Climate action

One of the elements in MUCED was introducing Malaysian lecturers and students to new teaching methods. This introduction to group work and Problem Based Learning (PBL) had both direct and indirect benefits in the Malaysian higher education system, participants says.

‘’Plato or Plumo’’. There is no other way I could start this article than by mentioning the famous intimidating words of Pablo Escobar, the drug lord who reigned not just Colombia but entire Latin America in the 1970s. It literally translates as ‘Silver (bribes) or Lead (bullets)’ in Spanish. The phrase itself says how ruthless the drug cartels were in those times. More than two decades after his death, cocaine still lurks as a livelihood strategy for many households in the region.

Earth’s climate is dynamic. Past environmental conditions can be studied to give insights about current and future changes. As the planet warms quickly, scientists rush to investigate climate archives spanning thousands of years in order to unlock this information. Within the science community, there is an overwhelming consensus about human causing the current climate crisis among the science community, but it is a big challenge to raise awareness among the public.

You’ve heard it all before: the state of our plastic waste crisis is dire. And it’s true. Around 13 million tonnes of plastic leaks into the ocean annually, and this is just expected to increase unless we act now. Of all of the plastic waste generated, the majority is plastic packaging, and constitutes 60% of the coastal waste

One of the first Malaysian students to benefit from the MUCED programme was professor Suhaimi Abdul Talib. In 2001 he went to Denmark to work on his Ph.D. project Anoxic transformations of wastewater organic matter in sewers – process kinetics, model concept and wastewater treatment potential. During two periods of three months, he had his day-to-day work in the laboratories of Institute of Environmental Engineering at Aalborg University.

Achieving UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) requires careful attention to the risk of potential contradictions between the individual goals. For instance, how do we make energy both clean, affordable and accessible? Tanzanian Doctoral researcher Thabit Jacob’s scholarly contribution highlights the complexities of the global green energy transition. Especially the challenges in the sub-Saharan countries where most people are living without electricity.

It is becoming increasingly more evident that meat overconsumption is problematic due to various factors and there are direct consequences to the patterns of meat consumption in excess. I met with Ph.D. student Krishnachandra Sharma Hidangmayum, at University of Copenhagen Department of Food Science, to learn about his insights in the subject and the work he has done to advance sustainable solutions in food innovation.

In the beginning of the 21st century, the TUCED programme initiated exchange programmes for Danish and Thai master students. To Warisara Sereewatthanachai it meant that she could help bring new methods for substance analysis into the private sector in Thailand.

Meet the Ecuadorian scientist who defied machismo-culture in the academic world in Ecuador, to study thoroughly a big passion for her – climate change and its effects on her native mountain region and in the end the water supply in the country.

Researcher Abdel García from Humboldt Center, one of Nicaragua’s most renowned environmental institutions, is passionate about involving local population in climate change adaptation research. “In the near future Nicaragua as a country where people live, might stop existing,” he fears