Mekong - U.S. Partnership
From December 2 to 3 at Kasetsart University in Bangkok, 47 professors from 16 Thai universities came together for the National Seminar on Integrating Climate Change into University Curricula. The seminar served as the national rollout of the USAID Lowering Emissions in Asia’s Forests (USAID LEAF) project’s regional climate change curriculum, which is part of the U.S. Government’s Lower Mekong Initiative to train future climate change professionals in the region.
Kasetsart, Chiang Mai and Phayao Universities contributed to the development of the curriculum materials and led the roll out process to additional universities in Thailand. USAID LEAF and its university partners presented an overview of the four curriculum modules – basic climate change, social and environmental soundness, low emission land use planning and carbon measurement and monitoring – in addition to demonstrating how to integrate climate change into interdisciplinary curricula. “Everyone is concerned with climate change in Thailand now, including universities,” said Dr. Sapit Diloksumpun, an Assistant Professor at Kasetsart University who has been involved in the curriculum’s development.
“USAID LEAF has prepared very good teaching materials, and integrating them into Thai universities is important for the future of climate change education in Thailand.” This is the second national level curriculum rollout after Vietnam held seminars earlier this year. Country rollouts will continue early next year with events in Cambodia and Laos.
Source: USAID/RDMA Regional Environment Office Weekly Update
