Building Adaptation Skills and Qualifications: Key Considerations for Upskilling the Workforce

The Building Regional Adaptation Capacity and Expertise (BRACE) Presents: Building Adaptation Skills for a Changing Climate Webinar Series

Presentations:
Development and evaluation of a training program designed to foster the adoption of climate change adaptation best practices by engineering, urban planning and architecture professionals:

Skills and knowledge to adapt the built environment, and land use planning for climate change, are essential. Thus, professionals must be trained in adaptation best practices. They must also believe in its value and feasibility. This presentation describes a training program for engineers, urban planners and architects, with the goal of building knowledge and skills that promote the adoption of adaptive practices. It also promotes positive attitudes, mainstreaming and behaviour change. The program was developed by Ouranos and the Québec Observatory of Adaptation to Climate Change – Pierre Valois, Full professor, Faculty of education (measurement and evaluation); Director of the Québec Observatory of Adaptation to Climate Change.

Using micro-credentials to create agile pathways for climate action upskilling:

Capacity-building for advancing climate-change-related leadership has become a critical workforce development requirement for both professionals and front-line workers in 2022. There is an urgent need to address the growing impacts and risks of climate change, and workers require upskilling quickly and conveniently through micro-learning experiences to fulfil this critical requirement in corporate, government, small-business, consulting services and NGO roles.

This presentation will be delivered in 2 parts:

1) The first part will discuss a micro-pathways approach to providing knowledge and skill building for climate action – David Porter, Principal, DP+Associates – contractor to RRU Resilience by Design Lab and Academy for Sustainable Innovation

2) The second part, will focus on the use of competency frameworks and competencies to guide upskilling and the building of micro-credentials for climate action – Robin Cox, Professor & Program Head, Graduate programs in Climate Action Leadership; Director of ResilienceByDesign Lab, Royal Roads University

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The Building Regional Adaptation Capacity and Expertise (BRACE) Program led by Natural Resources Canada (NRCan), is launching a fall webinars series focused on sharing experiences on how to build climate change adaptation skills. The webinars series will feature the results of over 20 co-funded projects.

The key objectives of the webinar series are to:

1) present training, tools and resources for integrating climate change adaptation considerations in professional practice; and

2) highlight key messages/learning that are transferable to other organizations/sectors/regions interested in building adaptation skills and delivering training. Presenters will share information on activities, such as courses, workshops, networks and internships, which helped engineers, planners, resource managers, recent graduates and others develop the competencies (knowledge, skills and behaviour) needed to act on adaptation.

Recording from October 11, 1–2 pm EDT