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Massive Open Online Course "The Living Amazon : Science, Cultures and Sustainability in Practice"
The Amazon, the world’s largest rainforest and river system, is crucial for global climate stability and maintaining biodiversity. The region is home to 47 million people, including over two million Indigenous people. However, it faces unprecedented challenges like deforestation, degradation, and criminal activity, risking reaching a tipping point.
This course, available in English, Spanish, and Portuguese, offers insights into the Amazon’s ecosystems, covering current trends, threats, and impacts. Participants will explore opportunities for conservation and sustainable development to safeguard the region. Taught by experts, the course spans disciplines like biodiversity, conservation, land use change, climate science, anthropology, and human rights, catering to practitioners, students, and professionals across sectors.
This MOOC is the product of a collaboration between the Science Panel for the Amazon (SPA), the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), and the World Bank (WB), with financial support from the Global Environment Facility (GEF). It builds on the flagship 2021 Amazon Assessment Report, produced by the SPA and launched at COP26 in Glasgow, and on several other SPA publications.
About the SDG Academy
The SDG Academy is the flagship education initiative of the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN). Since 2014, it has created more than 40 free, high-quality, massive open online courses (MOOCs) on sustainable development and the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Its courses feature the world’s foremost experts in their fields and cover topics such as human rights, health, education, climate change, agriculture and food systems, and macroeconomics—equipping the next generation of sustainable development practitioners to take on the complex challenges facing our planet.
About the SPA
The Science Panel for the Amazon is the first high-level science initiative dedicated to the Amazon. The Panel was established to make clear the scientific, economic, and moral case for conservation and address widespread deforestation, forest degradation, and wildfires that have intensified in recent years. Today, the Panel is composed of over 250 scientists who released the 2021 Amazon Assessment Report at COP26, which has been called an “encyclopedia” of the Amazon region. The SPA is convened under the auspices of the Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN). Dr. Jeffrey Sachs, the president of SDSN, is the convener of the SPA ; Ms. Emma Torres is the strategic coordinator ; and Dr. Carlos Nobre and Dr. Marielos Peña-Claros are the co-chairs. Learn more at https://www.theamazonwewant.org/.
Practical information
- The course launches on March 18, 2024, and will be available indefinitely.
- The course is self-paced, with all content released at launch and an estimated 8-week duration.
- The course is titled “The Living Amazon : Science, Cultures and Sustainability in Practice”.
- The course is being offered in English, Portuguese, and Spanish.
- The link to enroll on edX : https://www.edx.org/learn/sustainability/sdg-academy-the-living-amazon-science-cultures-and-sustainability-in-practice
