COL Education Specialist: Virtual University for Small States of the Commonwealth (VUSSC), Dr Mairette Newman, held a planning meeting with Professor Michael Taylor, a climate change expert and Dean of the Faculty of Science and Technology at the University of the West Indies in Mona, Jamaica for the development of a climate literacy massive open online course (MOOC) that will be jointly offered in July 2023. This is an activity that will further advance COL’s Green Learning Agenda.

Targeting citizens in small island developing states around the Commonwealth, the MOOC, to be entitled ‘Climate Literacy for All’, will seek to increase the level of climate literacy and activate climate action in the general population, inasmuch that people will make informed and responsible decisions in ways to treat the environment and use resources in smart and sustainable ways.

Dr Newman remarked, “Towards adopting a climate justice framework, the MOOC will feature video contributions from climate change scientists working in small states across Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific. Designed to address misconceptions about climate change, the course will also explain the fundamentals of climate change science, adaptation and mitigation.”

Commenting on the plan for the course, Professor Taylor explained that climate change is an especially big challenge for small islands, so the course comes at a very critical time.