This free-of-charge tutorial has been designed together with GFCS Office with the aim of promoting GFCS, raising awareness about its objectives and illustrating the benefits of climate services for decision making in selected topical areas. This learning tool is meant for national experts as well as other interested stakeholders and the general public, The tutorial is available at this page for an initial period of 6 months, during which all modules may be accessed in any preferred order. The modules feature video interviews with experts from international agencies, as well as short self-assessment exercises to test your knowledge throughout the tutorial.

Learning Objectives

By the end of this tutorial, participants should be able to:

1. Illustrate the key concepts of climate information and climate services;
2. Describe the role of the Global Framework for Climate Services;
3. Recognize the contribution of climate services to major post-2015 international agreements;
4. Discuss the value of climate-informed decision-making.

Course Structure

• Overview of key terms and concepts related to climate services
• The importance of climate-informed decision-making
• The Global Framework for Climate Services
• Climate services in support of major Post-2015 international agreements
• Advanced topics and upcoming activities

Technical requirements

We recommend the following as a minimum in hardware and software to take our e-Learning courses. Please consult your Network Administrator or Systems person to ensure that you have the following:

• Platform: Windows 2000, NT, ME, XP or superior; MacOS 9 or MacOS X; Linux
• Hardware: 64 MB of RAM, 1 GB of free disk space
• Software: Adobe Flash Player
• Browser: Internet Explorer 9 or higher; Firefox 3.6 or higher
• Note that JavaScript, Cookies and Pop-ups must be enabled

This e-tutorial is part of a larger training suite including specialized training in each of the priority areas of the Framework, to support GFCS’s capacity building efforts.

The vision of GFCS is to enable societies to better manage the risks and opportunities arising from climate variability and change, especially for those who are most vulnerable. In keeping with this vision, the goal of UNITAR is to help build the capacity of country users to benefit from climate services in all priority areas.

The infographics below outlines the structure of our training support to GFCS. Please contact us at research@unitar.org for more information