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09:26

Introduction: The Oceans and Sustainable Development

The global ocean connects us all and provides our livelihoods, the oxygen we breathe, and transportation, among other things. The ocean is included in SDG 14. This course will try to provide a deeper understanding of the complex understanding of the ocean, environment, and climate system. Humans receive resources from the ocean, as well as risks. There will be weekly lectures on different topics, including the basic physics of ocean circulation, the ocean ecosystem, how the deep ocean works,…

05:32

Roots of Gender Inequality

Gender inequality has its roots in differences between men and women in society. These result from social constructions of relations, which in turn stem from sexual divisions of labor rooted in biological differences between the genders, such as the ability to breastfeed. Women’s roles are valued less economically, and women also often have limited mobility and are confined to the domestic sphere. Women often experience many types of discrimination–including social,…

08:44

Our Ocean: A Finite Resource

The ocean has always sparked human curiosity. In the mid-20th century, people began to realize that there are limits to what humanity should do to our planet before it cannot support life as we know it, limits known as the planetary boundaries. The human population of the planet has reached 7 billion people and will soon approach 11 billion people. We rely on the earth to support us with ecosystem services; the ocean provides these services by regulating the climate system. The oceans have a…

04:37

Nature’s Solutions for Planetary Health: A case study from Borneo

This video is the second video of unit 1.1 of the course Nature-based Solutions for Disaster and Climate Resilience taught by Nathalie Doswald, Mikhail Fernandes, and Xinyue Gu. What are ‘Nature-based solutions’, or NbS? How can they help build resilience to disasters and climate change impacts? Why is NbS relevant? How can I apply NbS in my work and everyday life?In this online course, UNEP and environmental experts from around the world will provide you with answers to those…

13:58

The Moral and Practical Limits of Global Capitalism

The topic of this video is the practical and moral flaws of the global economy. Learn about the good, the bad, and the ugly of how our global economy is creating new opportunities while perpetuating inequalities. If we're to solve these problems of exclusion and environmental sustainability, we need to change our outlook to one that emphasizes the common good rather than merely short-term, selfish desires. This video is licensed under the CC BY-NC-SA license.

15:04

Sustainable Food and Land Use

This chapters opens with a discussion of the CO2 emissions due to agriculture. Professor Sachs goes on to discuss how agriculture and food production impact SDGs, such as SDG 2: Zero Hunger, SDG 6: Clean Water, SDG 14: Life Below Water, and SDG 15: Life on Land. He elaborates on the dimensions of this transformation, including sustainable food, boundaries, shifting diets, supply chain governance, and proper planning. This video is licensed under the CC BY-NC-SA license.

10:00

Future Coasts

Currently, we have a rapidly changing coast due to climatic drivers such as sea level rise, as well as socioeconomic drivers such as population growth and migration towards the coast. Adaptation will be essential in the future development of coastal region, ranging from hard engineering measures to retreating from the sea’s impacts to the hinterland. We must adapt early and deal with uncertainty, and new approaches such as adaptive management and adaptation pathways are coming more and…

10:17

A brief history of geology in the Amazon

This lecture explores how the Amazon came to be over a three billion year time scale, highlighting the geology of the region, the uplift of the Andes, and the transition from a shallow sea to the formation of the Amazon River.Lecture source language: PortugueseAvailable subtitles & translations: English and Spanish

10:48

Existing Structures of Global Governance

This chapter is about global governance and structures to deal with complex global environmental problems. Governance is a set of complex interactions between state and non-state actors at the global level.There are several key trends to look at in global environmental governance, including the increase in international environmental agreements and the involvement of more actors. These have led to fragmentation, segmentation, and decoupled decision making, as well as increasing inter-linkages…