IGNOU to launch programme on climate change

Updated on: Monday, December 21, 2009

New Delhi: With growing focus on global warming, the Indira Gandhi National Open University will launch a programme on climate change from next year.
The diploma programme on climate change would be available through all the 2,500 IGNOU study centres across the country. "The programme that would be available from 2010 will also look into the Kyoto protocol and the recent Copenhagen summit," V N Rajasekharan Pillai, Vice Chancellor IGNOU said.

Highlighting the university's initiative in the field of climate change, Pilai said a programme for climate managers is already on. "We have developed modules for village climate managers. Villagers will be given a module in their own language, how climate change will ultimately affect their lives, may be their agriculture, their prosperity, their marketing among others," he said.

Pillai said "contextualised module" also talks about immediate effect of climate change as well as weather forecast. He said the module is not a uniform one but varies in five agro-climatic regions of the country.

Pillai said the programme will give an overall picture about the global impact, but focus will be on how it will affect people on the ground, especially their livelihood.   He said the university has signed an MoU with the Centre for Environmental Law and World Wide Fund–India to jointly run a post-graduate diploma course in environmental law beginning next year.

Pillai said it is very important that an awareness is created among people about wildlife, environment and sustainable agriculture.  "We are all talking about reducing emissions and on how carbon dioxide emissions can be sequestered. "Similarly nitrous oxide, because of our ammonia use, is getting evaporated. That is also an emission," he said.

Pillai said in addition to looking at higher scientific aspects of the programme, the University is looking at the contextualisation of these programmes

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