Assam University launches “Climate Change Adaptation & Disaster Risk Mitigation” Course, : Will Prepare trained manpower to Deal with Natural Disasters

A two-semester self-financing course on ‘Climate Change Adaptation & Disaster Risk Mitigation’ will be launched in July, this year under the initiative of Assam University’s Department of Ecology and Environmental Science. Needless to say, Barak Valley faces various natural calamities very frequently. In this context, many have expressed the opinion that this course will be able to create capable and trained manpower or ‘disaster-friends’ to combat all types of disasters.

The Minimum Qualification required to pursue this course is “Graduation” in any discipline of Science. This course aims to prepare people to deal with any disaster in the coming days in ecologically vulnerable zones for the region, and the state of Assam in particular, and the nation in general.

The Barak Valley and many regions of the state of Assam need urgent preparedness for floods, landslides, and disruption of lives and livelihood. As of date, no such course is run by any of the universities or institutions located in the North Eastern or Eastern India

With changing global trends in weather phenomena, learning about climate and disaster management will prove to be of utmost importance.

Apart from environmental science teachers, professors of other related departments of the university will also conduct classes for this Post Graduate Diploma Course. Also, experienced officials of Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA) and District Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) have agreed to teach and impart training in this course.

“In view of the burgeoning climate crisis and also the recurrently occurring disaster incidences in the Barak valley and the consequent havoc caused due to disasters like flood, earthquake, landslide and the likes, Assam University has thought to render its service for the greater cause of the society and thus, to discharge its duty, the university has come forward to create qualified and trained manpower who will be able to combat all such naturally occurring and man-made disasters”, Prof. Parthankar Choudhury, Dean, E. P. Odum School of Environmental Sciences, told Barak Bulletin.

He further said, “The trained manpower will be of great help to assist in the case of any types of disasters that the society faces all of a sudden. They may also be absorbed by the DDMA, SDMA, the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) and various government and NGO groups working in the field to mitigate climate change and its impacts”.

Enrolment for the course will start from July 2024 onward, and 20 Science graduates can take admission. This self-financing course is going to be launched at a very minimal course fee, informed the department. Interested and willing students are requested to go through the University Prospectus and visit the Department of Environmental Science in this regard.