BELGRADE - The Mass Online Open Course (MOOC) 'Climate change - risks and challenges' was created by WWF in cooperation with the German Climate Consortium and renowned German scientists. The course has been adapted and translated to Serbian language in order to make it available primarily for students and young professionals, but also for all interested citizens in Serbia and the region. The course was originally made in German, but is also available in English and Russian languages.
 
The course is easy to understand, comprehensive and gives a broad picture of climate change, allowing one to understand its complexity. It features leading German scientists dealing with climate issues who explain scientific foundations relevant to climate change, and also list possible solutions to this global issue. The course is interdisciplinary, follows scientific knowledge, research models and predictions, but also opens social issues such as socio-economic changes and policies that lead to it. It is available to all interested, and good internet connection is all that is needed to access the course.
 
"Within the courses in the field of ecology, biogeography and environmental protection at the Faculty of Biology, the impact of climate change on biodiversity in various contents is mentioned. However, the scientific and professional significance of climate change and their impact on all spheres of our everyday life deserves special thematic processing in teaching, in order to fully enable our students to continue working in this field. For this reason we recently accredited the course 'Ecology and Climate Change', of which the MOOC 'Climate Change - Risks and Challenges' is an integral part. The course has also been added to Master academic studies in Ecology, namely 'Modeling of areas and ecological niches", explains prof. Dr. Željko Tomanović, Dean of the Faculty of Biology, University of Belgrade.
 
Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC) are a special form of internet courses that allow for an unlimited number of participants. MOOC combines traditional forms of knowledge transfer such as videos, reading and problem-solving materials, or practical exercises through forums where teachers and students communicate with each other.
 
"We went a step further and prepared Espresso MOOC, which, as the name suggests, gives you the opportunity to get acquainted with the key aspects of climate change while drinking coffee, namely about 60 minutes. We believe that the climate crisis is affecting all of us and that the key solutions for mitigating and adapting to climate change are nature-based solutions. We are working to make Espresso MOOC reach decision makers in Serbia, because it is very important to integrate climate change into all development strategies, in order to ensure a healthier and safer future," said Duška Dimović, from the WWF Adria office in Serbia.
 
Climate change warns us that, despite the rapid development of technology, we are still completely dependent on nature, that is, natural resources and natural cycles. Consequences are visible all over the planet where ecosystems, survival and human safety are endangered. WWF as a global organization for nature protection, sees climate change as one of the biggest challenges for the survival of our planet, which is why it is focusing most of its activities on slowing them down and mitigating their consequences.
 
It is a great challenge faced by the entire humanity, and the only solution is full cooperation and connecting local, national and international initiatives.
 
Adaptation and translation of the MOOC 'Climate Change - Risks and Challenges' into Serbian was enabled by 'Climate Pact for Impact' project, implemented by WWF Adria in Serbia with the support of the Government of Sweden.