Hosting & Collaboration
The United Nations University (UNU) is the academic arm of the United Nations and acts as a global think tank. The mission of the Institute for Environment and Human Security (UNU-EHS) is to carry out cutting edge research on risks and adaptation related to environmental hazards and global change. This includes areas such as environmentally induced migration and social vulnerability, ecosystem services and environmental deterioration processes and models and tools to analyze vulnerability and risks linked to natural hazards. The institute’s research promotes policies and programmes to reduce these risks, while considering the interplay between environmental and societal factors. Research is always conducted with the underlying goal of connecting solutions to development pathways.
UNU-EHS shares MCII’s goals to find possible ways to reduce risks and vulnerabilities of people particularly affected by the adverse effects of climate change. Both organizations support decision-makers with evidence-based research and informed policy recommendations. Our partnership is characterized by complementing UNU-EHS’ portfolio of topics through its particular focus on developing public-private protection mechanisms and insurance-related solutions for those most vulnerable to climate change.
We have been a long-time partner of UNU- EHS reaching back to 2005. Currently, Dr. Zita Sebesvari represents UNU-EHS within our board as the Deputy Director of UNU-EHS.
Our project activities at MCII are predominantly implemented through the MCII Project Office, which acts as an academic section within the UNU-EHS system. Our operational work, thus, is fully embedded within UNU-EHS. By focusing on risk transfer and financial protection approaches, our team complements other UNU-EHS sections’ research objectives and programmes. Such concrete project-level cooperation takes place through implementing joint activities and projects.
Furthermore, we participate in the Joint Master Programme "Geography of Environmental Risks and Human Security" by sharing MCII’s experiences in the application of CDRFI approaches via the three core working areas (Policy & Governance; Analytics; Finance Solutions). The Master is an international degree programme with a research-oriented profile, and it is jointly offered by UNU-EHS and the University of Bonn.