The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) in cooperation with the Open University of the Netherlands, will soon launch a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) on Marine Litter. The MOOC has been created in order to stimulate leadership and offers opportunities for actionable and change oriented learning related to marine litter within the framework of the Global Partnership on Marine Litter.
Marine litter is a global problem that affects every ocean of the world. Litter is an environmental, human health and socio-economic problem that is a symptom of a highly disposable society. With worldwide growth in the amount of solid litter thrown away every day and slow rates of degradation, the amount of litter present in the marine environment is increasing. This course seeks to inspire students to take action and leadership in the arena of marine litter through stimulating interaction with all stakeholder groups.
The MOOC will enhance capacity of students through action oriented learning on how they can apply successful and inspiring activities to combat marine pollution. It will be offered through a series of lectures, case studies and videos, along with additional study materials.
The MOOC will be available in two tracks: leadership track and expert track. It will cover the following topics:
UNEP, via the GPML, and the Open University have created this MOOC in order to address public interest in capacity building and actionable learning on marine litter, as well as to make opportunities available to a wider audience.