Guest lecturers from UNU-EHS teach ecosystems and disaster risk reduction

UNU-LRT welcomed two guest lecturers from UNU-EHS in Bonn last week, Dr Julia Kloos and Dr Zita Sebesvari. They gave lectures on ecosystems and disaster risk reduction, emphasising the link between social and ecological systems and how disaster risks can be reduced by sustainable management, conservation and ecosystem restoration. Throughout those sessions the UNU-LRT fellows worked in groups on several case studies to identify the different components of disaster risk, such as exposure and vulnerability, and to identify ecosystem services and beneficiaries.

Dr Kloos and Dr Sebesvari both work in the Environmental Vulnerability and Ecosystem Services (EVES) Section at UNU-EHS which focuses on research addressing vulnerability and resilience of social-ecological systems. Dr Sebesvari has extensive field research experience in Asia, and Dr Kloos in West and South Africa. They both teach in the International Joint MSc Programme “Geography of Environmental Risks and Human Security” of UNU-EHS and Bonn University.