Teaching climate risk for water planning: A pilot training for tertiary students and practitioners in Brazil

Abstract

Climate change is one of the major challenges of our society; thus educational resources on climate risk and adaptation are needed. In this case study, we present a short-duration face-to-face training for water professionals about the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)'s climate risk framework. The training uses problem-based learning (PBL) pedagogy, and its suitability and benefits are evaluated with qualitative observation and self-assessment of knowledge of tertiary students and practitioners from five independent groups in Brazil. We find that the application of a mapping exercise using the IPCC's climate risk framework supports learning about climate risk, as well as data interpretation, creativity, teamwork, communication, and critical thinking by the participants. This work merges the IPCC's climate risk framework and PBL for climate risk training. The proposed training enables the teaching of climate risk in stand-alone courses and professional development training in areas where climate is an embedded component.