In a world-first, a Bachelor of Climate Change degree has been launched by Waikato University.
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The three-year course combines science, an understanding of economic, social and political systems, plus Māori and Pacific responses to climate change.
Waikato University Dean of Science Professor Margaret Barbour said climate change was affecting the planet now, but progress towards fixing the problem was slow.
Professor Margaret Barbour Photo: The University of Waikato
She said the degree was about creating graduates with a broad understanding of climate change and can talk to people within different disciplines.
''I'm a traditionally-trained scientist and I study the impacts of climate change my whole career and I don't know how humans work.
"Social scientists know how humans work but they don't know how the biophysical world works, so we need people who can reach outside their own discipline, so scientists like me can talk to economists, social scientists and artists and all of those people from different areas with that common shared knowledge and common language.''
She is surprised it has taken so long for a university to come up with the bachelor degree in climate change.
''I guess it is because universities are kind of old fashioned and we were trained within our discipline and it is kind of hard when you have been trained that way to reach outside and think about other ways of thinking. Other ways of solving problems.''
Barbour said that is absolutely what is needed right now.
''It is such a complex problem we need everyone, all the best minds working on it together.''
She believes students with the degree will be in high demand from many organisations, such as insurance companies and councils.
Barbour said seven core papers form the basis of the degree which culminates in a third-year group project, where students will come together to work with a company, iwi or community group to solve a real climate change problem.
"Mātauranga Māori (Māori knowledge) is woven through the qualification, requiring holistic thinking and a recognition that humans are part of the natural world not above it. He oranga taiao, he oranga tangata.
Assistant Vice-Chancellor Sustainability, Professor Lynda Johnston, said as a guiding principle the University of Waikato benchmarks itself against the United Nations' sustainable development goals.
"To mark the launch of this important degree, we commit to reducing our energy use and greenhouse gas emissions and to work towards being a carbon neutral university by 2030."