agriculture and natural resources management.

I had been one of the students of the course’s first run in October 2013 to January 2014 and can attest about how much the course helps busy professionals like us understand climate change more deeply.  I hope that you will find this course very timely and significant. We see the impacts of climate change everyday and attending this course will help us contextualize it in the national setting. Such contextualization is necessary when developing appropriate responses and action. Let me end this post with a simple reflection:

“Climate change forces us to think of it in terms of food security. When we eat rice today, let’s think of the farmers and our natural assets that make all these possible–the soil, the sunshine, and the rains–and reflect on our situation as creatures who need to survive and our role as citizens who need to be more responsible.”

Hope to meet you online soon!

UPOU FMDS Contact Details:

Mr. Larry N. Cruz | Faculty of Management and Development Studies, UPOU | Email fmds-cep@upou.edu.ph | Telefax: (6349) 536-6010

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This is not a paid blog. (I do not ask for any donation but I hope you can plant a tree on your birthday/s.) (Full disclosure: I am RCRANRM’s course coordinator.)