The Summer Academy on Climate, Land, and Security, hosted by the Geneva Centre for Security Policy in partnership with Initiatives of Change Switzerland and Triple Capital concluded on 30th July 2021 with awarding certificates to the 30 participants who spend a week exploring solutions at the nexus of land, security and climate change issues.
The course was facilitated in parallel with the Caux Dialogue on Environment and Security and provided a learning and exchange platform to participants from different professional backgrounds from across the world. The participants included people from academia, NGOs, civil servants, diplomats, military officials, private sector representatives, community leaders, and international organization representatives, creating a platform for open peer-to-peer discussions and group work problem-solving on issues around land restoration, security and peacebuilding, and climate change adaptation.
The aim of the Summer Academy was to develop skills of collaboration and collectively explore solutions that advance interlinked issues of land restoration, security and peacebuilding, and climate change adaptation. It also looked at how to make connections between the solutions that exist at the grassroots level, and the financing available at the international level. The programme also included open public webinars with panels of global experts on issues of land restoration, human security, migration and peacebuilding, community-based natural resource management, and climate finance.
Many participants at the end of the Summer Academy expressed their gratitude to the African Development Bank’s Africa Climate Change Fund for awarding them with a fully-funded scholarship to participate in this exchange and skill development program.