ABOUT
The My Climate Risk Education Working Group
(MCR-EWG) is part of the
My Climate Risk (MCR) Lighthouse Activity
of the World Climate Research Programme
PURPOSE OF MCR-EWG
The central aim of My Climate Risk Education Working Group (MCR-EWG) is to provide a forum for MCR members to discuss, share and disseminate learnings relevant to local climate adaptation and mitigation from experts and from the experiences of MCR scientists and scholars around the world.
MCR hub members around the world engage in activities with local communities relevant to climate education; Seen here are local government, NGO and academe participants of a Systems Thinking Workshop for Resilience Planning implemented by the Ateneo de Manila Hub (through the Ateneo Institute of Sustainability) last April 2024. ​​The workshop was designed based on the City Resilience Toolkit (CResT) A Compendium of Activities for Resilience Planning.
MCR’s paradigm is different from conventional scientific engagement with societies. MCR "aims to develop and mainstream a ‘bottom-up’ approach to regional climate risk, which starts with the requirements of decision-makers" in order to make climate information meaningful at the local scale. 'Risk' refers to the combination of hazard, vulnerability, and exposure in a specific regional context. MCR's approach foregrounds collaborative engagement between climate scientists and scholars, and local communities.
These collaborations engender new learnings that are generally not part of formal education. These are important for climate scientists, scholars, educators, policymakers, and the general public. This is the primary reason why MCR’s Education Working Group exists.
Thus, the MCR Education Working Group seeks to provide a forum for MCR members to engage with the questions below and disseminate important ideas emerging from them:
What are MCR members learning from working with communities of different kinds in various hubs around the world?
What gaps in our own knowledge are we discovering that need to be addressed? What can we learn from community partners and from each other?
What are the implications for climate education for future climate scientists as well as the general public?
How can we collect and disseminate important learnings within MCR and beyond?
And therefore, how can we help make climate education an ally of climate adaptation and mitigation?
HISTORY OF MCR
The MCR-EWG began in December, 2022. Our first event was a 2-part webinar series in 2023 on climate science and colonialism. We are now up to 13 members from; Philippines, Nepal, India, Pakistan, Senegal, South Africa, UK, Colombia, Costa Rica, Canada and the US, representing several hubs and institutions in the MCR community.