The purpose of Climate Affairs Capacity Building Program is to foster the development of multi-disciplinary programs at colleges, universities, and other educational training institutes in developing countries around the globe. The first and foremost goal of this activity is to develop an awareness among educators in a variety of disciplines that climate affects all aspects of life in rich and poor countries alike, and that decision makers in those countries can improve the way they are affected by enhancing their understanding of climate affairs. In essence, this will build the capacity of developing countries to deal with climate-related issues.

Societies are increasingly coming to realize how their activities (e.g., industrialization processes and land-use activities) can alter the chemistry of the global atmosphere, which in turn can raise its average temperature by a few degrees Celsius. An increasing number of government, individual, and corporate decisions are being made where knowledge of climate affairs is necessary. There is, however, at the same time a lack of human and institutional capacity in developing countries to effectively impart relevant knowledge to such decision-makers now and in the future. This situation calls for national capacity-building efforts by academic institutions, international agencies and scientific organizations. This program is designed to assist in such efforts.

The establishment of a Climate Affairs Capacity Building Program would enable students and educators alike to concentrate at least a part of their educational training in an area of research, application, and policy that centers on the climate system and climate-related issues. Such issues include but are not limited to energy production and consumption, food production and availability, and water resource management. The Climate Affairs students will be better prepared to work in various disciplinary areas (e.g., economics, politics, anthropology, history, sociology, climate and ocean research and forecasting, economic development) and in various economic sectors (e.g., industry, commodities, agriculture, fisheries, mining, insurance, education, health, civil defense, government agencies, disaster prevention, relief and recovery).